Publish date: 8 October 2024
Top national award for school-age vaccination team’s community-centred approach
The NHS team currently working to protect tens of thousands of North East schoolchildren against flu has won a national award for its inclusive approach.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s school-aged immunisation service (SAIS) provides vaccinations to children and young people across Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead.
The team won the Communicating effectively with patients and families category at last week’s (Thursday, October 3) Patient Experience Network National Awards 2024 for its work to involve communities in how it delivers services.
They have taken an approach of co-designing the programmes they deliver with the communities they work in, in a bid to meet the needs of the families they look after and reduce health inequalities in the process.
Caroline Smith, joint clinical lead for the service, 
“Our team has embraced this and is absolutely focused on ensuring what we do works for children and young people and their families. The best way to do this is involving those communities we serve in helping to shape our service.”
Listening to feedback from families means the team started to provide evening and weekend sessions. During the flu vaccination programme last autumn, this included a hub at the Metrocentre and partnering with Active Northumberland to use leisure centres in the county.
When the service was commissioned to cover Gateshead as well, the team linked up with the Jewish Community Council of Gateshead to ensure it caters its offer for this community. This resulted in a rabbi providing cultural awareness training to all staff about dress code, use of technology, restricted days and specific concerns around the HPV vaccine.
This is alongside link nurse roles for specific areas of focus, for example, looked-after or home-schooled children, and a named nurse for each school to build relationships.
Stephanie Gibbs, joint clinical lead for the team, said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the team for winning this award, which isn’t at all why we do what we do, but is still brilliant recognition of all the hard work that has gone in.
“We are clear that we are a school-age service, and this means doing what we can to make sure children and young people are supported, whether that is in school or out in the community. Having designated nurses for each school is just one way we have built those links in recent years.”
Each year, the team delivers the HPV vaccine for all Year 8 children to protect against different HPV-related cancers, the 3-in-1 teenage booster for diphtheria, tetanus, polio plus meningitis ACWY for all pupils aged 13-14, and the flu vaccination campaign which is currently underway.
This can stop children getting really poorly – and stop flu spreading to family or friends. To make sure your child gets their free vaccine, make sure you have signed the consent form, which can be found here.
At this year’s Patient Experience Network National Awards (PENNA), Northumbria Healthcare had five projects shortlisted at the awards in six different categories.
Alongside the success for the SAIS team, the MHSOP (mental health services for older people) team was a runner-up for its project to ensure that its patients have a voice, in a service where patient feedback cannot be collected in the traditional way.
PENNA is the first and only awards programme to recognise best practice in patient experience across all facets of health and social care in the UK.
Media contact
Ben O’Connell, external communications manager, Northumbria Healthcare
Benjamin.O'Connell@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.ukor