For those practices that wish to invite eligible patients to attend a clinic for both the flu and COVID vaccines at the same time, we recommend the following the steps below:
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.
We are aware that some practices may be planning joint clinics, but the patient would still need separate flu and COVID invitations, even if they are booked into a single joint clinic. The invitation wording for each vaccine could refer to the possibility of administering both but the individual patient’s eligibility and suitability for either / both vaccinations should be checked prior to vaccination.
Step 1 - Invite Patients for the Flu Vaccine
We suggest initially sending invitations to all eligible flu patients, practices may wish to inform patients in the invitation sent that they will be offered the COVID vaccine at the same time if eligible.
To identify patients to be invited for a flu vaccine, navigate to the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 3.15 Vaccination - Flu 2023-24 > 0.2 Clinically eligible call & recall search folder.
Expand the folder to display a breakdown of the cohorts and run either the 1st or 2nd invitation folders depending on which reminders you would like to send at this time (please note - patients falling in the 2nd invitation folder have had a 1st invite sent more than 7 days ago):
The searches have been further broken down by methods of communications; invite the patients accordingly using the associated reports and code with an appropriate flu invitation code :
Step 2 - Invite Patients for COVID Vaccine
Once the required patients have been invited for a flu vaccine, the next step is to indicate the patient has also been invited for a COVID vaccine. To locate the search folder, navigate to 3.10 Vaccinations - COVID > 2. For invitation folder:
Expand the Invitation folder and select the Joint Flu and COVID clinic folder:
Run this search folder and select the required sub folder (broken down by ALL patients or specific cohorts).
Each sub folder is divided up into two groups:
- 1. Eligible for COVID vaccine and flu vaccine invite sent - this will return all patients that have been sent an invitation for flu, if you have notified the patients that they will receive a COVID vaccine at the same time, you may wish to appropriately code that a COVID vaccine invitation has also been sent, otherwise you may wish to now send a COVID invitation.
- 2. Eligible for COVID vaccine + NO flu vaccine invite or not eligible - this will return patients that are due an invitation for a COVID vaccine, and they have not yet been invited for flu. This may be because they are not eligible for flu. If you have done all flu invites, then please use this search to invite for COVID vaccination only.
Please note - patients will be excluded from these invite searches if they are housebound or care home residents (separate searches available for these), have been coded with a COVID allergy, contraindication or declined code.
For further details on the full use of the flu vaccination search suite, access the following support article.
For further details on the full use of the COVID vaccination search suite, access the following support article.
If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: support-emis@ardens.org.uk