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Flu jabs

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Flu spreads from person-to-person, even people not showing any symptoms so everyone who uses and works in adult social care services is encouraged to get vaccinated during autumn and winter.

NHS surveys have found that patients and those receiving care feel safer and are more likely to get vaccinated when they know staff are vaccinated. 

Flu can cause severe complications, and FREE vaccination available on the NHS is the best protection. Whilst the threat may be invisible, the protection against it is clear.

Frontline health and social care workers should get the flu vaccine through their employer. If you cannot get a flu vaccine through your employer, you can get it at a pharmacy or your GP surgery if you're employed:

  • by a registered residential care or nursing home
  • by a registered domiciliary care provider
  • by a voluntary managed hospice provider
  • through direct payments or personal health budgets

There is

 

Employer responsibilities

The Department of Health and Social Care states that frontline health and social care workers should be provided with flu jabs by their employer. This should complement any existing occupational health and/or wellbeing schemes. 

Employers can make arrangements for flu jabs for their staff to be carried out in the workplace, arranged through a private healthcare provider or  can purchase vouchers for  staff to get the vaccine from a GP or use at participating pharmacies.

Social care uptake is historically low and leaders at an organisational level have a strong impact on vaccine uptake; if managers promote vaccination and are seen by staff to have it themselves, this is a driver for others to do the same.

Tips to raise awareness with staff

  • Put a poster up in your staffroom.
  • Encourage staff to wear a sticker when they’ve had a flu jab, to raise awareness.
  • Highlight the importance of having a flu jab in team meetings, supervisions and other opportunities.
  • Nominate a champion who supports the campaign and reminds colleagues in the workplace.
  • Post about the flu jab on social media.
  • Include an article about the flu jab in your staff newsletter.

You can find material to support these activities and create localised awareness campaigns from UK Health Security Agency and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

There is a specific .

to help increase the uptake of the flu jab among people who are eligible. 

 

Tips to raise awareness with people who use your service and families

  • Talk to the people you support and their families about getting the free flu jab – this could be as a part of a care plan review or one-to-one conversations
  • Put a poster up on your workplace noticeboard.
  • Include information about the flu jab in your newsletter.
  • Consider how you can support the people who use your service to access a flu jab, if needed.

Employers can find resources around a rage of vaccinations including shingles, MMR, and covid . There are also

  

Further information

Flu can be more severe for certain people, such as anyone aged 65 or over and people with an underlying health condition. People in these risk groups are more likely to develop serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia. shows that over the past 2 winters (October to May, 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024) at least 18,000 deaths were associated with flu, despite last winter being a relatively mild flu season.

While pandemic restrictions and social behaviours saw flu levels fall dramatically for a few years, these latest mortality figures are a stark reminder that flu is a deadly virus, particularly for older people and other groups at greatest risk.

Of real concern is the drop in the flu vaccine uptake rates last winter across all eligibility groups in England compared with the previous year.

Having the vaccine protects you, your family and the people you care for from flu. Vaccination means less staff sickness from flu, helping the NHS and social care to keep running effectively during a flu outbreak when services are particularly busy.

You can give flu to your family and those you care for even if you don’t have any symptoms. Staff who aren’t vaccinated may unknowingly pass on flu to those who are at increased risk from the virus.

Those you support feel safer and are more likely to get vaccinated when they know the people who care for them are.

The vaccine will help prevent you getting the flu and is your best protection against the virus. It will not stop all flu viruses but if you do get flu after vaccination, it’s likely to be milder and shorter-lived than it would otherwise have been.

Yes. The viruses that cause flu can change every year, which means the flu (and the vaccine) this year may be different from last year.

 

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