Immunisations

Our nursing team offer a comprehensive baby and pre-school immunisation programme. A link to an up-to-date complete schedule for recommended immunisations is below. Parents are sent a letter when their child is due for their next injection. We advise that all children should have the complete course of recommended immunisations. If your child is not immunised, then as well as a risk to themselves, they may pose a risk to other children as they may be a carrier for these diseases.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations

Seasonal Flu Vaccination

We offer this to people in ‘at-risk’ groups each Autumn. In order to stay protected from influenza you will require a vaccination every year. We normally run a large ‘flu-clinic’ at the surgery on a Saturday in October.  You will receive a letter from us if you are eligible to inform you when this will be.

Who should have the seasonal flu vaccination?

It is recommended you have a flu jab if you:

  • are 65 or over,
  • have a serious medical condition (see below),
  • live in a residential or nursing home,
  • are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if you fall ill,
  • are a healthcare or social care professional directly involved in patient care, or
  • work with poultry (see below).

The seasonal flu jab is offered free of charge to anyone over the age of six months with the following medical conditions, as they are at higher risk of catching flu:

  • chronic (long-term) respiratory disease, such as severe asthma, COPD or bronchitis,
  • chronic heart disease, such as heart failure,
  • chronic kidney disease,
  • chronic liver disease,
  • chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson’s disease or Motor Neurone Disease,
  • diabetes, or
  • a weakened immune system due to disease (such as HIV/AIDS) or treatment (such as cancer treatment.

You are also entitled to a free flu vaccination if you work in close contact with poultry. This includes people who:

  • work in areas where poultry are kept for rearing or egg production,
  • handle or catch live poultry,
  • sort eggs in poultry houses, or
  • slaughter or clean poultry.

If you think you are entitled to have a flu vaccination and do not receive a letter from us inviting you to attend for one – please contact us.

More information can be obtained about flu vaccination by going to:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine

If you are not entitled to a free flu vaccination, they are also offered through some pharmacies. GP Care also offer this service. Prices for this service tend to vary between £10-£15 per person.

Hepatitis B Vaccination

The NHS does not fund Hepatitis immunisation for employment purposes. Under Health and Safety Regulations, your employer has a duty to provide a safe working environment and, therefore, appropriate health advice for those at risk of infection with Hepatitis B. We advise you to contact your employer who will be able to make arrangements with an occupational health provider for the provision of any immunisation which you may require following an appropriate assessment of the risk to which you are exposed.

The hepatitis B vaccine is usually given free of charge to people in high-risk groups for hepatitis B.

Who should have the Hepatitis B vaccination?

  • babies born to infected mothers
  • close family and friends of infected people
  • patients who receive regular blood transfusions or blood products
  • people with any form of liver disease
  • people with chronic kidney disease
  • people travelling to high-risk countries
  • sex workers
  • injecting drug users
  • people who change their sexual partners frequently or men who have sex with men
  • people whose work places them at risk, such as nurses, prison wardens, doctors, dentists and laboratory staff
  • prisoners
  • families adopting children from high-risk countries

GPs are not obliged to provide the hepatitis jab on the NHS if the person is not thought to be at risk, or if it is requested for occupational purposes. We do not currently offer the vaccine in connection with travelling abroad.

Foreign Travel Health

For information regarding immunisations for foreign travel – please see our travel vaccinations page.

Pneumococcal Vaccination

Pneumococcus is a bacterium (germ) which can cause pneumonia, meningitis and some other infections. Pneumonia caused by pneumococcus occurs in about 1 in 1000 adults each year. Pneumococcal infection can affect anybody. However, young children, older people and some other groups of people are at increased risk of developing a pneumococcal infection. This vaccination can be given at any time of the year.

Who should be immunised against the pneumococcus?

Three groups of people should be immunised: children, older people and other people ‘at risk’.

All children

Immunisation against pneumococcus became part of the routine childhood immunisation programme in the summer of 2006. The routine schedule consists of three injections which are normally given at age at two months, four months and 13 months.

All older people

All people aged 65 or over should be immunised. This consists of a ‘one-off’ injection.

Other at-risk groups

Any person over the age of two months in an ‘at-risk’ group should be immunised. That is, if you:

  • Do not have a spleen or if your spleen does not work properly.
  • Have a chronic (ongoing) serious lung disease. Examples include chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis and severe asthma (needing regular steroid inhalers or tablets).
  • Are a child who has previously been admitted to hospital with pneumonia.
  • Have a chronic heart disease. Examples include congenital heart disease, angina, heart failure or if you have ever had a heart attack.
  • Have a serious chronic kidney disease. Examples include nephrotic syndrome, kidney failure or if you have had a kidney transplant.
  • Have a chronic liver disease such as cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis.
  • Have diabetes which requires insulin or tablets to control it.
  • Have a poor immune system. Examples include if you who are receiving chemotherapy or steroid treatment (for more than a month), if you have HIV/AIDS or if you have previously had your spleen removed.
  • Have a cochlear implant.
  • Have a CSF shunt (a shunt to drain the fluid that surrounds the brain).
  • Are a child under five years who has previously had a pneumococcal disease such as pneumococcal meningitis or pneumococcal bacteria.