Ardens has developed a number of Childhood Immunisation resources to assist practices with the latest national requirements. The following support article outlines the resources available and how to locate and use them within your EMIS Web clinical system.


Recalling children who are due vaccinations

We understand the majority of the recalling for childhood immunisations is undertaken by Child Health. Where this is not the case, and practices themselves are required to recall patients, the Ardens Childhood Immunisation Recall system will help.


The Ardens Childhood Immunisation Recall and Uptake Searches support practices with the flow of recalling patients for vaccinations according to the relevant schedule. It includes groups of searches to identify which patients are due a first, second or third invitation.  The Uptake searches report on the numbers of children successfully immunised according to the schedule.



For further information on how to use the Recall and Uptake searches, please see the following support article.


Recording Childhood Immunisation Data

In order to meet the requirements of QOF and accurate payment for CQRS, it is important that the correct vaccination codes are applied to patient records.


The Ardens 'Childhood Immunisations' template can be used to follow the latest guidance and capture the correct vaccination codes.


To locate the template, access the relevant patient record. Open a new consultation and select the Run Template option (alternatively select the option Add > Data Using Template option from outside of a consultation).


This will open the Template Picker screen. If you have accessed any templates before, these will display to the left of the screen. Search for the template by typing “childhood” in the search box, and then clicking on the spyglass icon, or pressing Return on the keyboard.



This will return the Childhood Immunisation (Ardens) template (alternatively select Shared Folders > Ardens > Clinical Templates >  Paediatrics folder under Navigator on the right of the Template Picker screen).


Double click on the template to launch.


There are useful links to guidance throughout the template.  For example, on the Administration page, there are blue hyperlinks to Government guidance in respect of the immunisation schedule and advice for patients with uncertain or incomplete immunisation.



The PSD/PGD page provides details of the last coded PSD/PGD entry (click on the arrows icon to ensure the PSD is for the correct medication), along with sections to record authorisation or administration under PSD.



Depending on the age of the child, select the relevant page to the left of the screen.



The page includes all the relevant data fields to record the consent, contraindications and vaccination given. Information displaying in red or with an asterisk (*) relates to QOF payment. 


Recording vaccinations for patients from abroad

The page Non-Routine Vaccination Hx is designed  for data input on patients with incomplete or uncertain vaccination status, possibly as a result of coming to the UK from abroad, and contains all of the vaccinations that are likely to be recorded.


There is a blue hyperlink to the International and UK vaccination schedules comparison tool, and also a link to Out of Schedule Immunisation advice.



Use the advice on this page and ensure you are coding correctly.  We also recommend adding the 'Not GMS' flag, and using the date the vaccination was given, not today's date.


Once you have input all the required information on the template, select Save to store the template entries to the patient record (also saving your consultation once complete). 


Monitoring QOF Childhood Immunisation Achievement

The QOF Public Health Domain for Vaccination and Immunisations includes three indicators which focus on routine childhood vaccinations, and these are detailed below:

  • VI001: The % of babies who reached 8 months old in the proceeding 12 months, who have received at least 3 doses of a diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis containing vaccine before the age of 8 months (18 points, Threshold 89-96%).
  • VI002: The % of children who reached 18 months old in the preceding 12 months, who have received at least 1 dose of MMR between the ages of 12 and 18 months (18 points, Threshold 86-96%) .
  • VI003: The % of children who reached 5 years old in preceding 12 months, who have received a reinforcing  dose of DTaP/IPV and at least 2 doses of MMR between the ages of 1 and 5 years (18 points, Threshold 81-96%) .


There are very limited  personal care adjustments for these indicators and practices are encouraged to monitor the cohort of birthdates and ensure patients are scheduled accordingly to meet payment requirements. 


To support this, Ardens has created a useful search suite to monitor patients turning the required age range and whether or not they have had their scheduled vaccinations and immunisations. These searches can be located in the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 5.23 Contracts - QOF - Vaccs + Imms > search folder:



There is also a suite of very useful Data Quality searches which will flag patients who have been vaccinated, but do not meeting the QOF coding requirements.  Further information on the searches above can be found in the following support article.


Monitoring Data Quality for CQRS Extractions for Childhood Immunisations 

The majority of CQRS claims will be automatically extracted via GPES. The 'Ardens CQRS searches' support practices in monitoring the quality of data to be extracted. These searches can be located in the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 5.40 Contracts - CQRS 2022-25 search folder.


 

Please note - before completing any major work in this area, we always recommend you check to see if you have the latest version of these searches. Access the Ardens Portal to view the latest version of the '5.40 Contracts - CQRS Searches 2022-25' folder and download and import to your EMIS system if needed.


The Data quality checks folder includes searches to identify missing data or incorrect data that does not meet contract requirements.



For more information on these Data quality searches, please see this support article.


COVER Programme Uptake Searches

Alongside the CQRS claims for certain Childhood Immunisatons, information is extracted quarterly for the Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) programme. This programme reports on practice coverage achieved by the UK childhood immunisation programme. Practices can monitor the data to be extracted by using the Ardens COVER programme searches, located in the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 3.20 Vaccinations - Other > Info + action - Childhood Immunisations (0-6y) > 3. Miscellaneous > COVER Programme Uptake (Quarterly) search folder.





If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: support-emis@ardens.org.uk