A third of pharmacists in Greater Manchester have signed up to provide flu vaccinations this winter in the biggest public health contract won by Community Pharmacy Greater Manchester (CPGM).  

NHS England had commissioned the group of seven LPCs to deliver the £300,000 programme to at-risk 18 to 64-year-olds, CPGM announced last month.  

And 450 pharmacists had already received training to deliver the 20,000 jabs under the one-year contract, which launched this month, chief officer Ian Short told C+D last week (October 3). 

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	"Pharmacists have been biting our hands off to do it," Mr Short said. "We are just delighted we have got the service and that a third of pharmacists in Greater Manchester came forward to do it."

Contractors receive £15 per patient to provide the service, which includes £7.63 service fee and the cost of the jab.  

The success of the flu vaccination scheme in pharmacies across Oldham LPC last year helped to secure this year's commission, said CPGM chairman Peter Marks. Pharmacies delivered 1,800 flu vaccines, helping the borough to meet its vaccination target, he said.  

Last year, Manchester LPC was commissioned by Greater Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group to target at-risk patients who had not been vaccinated by their GP.  

Having the service commissioned across a wider area made sense for the NHS and for patients, Mr Marks said. He told C+D that the older cohort was excluded from this year's pharmacy service as they would be targeted by GPs.  

"This has been the first big service won by CPGM and we hope it will be the first of many," he added. "We've got a one-year agreement and the challenge for our contractors now is to prove that pharmacies can deliver this service to the right patients."