Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations for eligible frontline health and social care staff
1 December 2023
Thank you for your continued commitment to all routine and seasonal vaccination programmes, and for your work to support the offer of winter vaccines for frontline health and care professionals.
All eligible frontline health and social care professionals, including clinical and non-clinical staff who have direct contact with patients, should be offered both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines ahead of winter. Employers must make every effort to ensure that eligible frontline staff are offered and easily able to access their vaccine, and are encouraged to do so.
NHS England will soon begin to publish monthly vaccine uptake data for frontline staff, at trust level. This data, which has been routinely published by UKHSA in previous years with a three-week lag, will now allow earlier insight into staff uptake (reducing lag to less than a week) and will be improved with the addition of a new filter to indicate those eligible. The first such data will be published shortly.
Everyone eligible for seasonal vaccines, including health and care workers, will be able to make bookings online at www.nhs.uk/wintervaccinations or on the NHS App until 14 December.
To maximise protection for your teams, patients and the public, we ask that all NHS organisations also ensure that convenient and clearly signposted local flu and COVID-19 vaccination arrangements remain in place for eligible frontline professionals until 31 January 2024, which may include local booking systems.
To support this, we urge all systems and NHS employers to keep encouraging eligible frontline team members to come forward for their winter vaccines. This should include by:
- ensuring flexibility to attend appointments conveniently around shifts
- offering drop-in sessions to discuss any questions
- involving staff networks, chaplaincy services and a wide range of local leaders and vaccine champions to encourage understanding and uptake
- making full use of online NHS campaign resources and promoting vaccine awareness regularly at team meetings, in newsletters and other local settings.
Larger provider organisations should try to ensure they maintain a wide-ranging offer, with options out of hours and across multiple sites, backed up by drop-in/pop-up sessions or roving vaccinations.
We also ask systems to continue identifying opportunities to maximise the offer of co-administration of flu and COVID-19 vaccinations in a single visit, to improve convenience and uptake during the busy winter period.
Once again, thank you for everything you are doing to keep our staff protected and to keep the NHS strong over winter.
Please see the full publication from NHS England here.
Berkshire LOC Latest News
Optometrist Referral Pathways Survey – request for help
Emily Charlesworth is a postdoctoral research fellow at Anglia Ruskin University, and is currently distributing a survey to investigate how optometrists refer into secondary care and which referral pathways exist in different areas of the UK. If any specific pathways exist the survey will ask further questions regarding the optometrist’s experience of using these …
Continue reading “Optometrist Referral Pathways Survey – request for help”
23 April 2024
Frimley Post Cataract Service
The Frimley post-cataract service is now up and running well. Specifically beneficial for practices located in East Berkshire or those on the borders of this area, the service boasts sufficient funding to operate smoothly and effectively. Patients who opt for this service can expect a streamlined process for post-operative care, ensuring that they receive …
Continue reading “Frimley Post Cataract Service”
19 April 2024
REGO Update
Please find below an update regarding the REGO platform: The implementation of the urgent referral button is still pending. Please check your dashboard regularly to ensure that any bounced back referrals are actioned. Please get in touch should you have any questions or require further clarification.
19 April 2024
LOCSU and LOC Levy Rate
Dear Berkshire contractors and performers, I am writing to inform you of the decision made by the LOC to increase the levy rate from the current 0.5% to 0.8%. This decision follows careful consideration of our financial situation and the evolving needs of our committee. The decision to increase the levy rate is based on …
Continue reading “LOCSU and LOC Levy Rate”
19 April 2024
SpaMedica Referrals
Due to changes in the pathway of cataract referrals in the NHS Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire ICB (BOB), SpaMedica are only accepting cataract referrals from those practices that have the Rego platform, by the Rego platform. When the Rego platform is available in a practice, we are no longer accepting cataract referrals sent directly from …
Continue reading “SpaMedica Referrals”
19 April 2024
New general ophthalmic services fees
New general ophthalmic services fees for 2024/25 From 1 April 2024, there is new guidance setting out fees for general ophthalmic services, including: NHS sight test fee and NHS domiciliary fees NHS optical voucher values continuing education and training payment for 2023, payable in 2024 grant payable to supervisors of pre-registration trainees You can read the guidance …
Continue reading “New general ophthalmic services fees”
3 April 2024
CPD Webinar: The Evolution of Glaucoma Filtering Services in Primary Care
CPD Webinar The Evolution of Glaucoma Filtering Services in Primary Care REGISTER HERE Dear Colleague, The Professional Development Team at Primary Eyecare Services are delighted to present our inaugural CPD webinar: The Evolution of Glaucoma Filtering Services in Primary Care (in England) Monday 4th March at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams This event is aimed at …
Continue reading “CPD Webinar: The Evolution of Glaucoma Filtering Services in Primary Care”
25 February 2024
RNIB Low Vision Centre CPD Event
Dear LOC colleague The RNIB Low Vision Centre is pleased to inform you of a CPD event for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians on: Wednesday 20th March 2024 6pm to 8.30pm at: Royal National Institute of Blind People Grimaldi Building 154a Pentonville Road London N1 9JE This event will include 3 interactive CPD points (applied for), …
Continue reading “RNIB Low Vision Centre CPD Event”
13 February 2024
Is everyone in your practice learning disability and autism aware?
The Health and Social Care Act 2022 has made it a requirement of all CQC regulated health and care providers that all their staff – clinical and administrative – receive mandatory learning disability and autism awareness training by people with lived experience. Health Education England has developed the Oliver McGowan mandatory learning disability and …
Continue reading “Is everyone in your practice learning disability and autism aware?”
13 February 2024
Berkshire LOC CPD Event – 5th of March
Berkshire LOC CPD Evening Join us for an exciting evening of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at the Berkshire LOC CPD Evening. This in-person event will take place on Tue March 5th 2024, 5:30 – 9:00pm at the Wokingham Cricket Club. Our event aims to provide a relaxed and informal setting for eye care professionals to …
Continue reading “Berkshire LOC CPD Event – 5th of March”
3 February 2024