By Nicola Davies

Well here we are again, smack bang in the middle of the ‘flu season’ – it doesn’t half roll round quickly. Or is it just that I’m getting older and the months are flashing me by in a haze of hot flushes/emotional instability/mood swings and a need for chocolate (mmm…yes I think I MUST be menopausal!)

We regularly try to re-invent the ‘invitation’ wheel to get patients to come in for their jabs, whether it’s the bog-standard ‘flu jabs’, or freshers for their meningitis and toddlers for their nasal flu spray.  In the several surgeries I’ve worked, we’ve tried combinations of mass vaccination – so 500 over 65’s traipsing into the local sheltered accommodation lounge (not all at once obviously!) – this was hampered though by the fact that it’s autumn/nearly winter so they come in with fifteen layers of vests, shirts/blouses, jumpers, cardigans (over the jumper), indoor jacket and finally winter coat… and then take half an hour to strip off to reveal an arm – but they forgot we needed their arm so they’re wearing long sleeves that won’t roll up high enough. Cue the receptionist shouting “remove all your clothing so we’ve got easy access…” until I stopped Great Auntie Betty from taking off everything down to her vest in front of everyone. *sigh*

We’ve tried clinics in the surgery with everyone (docs and nurses) offering vaccinations – and then I dealt with the complaint from a patient who didn’t want a doctor to do his jab because “that ruddy young ‘un dun’t know his a**e from his elbow”. To be fair, the doctor was very young but that particular elderly northern man wouldn’t take my word he was qualified! We’ve also tried just doing flu jabs opportunistically – you know, each clinician has a box in their room, first to jab 20 gets a prize but then I found out that they were doing the jabs and forgetting to put the info on the notes so we didn’t know who had had one and who hadn’t. By the end of the season, I was a jibbering wreck!

We’ve also had parties for toddlers – including party bags.  The first couple of years were great, but maybe word has spread that I created the party bags from the 99p shop and perhaps the contents aren’t so great after all… but my hubby had a great time playing with the ‘stamper’ pens so I really can’t see what the problem is!

We’ve offered a ‘free’ MOT with every jab. Very time consuming and just panders to the ‘worried well’. We’ve tried tea/coffee/biscuits afterwards – but that just keeps them hanging round and the corridors of some surgeries just won’t cope with the traffic. Then I also heard about  a surgery who did a ‘Flu Day’ which was really well received, until they clogged up the car park at the surgery and the supermarket and caused gridlock because it fell on the same day as the local football team were playing a very important match. Personally, 22 men on a field chasing a ball doesn’t seem that important to me, but what do I know?

So, what’s the answer? Does anyone have the one-size-fits-all approach that enables you to vaccinate the bulk of your at-risk list in the shortest amount of time possible?  I doubt it – because we’re all different with different populations with different problems.  But sometimes we’re just chasing our tails getting nowhere fast.

What I would like to do is just say “you know it happens every Autumn, the vaccine is here, have it if you want it,… you know the consequences…!”  but of course I wouldn’t… though sometimes I am sorely tempted! The cost of calling in every patient who needs a vaccination is massive – yes there are ways to reduce that cost by mass mailings of very impersonal letters, but it’s still a cost.

For us, delivering the flu campaign every year is costly and time-consuming but a vital task that is core to our very business, but I’m running out of new ideas.

Certainly, for new patients registering I think the answer is quite simple (though it would, unfortunately, mean access to flu jabs throughout the year…. but bear with me…)… so Mr. and Mrs. X present as new patients, we book them in (without asking) for a New Patient Check with the Nurse (let’s make it non-negotiable – you can’t register unless you have this first).  At that point, they both have flu/pneumococcal jabs as well as a tetanus booster; they also have a pint of blood taken to fill six bottles to check everything including the PSA for him and a CA125 for her.  Cholesterol and HbA1c are checked as a matter of course.  They have a BP check, he has a prostate exam, she has a smear (regardless!). The nurse listens to their heart, checks their pulse, does a quick ECG,  and Bob’s your uncle – they’ve had a complete MOT (we claim for the health check and the necessary jabs etc)… and we don’t need to see them again for a year. Yeah, right!… *exits stage left to have a re-think…*

By Nicola Davies

Have you seen our flu campaign from start to finish? You can access it here now [PLUS]

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