Following NHS England’s announcement of their proposals to manage winter pressures, which included the decision to add care home and domiciliary care workers to the group of people eligible for NHS flu vaccination, NHS England and PHE have made the necessary arrangements to add this group to the community pharmacy and general practice flu vaccination services. An updated service specification and the patient group direction (PGD) for the NHS Community Pharmacy Flu Vaccination Advanced Service were published on 20th November 2017 to reflect the addition of the new eligible group.

If the contractor wishes to provide the Flu Vaccination Service to care home and domiciliary care workers, community pharmacists providing the service to the new target group must sign the new PGD, alongside a signature from an authorising manager. The original 2017/18 PGD is still valid, but does not include care home and domiciliary care workers, so this cohort will not be able to be vaccinated as part of the Flu Vaccination Advanced Service unless the new PGD is signed.

This PSNC Briefing outlines the changes that have been made to the community pharmacy PGD and service specification.

PSNC Briefing 085/17: A summary of changes to the Flu Vaccination Service 2017/18 documents

If you have any queries on this PSNC Briefing or you require more information, please contact Zainab Al-Kharsan, Service Development Pharmacist.

To browse other PSNC briefings on services and commissioning click here.