EXCLUSIVE

Welsh pharmacists have used costumes and posters to increase flu vaccine uptake for the second year in a row, C+D has learned.
 
Around 10,000 flu jabs had been delivered in pharmacies around Wales by the end of November, Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) told C+D on Thursday (December 4). The number of vaccinations in pharmacies has rocketed over the past two years, with almost 7,900 jabs delivered in 2013-14 and almost 1,600 in 2012-13, according to data collected by the Welsh government.
 
CPW chief executive Russell Goodway told C+D that some contractors had raised awareness of the service through the use of a promotional Big Flu Bug costume designed by Public Health Wales (PHW). The success of the flu initiative showed the “value of the accessible community pharmacy network in high streets and town centres”, he added.
 
CPW had worked with NHS Wales to produce promotional posters designed to alert anyone unaware they were in an at-risk group that they could be entitled to a free flu jab. These bilingual posters were distributed along with window stickers and leaflets in more than 250 pharmacies, CPW said.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's director for Wales Jocelyn Parkes told C+D it was “great” so many people in Wales had protected themselves against the “damaging effects” of flu. Those who had not yet been vaccinated should visit their pharmacist or GP immediately to have their jab, she stressed, as complications caused by flu could be serious.
 
Earlier this year, PHW encouraged over-65s in Wales and their carers to “beat flu” by getting their vaccine.
 
In October, NHS England’s head of immunisations Kenny Gibson defended the sector, after the chair of the BMA’s general practitioners committee in Wales told C+D offering the flu jab in pharmacies risked vaccinating patients twice.

How have you promoted your flu vaccine service? 

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