Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Programme 2023

Our 2023 flu vaccination season has started!

All patients aged over 18 (excluding those who are housebound) who are eligible should now have been invited to book their flu vaccination appointment here at the surgery. We have had to stagger invites so that our reception team and system don't become overwhelmed. 

If you are eligible for a flu vaccination in the following categories:

  • aged over 65 
  • 18-64 with a health condition that puts you at higher risk of complications associated with the flu

and haven't yet booked an appointment please call us now on 01929 462376.

Or if you are a child, or a parent of a child, in the following groups: 

  • aged 2-3years old (and some 4 year olds)
  • aged 6months-2years old, or a school leaver not yet aged 18, with a health condition that puts you at higher risk of complications associated with the flu

you should also have had an invite, please call us to book your appointment at the surgery. 

If you are in any of the above categories and are housebound you will be contacted for a visit soon. 

Children of school age will be contacted directly by the Dorset School Age Immunisations Service who will arrange for vaccinations via the child's school. We are unable to vaccinate those children who do not have a health condition which puts them at higher risk of complications associated with the flu. If your school age child does have a condition which puts them at higher risk they will need to have their flu vaccinations offered at school, but we may be able to vaccinate afterwards if they miss their appointment at school. 

Invites

This year like in previous years, to offer appointments at the surgery, we have EMAILed all of our patients who are eligible for a flu vaccine, for whom we have an email address on their record.

Those eligible will receive a unique link by email to book themselves a slot online.

The link will not be able to be used to book a friend/partner/relative's appointment, each person will need their own email sent directly to them. All our patients can update their own records here to provide us with an email address, or you can email us at Wellbridge.flu@dorsetgp.nhs.uk (please include your name and date of birth on the email) The same email address can be used on more than on record, ie if you share an email address with another member of your household, each person will receive a named email with their own unique link.

For anyone who doesn't have an email address on the system (or for those who have not responded to their email invite) we also sent TEXT MESSAGES and LETTERS TO HOME ADDRESSES to patients asking them to call us to book their appointments.

Calls to book flu appointments should be made after 11:00am please to avoid the early morning rush. We will not be able to make flu bookings before 11:00am each day. 

Please do not call us until you receive your text or letter asking you to book your appointment, as we will be texting/writing to those in priority groups to ensure the telephone lines aren't overwhelmed.

Our flu clinics will be held on Saturdays here at the surgery for patients aged 18-64 with underlying health conditions, and everyone aged over 65, the dates of the clinics will be listed below when we are able to offer appointments.

Patients invited in error

Unfortunately there are a group of patients who received invites in error. 

If you were one of the people affected, AND you had already booked your appointment, you have received a follow up email to say that we had recently contacted you to book your flu vaccination, but that since we have since discovered you are not eligible this year and that your appointment would need to be cancelled. If you had received an email but tried to book but couldn't get it to work, this was due to the problem. 

The error has occurred because in the last few years whilst Covid was at its peak, extra cohorts of people were eligible and invited to have the flu vaccination, this included people who were aged 50-64 but without the underlying/long term health conditions that provided eligibility pre-covid (conditions such as diabetes, active asthma etc provided eligibility for this age group pre-covid which continues this year). In addition, some patients were eligible for one off reasons such as pregnancy in previous/recent years.

Unfortunately, due to a system error your eligibility in previous years has meant that some people were coded as eligible last year and this continued to be flagged on our system as such for this year, however, we have gone through the records of those invited and have removed the erroneous code/flag, which is why we've had to cancel some appointments.

The NHS website provides a list of eligible patients on this page - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/ If you have received a cancellation email, but feel that our interpretation of the eligibility criteria is incorrect and you think you remain eligible, and you would like to discuss this with someone, please email us on wellbridge.flu@dorsetgp.nhs.uk

Apologies for the inconvenience and the disappointment the error has caused.

Further information

The flu vaccination provides the best protection against an unpredictable virus which infects many people and can cause serious illness and death each year, it is recommended yearly for those most at risk of flu, this includes:

  • everyone aged 65 and over
  • pregnant women
  • anyone living with certain long term medical conditions
  • people with caring responsibilities
  • children aged 2 and 3 years old

Please note that this year those people aged over 50 without underlying health conditions will NOT be offered the vaccine as they were during the covid pandemic. 

Possible reactions to the flu vaccination

Please ensure you are fully aware of the possible reactions to the flu vaccination by downloading and reading the leaflets that will be posted below before your appointment, there will only be a limited number of leaflets available to takeaway from the flu clinic for those who do not have access to the internet.

 
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