SECAmb: supporting flu vaccination uptake among frontline healthcare workers

With a geographical area of 3,600 square miles across Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, Surrey and North-East Hampshire, 14 dispatch desks and 4,000 staff, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust faced logistical challenges in making sure the staff flu vaccination programme could reach as many of its workforce as possible, while also increasing uptake for the 2024/25 flu season. 

The wide geographical spread, 24/7 nature of the ambulance service and multiple sites meant that, for SECAmb, having set booking times for flu vaccination appointments and a small number of vaccinators wasn’t a viable approach. 

Instead, for the 2024/2025 flu season, the trust took a multi-site approach across the 14 dispatch desks, purchasing vaccination fridges for each site and deploying a peer vaccination programme led by operational team leaders and supported by a team of over 130 peer vaccinator volunteers, including alternative duty staff.  Each area also had a flu lead who could highlight any areas where additional activity to address variation in uptake was needed. 

This approach meant that vaccination services could be locally managed and delivered and frontline staff could access their vaccination whenever it suited them, before or after their shifts, without booking. Many frontline health workers welcomed having their vaccination from someone they knew, and the approach helped overcome obstacles including disparity in uptake between frontline healthcare works and call centre staff and vaccine hesitancy and variation in uptake across sites. The following enablers supported increased uptake: 

Incentivising vaccination

The trust provided a coffee voucher to each person who had received their flu vaccination, either within the trust or with evidence that they had had their flu vaccination elsewhere. 

Tracking uptake using business intelligence tools

To track vaccination uptake, a business intelligence platform was used to record uptake and enable real-time tracking. This helped identify and support areas with lower uptake quickly and effectively and enabled dispatch desks to compare performance to other areas. 

A phased approach to communication

A phased communications plan was deployed to drive uptake, address misconceptions, raise awareness of the vaccination programme and the importance of having the flu vaccine, supported by communication from senior leadership. The trust found that those most willing to get their vaccination came in straight away and then there was a drop off approximately four weeks into the vaccination campaign. At this point, videos sharing personal experience and additional communications materials were shared, resulting in a spike in uptake. The trust also adapted national posters, changing the pictures to include local ambulance staff. This was found to be more effective than posters with other frontline health care workers. Other communications channels included information on the intranet, a social media campaign, a weekly newsletter and peer-to-peer communication. Staff were also updated on the progress of vaccinations and any respiratory outbreaks in local areas. 

Senior leadership including the chief paramedic officer and chief nursing officer supported the communication campaign by posting videos and content. Senior leadership buy in helped raise awareness of the importance of vaccination. 

Using this approach, the trust achieved 73.7 per cent uptake among frontline healthcare workers during the 2024/2025 season, which was an increase from 72.9 per cent in 2023/22024. The national combined total for frontline healthcare workers for NHS trusts and GP practices for the 2024/2025 flu season was recorded as 37.8 per cent.