Agenda item

The Chairman reported that seven questions had been received under Standing Order 7.

 

Question by Cllr. Ramsay Ross:

 

Staff Vaccination Policy and Absence

In early January 2025 it was reported in the media, that the take-up of the flu vaccine amongst NHS staff in England was less than 30%.

Clearly such a level of take-up will have an impact upon staff absence levels, the requirement for agency staff recruitment and potentially, the welfare of patients.

My questions are:

a)           What has the current take-up been in 2024/25 within the ICB/UHL?

b)           What changes, if any, have been made over the past 2 years to increase staff take-up?

c)           What is the ICB / UHL policy for its employees?

d)           What is the ICB/UHL policy for patient-facing agency staff

 

Reply by the Chairman:

I have received the following information in answer to the questions:

a)       LLR ICB – Due to how the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) data is provided by NHS England we are unable to get specific staff flu vaccine uptake data for LLR ICB staff. We can however report that in LLR as a whole system (ICB, UHL and LPT), frontline staff (clinical and non-clinical) flu uptake based on electronic staff records (ESR) in Autumn/Winter 2024/25 is 38%.

UHL – (based on NHSE FDP data) flu vaccine uptake in A/W 2024/25 is 36.1%.

LPT – (based on NHSE FDP data) flu vaccine uptake in A/W 2024/25 is 43%

By comparison the midlands staff flu uptake level is 38.5% and national staff uptake level is 40.9%.

b)     Within LLR each organisation has done a lot of work to encourage staff vaccine uptake. Each year ahead of the Autumn / Winter vaccine roll out the previous year’s performance is evaluated, and staff feedback is taken into account as part of developing the upcoming staff vaccine campaign.

Staff are kept informed about vaccinations via an internal campaign that is developed and led by each organisation which includes extensive internal comms, senior and clinical leaders telling their stories and doing proactive staff engagement. There has also been the additional offer of roving clinics and promotion of the extensive range of community locations too.

The LLR ICB also supports the two trusts in LLR to share further messages out to staff including on site vaccination opportunities at County Hall which is made available via the Roving Healthcare Unit (RHU). The RHU operates as a walk-in vaccine clinic and is open to all NHS and LA staff that are either based at County Hall or that are able to attend the site.

All LLR ICB staff are also regularly informed about all locations and ways they can obtain their flu vaccine outside the workplace. It is important to note that some staff do have their flu vaccine in community settings such as at their local pharmacy which will not be recorded onto their staff record.

UHL and LPT offer vaccines through roving clinics across our sites, attending large face-to-face events and meetings, including inductions, and asking staff groups to invite us to do local vaccination clinics. LPT has an extensive peer vaccinator network and a small group of dedicated vaccination staff and UHL has delivered a communications campaign to increase uptake and has carried out roving and pop-up vaccination clinic across its sites carried out by peer vaccinators and a dedicated vaccination team.

This data is correct as of cop Wednesday 12 March 2025.

(c)     All LLR ICB colleagues are offered the flu vaccine. 

All frontline health care workers at LPT and UHL (permanent, bank and agency), including both clinical and non-clinical staff who have contact with patients, are offered - and encouraged to take up the flu vaccine in line with UK government/JCVI recommendations. This offer remains open until the end of March 2025. The staff vaccination policy supports the system to ensure we have safe services with regards to infection prevention control and minimising staff sickness.

d)     All LLR ICB employees are offered and encouraged to take up the flu vaccine, including all patient-facing agency staff

All frontline health care workers at LPT and UHL (permanent, bank and agency), including both clinical and non-clinical staff who have contact with patients, are offered - and encouraged to take up - the flu vaccine in line with UK government/JCVI recommendations. This offer remains open until the end of March 2025.

Supplementary Question:

Cllr. Ross noted that the UHL absence rate was 5.47% in October and 5% in the year.  He asked whether there was a proper demonstration of leadership by UHL in encouraging staff to take up vaccinations.

Reply by the Chairman:

The Chairman offered to provide a written reply to Cllr. Ross after the meeting.

 

Question by Cllr. Ramsay Ross:

 

I requested, prior to this meeting, that the JCRUP (Joint Capital Resource Use Plan) for 2025/26 be included in the document pack for Committee Members, but this has not been forthcoming.

Can you please explain:

(i)           The current approval status of the document.

(ii)         When it is required to be submitted to Govt in its completed form.

(iii)        When the document will be made public, or in the event that the document is not to be made public by the ICB, will provision be made for this Committee to have early sight of the document?

Reply by the Chairman:

(i)           The current document is in draft format and is currently being reviewed.

(ii)         It is due to be submitted as part of overall system operational planning over the coming weeks and due to be finalised end of April.

(iii)        The document will be made public once approved through the public Board post April sign off and before the 30th June deadline.

Please see previous years ICB Joint Capital Plan which is on the website: https://leicesterleicestershireandrutland.icb.nhs.uk/publications/