Title: Report on childhood immunisation
Authors: Laffoy, Marie
Description: In 2000, there was a measles outbreak in the Eastern Region, which led to 1,253
cases, three deaths and just over 350 hospital admissions. In 2001, there was a
decline in the uptake rates at 12 and 24 months for all primary immunisations. This
decrease was most marked for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine (MMR)
uptake rates at 24 months where a drop of 21 % was noted. This reflected a national
trend and was also influenced by negative media coverage of MMR vaccine. A
Regional Immunisation Committee was convened in February 2002, which resulted in
this report.
The issues considered by the Regional Committee were:
1. Planning and organisation of immunisation programmes including structures,
processes, staffing and the. immunisation contract between Area Health Boards
and General Practitioners
2. Information systems for immunisation surveillance
3. Materials management
4. Communication strategies
The deficits identified in the four areas outlined above were as follows:
Planning and Organisation
1. A standard practice does not exist in the Region for provision of lists to
general practitioners.(GP) of cohorts of children requiring primary
immunisation. This limits calculation of an important performance indicator
within practice populations i.e. uptake rates of primary childhood
immunisations and estimation of targets for bonus payments.
2. Problems exist in relation to the timeliness of receipt of immunisation returns
by Area Health Boards (AHBs) from GPs and also in the timeliness of
payment of GPs for primary childhood immunisations.
3. There is no regional policy for identifying and following up defaulters.
4. Use of parent·held records is not standard practice across the Region.
5. Difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff to run school immunisation
programmes have impacted negatively on the uptake of booster vaccination in
the 4 to 6 year age group in some Community Services Areas (CSAs).
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