Devon Local Involvement Network
Parents needed to talk about immunisation
Working to improve child health through increasing the uptake and completion of the childhood immunisation programme in South Devon
The public health team at NHS Devon is asking parents in south Devon to share their experiences of getting their children immunised to help make improvements to their service.
Low uptake of immunisation and not completing the course including the pre-school booster, can leave children at an increased risk of infection, including the measles virus. The World Health Organisation recommends an uptake of 95 per cent is required to prevent illness and in some areas the pre-school booster is as low as 80 per cent.
The key element to any improvement work is that it is based on the real experiences of local people. So, NHS Devon wants to talk to parents about their experiences, reasons why they may not have completed the programme, as well as to test some improvement ideas to support parents.
Jackie Morse, head of health protection at NHS Devon, explains that: "We are committed to protecting children against preventable illness.
"The reasons why parents do not finish the vaccine course vary, it is through working through these issues together we can increase uptake and reduce health inequalities."
