A COMMUNITY pharmacy team visited a preschool in the South East to vaccinate young children against flu on Thursday, October 8.
It comes as part of a new approach aimed at making it easier for families to protect their children this winter.
The visit saw a participating community pharmacy team take the NHS flu offer directly to children aged two to four at Wind in the Willows preschool in Portsmouth.
For the first time this year, participating community pharmacies are also able to offer the nasal spray flu vaccine to eligible two and three-year-olds, helping to broaden access to vaccination alongside the existing offer through GP practices.
The initiative forms part of the NHS’s flu vaccination programme, which began offering vaccination to pregnant women, children aged two and three, school-aged children and children in clinical risk groups from September 1.
The programme opened up to all other eligible cohorts on October 1.
New figures published show that more than 653,600 flu vaccinations have already been delivered across the South East since the programme began.
The preschool visit demonstrates how NHS teams and partners across the region are looking at different ways of making vaccination convenient and accessible for families.
GP practices continue to play an important role in vaccinating two and three-year-olds and children in clinical risk groups, while school-aged children are primarily offered their vaccination through NHS vaccination teams in schools.
Caroline Reid, Senior Responsible Officer for the Flu and Covid vaccination programmes for NHS England South East, said: “Taking the flu offer directly into a preschool is another example of how services can work together to bring vaccination closer to families and make it easier to take up the offer. I’m excited that this opportunity is taking place today as our programme gathers pace.”
Last winter, NHS teams across the South East delivered more than 3.26 million flu vaccinations, with the region accounting for around 17% of vaccinations delivered nationally.
National modelling from the UK Health Security Agency estimates that last season’s flu vaccination programme prevented around 100,000 hospitalisations and 7,000 deaths in England.
Francisco Millan-Fernandez, Superintendent Pharmacist and Director at Millan Pharmacy, who is attending the preschool today with members of his team, said: “Millan Pharmacy London Road is a local, family-run independent pharmacy and we’re very much part of the community we serve. When the opportunity arose to work with Wind in the Willows, we immediately saw the potential to make flu vaccination easier for local families.
“Rather than expecting parents to bring their children to us, we wanted to take the service directly to them. We immediately engaged with the relevant NHS teams to obtain approval for off-site vaccination and ensure all the appropriate clinical, governance and safeguarding arrangements were in place.”
He added: “I’m incredibly proud that this has resulted in us becoming the first pharmacy in the South East to deliver vaccinations within a pre-school setting. It’s a great example of how community pharmacy can work differently, removing barriers for families and bringing healthcare directly into the heart of the community.
“Hopefully this can be the start of something that can be replicated across more nurseries, schools and community settings in the future.”
Karen Potter, owner and director of Wind in the Willows preschool, said: “When Francisco approached me with the idea of holding a flu vaccination clinic within the setting I immediately accepted. We are a home from home setting where we support our families at every opportunity.
“I truly believe working in partnership with our parents and health providers will benefit the health and wellbeing of the children in our care.
“Vaccinating children within the setting is convenient and creates a healthier environment, hopefully reducing sickness and absence as well as limiting the spread of infection. This further protects our extended family members, including vulnerable relatives like elderly grandparents, from possible complications. I believe this can also eliminate working parents rushing out from their busy schedules, possibly losing income or having to adjust working patterns to collect and return children part way throughout their day, interrupting play and learning and upsetting the children in turn.
“Instead, the children are in their safe, familiar environment with trusted adults, thus reducing their anxieties and those anxieties of parents. Not to mention reducing GP and chemist appointment pressures.”
