Influenza 2025-26

A new flu vaccination delivery model has resulted in some operational challenges.
All provider practices must adhere to the National Primary Care Contractual Instruments (PCCIs) Schedule 2025 ( attached), which is the same for both general practices and community pharmacy to ensure equity of service.
The specification requires that vaccine administration and stock checks must be data entered onto the WIS system by the end of the working day.
Due to significant and sporadic outages of the WIS system, practices were previously authorized to input data on the following working day, a situation which may have caused confusion.
Practices must log any data upload concerns with the primary care team and immunisations team via the general primary care email (even on weekends) to maintain an audit trail. A DHCW service point call is also recommended for evidence.
The Health Board (HB) agreed to send out a communication to clarify contractual data entry requirements and address any confusion.

Practices reported that WIS flu invites were being sent too late, causing patients to miss appointments.
WIS is sending generic blanket text messages that invite patients to a session rather than a specific time.
It was agreed that the specification allows practices to use their in-house appointment systems or "established booking system including GP Clinical systems" to invite patients for flu vaccination; the specification does not mandate using WIS for flu invites.
Opportunistic administration of the flu vaccine is encouraged.
There is confusion because the requirement is to ONLY use WIS to invite patients for the COVID-19 vaccine, which is difficult to manage alongside the separate rules for flu, especially given changes to the eligible age ranges.
The HB confirmed the technical ability to use WIS for both flu and COVID-19 invites, but noted "teething problems."
The HB agreed to issue a clarification immediately to address misinformation regarding invitation methods.

Significant WIS write-back delays were reported (up to four days), which creates a clinical governance risk as patients could receive the vaccine from another provider (e.g., a pharmacy) during the delay period.
A national update was shared indicating the WIS platform had been down from 6-9 October to address duplicate entries. Duplications were found from both clinical systems (EMIS/Vision) and WIS, as well as some unexplained duplicates.
The impact of these delays on the practice's ability to call and recall patients will need to be monitored.

The HB has not started any general 'mop-up' programme and plans to begin administering to the general population only on December 1st, 2025, as per the national specification.
Requests to vaccinate housebound patients have been declined, with a request made for those practices signed up to the supplementary service to administer.
The HB has agreed to a request to vaccinate care home residents for flu. This area needs greater clarity and coordination for future years, as the HB administers COVID-19 in care homes while practices are asked to do the flu vaccine.
A national Task and Finish Group has been set up to specifically resolve care home vaccination challenges.
Other groups who may have been vaccinated by the HB include pregnant women at HB clinics and NHS staff, which may have caused confusion.
Due to responding to specific practice-based requests, the HB is currently unable to issue an assurance that no flu vaccines have been administered.

Practices still have a 75% target rate for vaccination.
The HB is confident there is enough stock for all eligible over 65s.
Uptake for 2-3 year olds and at-risk groups remains low, consistent with previous years.
A representative noted that recent negative discussions in the media have affected this year's uptake, and asked the HB to update the website with more guidance to help patients research vaccine safety.
The HB agreed to look into ways to disseminate patient information.

Patient delays were reported when using the immunisation service booking line.
The HB confirmed a phone outage on one specific day in October. Outside of this, the average call waiting time was 3 minutes, with the longest reported wait being 10 minutes.

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