Last review date 21/08/2024
IMPORTANT: The eligibility as defined in the Green Book for seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines is similar but not identical. This has resulted in differences between the underlying code-sets which are used in the Ardens reports for both. This means that whilst you may think some patients should be included in both the seasonal influenza and COVID-19 invitation reports, some patients might just be included in the seasonal influenza invitation reports but not the COVID-19 invitations reports, and vice versa. Some practices may be planning to give both vaccinations concurrently if clinically appropriate.
IMPORTANT: The distinction between the over 65 groups also needs consideration. For Covid vaccines, the guidance states any patient currently >=65, versus the flu criteria, which states any patient >=65 before the end of March 2025 meaning some 64 year olds are eligible for flu but not Covid.
Please see these two articles for full detail about either vaccine delivery and resources available:
Below highlights the overlap in Ardens resources for co-administration.
1. Patient Status Alerts
The Patient Status Alerts are a really helpful and important prompt of a patient's eligibility, particularly if a patient is attending for one vaccination and it is clear to the clinician vaccinating they are eligible for the other too. This is always clearly shown on the patient's home screen as below.
2. Templates
The flu template pages have a quick link to the COVID vaccination template for easy data entry for clinicians administering both vaccines. Most practices will still utilise Pinnacle for recording Covid administration - however, there is a link to the SystmOne POC template if your organisation is configured for this. Instructions on how to set this up via TPP are on the Covid vaccination template.
3. Reports
For practices doing invites for co-administration clinics, navigate to Reporting> Ardens Ltd> Vaccinations> C19 | Autumn 2024 | 08 Invites | COVID and Flu to find invite lists. Remember to add both appropriate invite codes as for data quality the patients need recording of both vaccines being offered. These codes can be found in the separate Covid and Flu invite reports.
Please note: if a patient has already had a flu invite code added to their record, they will not show on the 1st invitation lists. Once a patient has had BOTH the Covid and flu 1st invite codes added, they will appear on the 2nd invite lists. Therefore if your practice has already sent flu invites, start from the 1st invite lists to invite those remaining for Covid vaccination, and then continue with the 2nd invite and 3rd invite process as normal.
