Community pharmacists at the heart of public health: A longitudinal evaluation of the community pharmacy influenza vaccination service |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, UK;2. Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Welsh Government Offices, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ, UK;3. National Pharmacy and Medicines Management Lead, NHS Wales Informatics Service, Cardiff, CF11 9AD, UK;1. Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1101 McGavran-Greenberg Hall, Campus Box 7411, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7411, United States;2. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 302 Rosenau Hall, Campus Box 7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7440, United States |
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| Abstract: | BackgroundInfluenza (“flu”) is a contagious viral infection causing approximately 600 deaths/year in the United Kingdom. Annual vaccination is the most effective prevention strategy with a target of 75% uptake in ‘at-risk’ patient groups. Before 2012, immunisation was conducted in General Practice (GP), but uptake was below target. NHS Wales therefore introduced a programme allowing community pharmacists to administer the vaccine to certain patient groups.ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the community pharmacy (CP) flu Vaccination Programme in Wales.MethodsA longitudinal study was undertaken by secondary data analysis on data related to all NHS funded flu vaccinations administered in CP between 2012 and 2018 (n = 103941). Data were analysed using IBM SPSS® and Excel®. Pearson's correlation and independent sample t-test were conducted to compare the number of vaccines administered in CP vs overall numbers and those under 65 years and in the ‘at risk’ category in CP and GP respectively. Ethical approval was not required.ResultsIn total, pharmacists administered 103941 vaccinations. Vaccination numbers increased each season from 1568 in 2012/13 to 36238 in 2017/18. The main risk group was those aged 65 and over (59.9% of vaccinations). The proportion of those vaccinated who were aged <65 years and in an ‘at risk’ category was significantly higher in CP than GP (p < 0.01). There was a shift in balance between vaccinations administered by GPs and CPs in which CPs increased their share of all vaccinations in the flu programme from 0.3% in 2012–13 to 5.7% in 2017–18. A strong positive correlation was observed between increasing CP vaccinations and total vaccination numbers (R = 0.9316, p < 0.01).ConclusionsCommunity pharmacists are providing increasing numbers of flu vaccinations in Wales, benefitting patients in all at-risk groups and reinforcing the valuable role of pharmacists at the heart of their communities, in terms of public choice and accessibility. |
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