London pharmacists will be able to deliver flu vaccinations to under-18s as part of a local initiative to run alongside the national flu vaccination service this winter, C+D has learned.

Pharmacy London advised contractors to prepare to deliver vaccines to young patients and health workers for the second year in a row in a briefing document seen by C+D on Wednesday (July 29). This will be in addition to the groups announced in PSNC's national scheme last week (July 20), which will see pharmacists vaccinate “at-risk” patients over 18 years old. 

The service – commissioned by NHS England's regional team for London – will involve pharmacists vaccinating patients aged two to 18 who have a serious medical condition but cannnot receive the Fluenz Tetra nasal spray, the normal vaccine for this age group. 

Pharmacists will also vaccinate frontline health workers, staff from NHS England, Public Health England, prisons and special needs schools when the service starts in September, Pharmacy London said in the document. 

Patients over the age of two with a chronic condition will additionally be able to receive the pneumococcal vaccine from a pharmacy under the scheme, it added.

None of these groups – who London pharmacists also vaccinated last year – are covered by the national scheme.

Payment "confirmed soon"

Pharmacists delivering the national scheme will receive £9.14 plus the cost of the vaccine, and Pharmacy London said the reimbursement rate for its own scheme will be "confirmed soon".

Any pharmacy with a consultation room and the ability to procure vaccines – the criteria to deliver the national scheme – will be able to offer the local service, Pharmacy London said.

The service is "likely" to run until March 31, it added.

Pharmacy London urged contractors to sign up to the scheme, which it claimed will be “good source of income” and a way of “strengthening [their] position within primary care”.

Should NHS England commission other areas to deliver extra vaccines?

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