Flu vaccination service spec published

NHS England (NHSE) has, today, published the service specification for the 2023/24 Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service.

Changes to the service requirements

Only a small number of amendments have been made to the service specification this season. The key changes are:

• The eligible patient cohorts have been amended to reflect those previously announced, i.e. the removal of the 50-64 years old, not at-risk cohort.
• Pharmacy owners must use an NHS-assured point of care IT system (e.g. Sonar Informatics and PharmOutcomes) to make their clinical records for the service and to submit payment claims to the NHSBSA’s Manage Your Service platform (automatically via an application programming interface).
• The vast majority of pharmacy teams have been using such a system, provided by their NHSE regional team, over the last few years and they will continue to be made available to pharmacy owners by the regions.
• The commencement date for the service will be announced by NHSE in their Primary Care Bulletin; they advise it is likely to be in October, i.e. the service is unlikely to start as in previous years on 1st September. The start date will be informed by guidance given by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and it may include requirements related to the prioritisation of certain eligible cohorts of patients.

For full details please view the CPE website.