Report on childhood immunisation
Year: 2013
Type: report
Abstract: In 2000, there was a measles outbreak in the Eastern Region, which led to 1,253 \ncases, three deaths and just over 350 hospital admissions. In 2001, there was a \ndecline in the uptake rates at 12 and 24 months for all primary immunisations. This \ndecrease was most marked for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine (MMR) \nuptake rates at 24 months where a drop of 21 % was noted. This reflected a national \ntrend and was also influenced by negative media coverage of MMR vaccine. A \nRegional Immunisation Committee was convened in February 2002, which resulted in \nthis report. \nThe issues considered by the Regional Committee were: \n1. Planning and organisation of immunisation programmes including structures, \nprocesses, staffing and the. immunisation contract between Area Health Boards \nand General Practitioners \n2. Information systems for immunisation surveillance \n3. Materials management \n4. Communication strategies \nThe deficits identified in the four areas outlined above were as follows: \nPlanning and Organisation \n1. A standard practice does not exist in the Region for provision of lists to \ngeneral practitioners.(GP) of cohorts of children requiring primary \nimmunisation. This limits calculation of an important performance indicator \nwithin practice populations i.e. uptake rates of primary childhood \nimmunisations and estimation of targets for bonus payments. \n2. Problems exist in relation to the timeliness of receipt of immunisation returns \nby Area Health Boards (AHBs) from GPs and also in the timeliness of \npayment of GPs for primary childhood immunisations. \n3. There is no regional policy for identifying and following up defaulters. \n4. Use of parent·held records is not standard practice across the Region. \n5. Difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff to run school immunisation \nprogrammes have impacted negatively on the uptake of booster vaccination in \nthe 4 to 6 year age group in some Community Services Areas (CSAs).
Author: Marie Laffoy
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1859815640