To receive a presentation from Public Health England.

The Deputy Director – Strategy and Commissioning informed Members that various performance reports had noted that the takeup of immunisations in children living in the Royal Borough was below the Council’s target, and takeup rates were lower than other local authorities. The Council’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment was currently being revised and takeup was also coming through as an issue in this work. Colleagues from NHS England had been invited to give a presentation to Members about child immunisation rates.

Olivia Falgayrac-Jones, Director of Commissioning, introduced the item and explained that NHS England and Public Health worked collaboratively to commission immunisation services. The joint working was to increase coverage of services and to reduce health inequalities amongst residents. The objectives of this working agreement were to roll out childhood flu vaccinations up to school year 5; roll out HPV vaccinations to men who have sex with men; continue the roll out of bowel scope to the agreed trajectory; and to roll out FIT in bowel screening; the last two of these objectives would help with early detection of bowel cancer.

The work programmes carried out through this joint arrangement were explained to Members. Olivia Falgayrac-Jones explained that although the joint arrangement had retained governance of child health information and services, the Healthy Child Programme – which encompassed health visitors and school nurses programmes – was now coordinated by local authorities. The Head of Public Health would report in to the Leadership team on a quarterly basis to show progress and to address any concerns.

Nisha Jayatilleke, Consultant in Public Health, introduced herself and explained that she led a team of staff on screening and immunisation programmes across the Thames Valley region. Data had been collected for 2016/17 and 2017/18 to show the uptake of immunisations for children at age 1, 2 and 5, and there was some data available for 2018/19. The figures showed that there were upward trends in takeup for all immunisations at age 1 and 2, and for the majority of immunisations at age 5. There had been a decrease in the percentage of children aged 5 being given the DTaP/IPV booster; Nisha Jayatilleke explained that some children would have this immunisation at a younger age, so although they were immunised against the disease they were not counted towards the official statistics.

Responding to a question from Cllr Hollingsworth, Nisha Jayatilleke explained that the data relating to children aged 1, 2 and 5 was collated through GP practices in the Royal Borough. Statistics relating to school-aged immunisations was collated and arranged through the Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. Nisha Jayatilleke informed the Panel that takeup rates for the HPV vaccine in girls in school years 8 and 9, and the tetanus and diphtheria pertussis vaccine for all children in school year 9 had been one of NHS England’s best. Members were told that the HPV vaccine protected against cervical cancer, and was offered to girls before they became sexually active. A successful catch-up programme was carried out to vaccinate girls up to the age of 20 who were in school years 8 and 9 before the vaccine was introduced. Nisha Jayatilleke informed Members that a work programme focused on cultural and religious barriers was being undertaken, as these had been identified as being the main reasons for parents not wanting their children to be immunised.

The Chairman asked if any GP surgeries or geographical areas had been identified where immunisation takeup had been low. Nisha Jayatilleke said that some deprived areas that needed additional support had been identified. However in terms of individual GP practices, takeup rates tended to fluctuate. This was partly down to the way that surgeries recorded the information, and staff had been given additional training on coding. For example a child may be given four vaccinations in a single sitting, but this may only be recorded as one vaccination. Members were informed that a new IT system had been introduced, which meant that surgeries were no longer required to produce evidence of which vaccines had been given out. The IT system would also help flag up if a child was due for an immunisation when a parent went in to the GP surgery for a routine, unrelated, appointment. Nisha Jayatilleke informed Members that work was taking place to help fill out incomplete immunisation histories, which was a particular issue with families who had moved from abroad. She stated that if a family could provide proof a child had had a particular immunisation it would be unlikely they would require it again; however there was also little harm, or risk of side effects, if a child were to receive a second vaccination.

Members were informed that the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment was in the process of being updated, and it was hoped that this work would be completed by January.

The Chairman thanked Olivia Falgayrac-Jones and Nisha Jayatilleke on behalf of the Panel for attending the meeting and congratulated their teams for an excellent set of figures.

Olivia Falgayrac-Jones and Nisha Jayatilleke left the meeting at 7pm.