Flu – make your informed CHOICE

**Clinic bookings now available**
 

Click here to book your flu vaccination

You will need to be on the system or connected via VPN otherwise the link will not open. 

When booking your appointment please add your NHS number in to the field to ensure we can track your details correctly. Thank you.

There are three ways you can get your flu jab - click here to read more.
    

Are you needle phobic? Do you need a bit of reassurance?

We are also running clinics with extra time slots (20 minutes) to help any staff member who may be needle phobic and need that extra reassurance. You will be able to book these clinics through the above link, ensure you book the ones with the 20 minute time slot rather than 5 minutes.

We also have access to occupational health if you feel you need additional support. Please email DCHST.Flu@nhs.net if you would like an appointment with occupational health for your flu vaccination.

Flu vaccination - Make your informed CHOICE text only version

Chat it over: you can find information, frequently asked questions and more here: bit.ly/DCHSfluCHOICE

Help: we are running clinics with extra time slots of 20 minutes to help staff members who need that extra reassurance.

Opportunity: there are three ways to get your flu vaccination:

1. Pre-booking or dropping in to a DCHS or DHCFT clinic
2. Through your GP
3. At a pharmacy (and you can claim it back!)

Influenza: flu can be a serious illness requiring urgent medical intervention. A flu vaccine reduces the risk of flurelated illness.

Choice: if you have any questions about having your flu vaccination, please have a chat with your manager or contact our flu vaccination team at dchst.flu@nhs.net. Our chief nurse Michelle Bateman would also be happy to be contacted personally to answer any questions: michelle.bateman4@nhs.net

Every year matters: there is an updated vaccine every year based on illness rates around the world.

UNICEF - for every child

We are sponsoring UNICEF to help keep children safe in developing countries. By getting your flu jab you can help protect vulnerable children from dangerous diseases. Every jab we give to our staff will protect three children from either tetanus, polio or measles. 

To find out more about getting your flu jab visit: bit.ly/DCHSfluCHOICE or log in to My DCHS and search flu.

Is it just the flu?  It’s not ‘Just' the flu? and in an average year, the flu virus kills 11,000 people.

In this week’s My Download we listed all the clinics we have available across the county – here is the reminder.

If you work from home it is just as important to access a vaccine to protect yourself, your family and others who may be vulnerable. You can do this by accessing our clinics or by booking through the NHS app or at this link.

How do vaccines work?

Vaccination is the safest way to protect yourself and others against an infectious disease.

When you are given a vaccination, your body responds by producing antibodies. There is still a chance you might get flu after getting vaccinated but it’s likely to be milder and not last as long.

The more of us that get vaccinated, the more we prevent the spread of infection such as flu – this is called herd immunity or you may remember the R number being referred to during the Covid-19 pandemic. R is the number of people that one infected person will pass a virus on to, on average. This occurs with flu but also with other infections, for example, measles has an R number of 15 in populations without immunity. That means, on average, one person will spread measles to 15 others.

Flu can have a significant impact even if you consider yourself fit and well. Watch a story here about the impact flu can have.

For centuries, humans have looked for ways to protect each other against deadly diseases. From experiments and taking chances to a global vaccine roll-out during an unprecedented pandemic, immunisation has a long history. 

Vaccine research can raise challenging ethical questions, and some of the experiments carried out for the development of vaccines in the past would not be ethically acceptable today. Vaccines have saved more human lives than any other medical invention in history. 

Click here to take a journey through the last millennium to see how these extraordinary discoveries and achievements have changed our lives and continue to change our lives.

To view the historical vaccine development and introduction of routine vaccine programmes in the UK, please see the link below.

Please click here for more information.

There are many misconceptions around the flu jab so we’ve set out to separate the fact from the fiction and highlight the key reasons why we should all be getting vaccinated: 

• As healthcare workers we are, unfortunately, much more likely to get flu than in the general population. It is estimated that 1 in 4 NHS staff get flu in an average winter
   
• Even if we are healthy and not in an ‘at risk’ group we aren’t protected from flu – in previous years 90% of hospital admissions for flu were in those under 65
   
• Nearly 80% of those with flu will not have all the symptoms, this means that they could transmit flu to vulnerable patients or family without realising it
   
• The flu jab is the most effective protection available against flu, we even invest in the quadrivalent vaccine to ensure we are protected from as many of the circulating strains as possible
   
• Despite some rumours you can’t get flu from having the flu jab! The vaccine is inactivated meaning there is no live strain involve.

If you aren’t sure about getting your jab or have any additional questions please click here to view our FAQs and request further information.

Remember that the flu jab is the best protection we have against influenza and that it is more important than ever that we all get jabbed whilst Covid-19 is still circulating.

• Influenza Vaccine Written Instructions for Staff Immunisation
• S48 - Drug Fridge and Freezer Temperature Monitoring Procedure
• S116 - Driver Delivering Flu Vaccines - Standing Operating procedure for the flu campaign
• S100 - SOP For Designated Staff Accepting Influenza Vaccines Delivered from Walton Hospital Pharmacy Across Nominated DCHS Sites
• S99 - Use of Clamshell Vaccine Bags by Community Nursing Teams