Hard Efforts Pay Off in the Meningococcal B Campaign - 21/1/2006

August 14, 2006 11:08

General practice teams are going the extra mile to immunise their patients for Meningococcal B, and their efforts have not gone unnoticed by local Primary Health Care organisations and the CDHB.

Partnership Health Canterbury is rewarding the successful efforts of general practices who have achieved a 91% vaccination rate in the 0 –5 age group; staff are being presented with a certificate of achievement and treated to a catered morning tea. So far nine practices have reached 91%, and several more are expected to cross the threshold in the near future.

“Spending time with practices which have been successful in MeNZB immunisation has been beneficial for the entire campaign,” says Sue Rogers, Immunisation Coordinator for Partnership Health Canterbury. “We’ve been able to pinpoint successful strategies and share them with other practices.”

Effective tactics have included running dedicated vaccination clinics and staying open late on a scheduled day. Simple persistence has been an excellent strategy, with patients responding well to phone follow-ups prompted by alerts and overdue messages on the computer, regular recall and computer query builders designed to flag patients yet to be immunised. Those clinics that were successful in reaching 91% coverage had also made valuable use of referrals to outreach immunisation services.

“It’s a team success for the practice,” says Sue. “From the administration staff who do the recalls and computer system queries, to the Doctors and Nurses who administer the vaccination, everyone played a critical role in achieving our goals.”