The Ardens flu resources provide GP practices with comprehensive resources to manage the seasonal influenza programme. The resources consist of a suite of searches to support practices in identifying eligible patients to be vaccinated and to monitor flu activity throughout the season.
To locate the searches, navigate to the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 3.15 Vaccinations - Flu 2024-25 search folder.
Please note - It is important to note that these searches may change depending on the latest advice. Before performing any large tasks on this area, we strongly recommend checking the Ardens Portal to see if you are using the latest version of the search suite.
How to use the search suite
The flu search folder is broken down by sub folders and it is likely that these will be run at different times. We therefore suggest running the searches at individual folder level when required.
The folders included are as follows:
01. CLINICAL review before recall
We recommend running this search folder BEFORE any action is taken on batch inviting patients for their flu vaccine. This will ensure when using the call & recall searches that the invite lists are as accurate as possible.
The folder contains a list of reports, with the search title indicating what action needs to be considered e.g. check if the patient is still pregnant as according to coding in their record the patient is still 'Currently pregnant', action - add delivery code if appropriate.
To view the list of patients and the coding in the record which suggests the patient should be reviewed, click on the View Results option on the EMIS Web.
2. CLINICALLY eligible call & recall
This search folder contains recall lists for inviting patients in for the flu vaccine. The searches are based on the eligibility criteria provided by JCVI.
To support GP practices with vaccination roll-out for this fiscal year, the invite folder has been broken down by those patients to be invited in September and those patients to be invited in October.
1. INVITE - September clinics
The guidance states that from 1st September the following cohorts only, are to be offered a flu vaccine.
- pregnant women
- all children aged 2 or 3 years on 31 August 2024
- primary school aged children (reception to year 6)
- secondary school aged children (year 7 to year 11)
- all children in clinical risk groups aged from 6 months to less than 18 years.
The search folder therefore breaks down patients needing to be invited by cohort - 6 months to 1 year, 2 - 17 year olds, 2-3 year olds and pregnant patients. The search folder name also specifies the type of vaccine the patients will be invited in for.
Remember! before inviting pregnant patients, have you actioned the 'Check if still pregnant as 'Currently Pregnant' according to coding' report in folder '01. CLINICAL review before recall folder' to be all sure all patients in this recall list should be invited.
Each folder contains a recall list for patients that require a 1st invite, 2nd invite and information on those that have had two or more invites.
Invite searches are broken down by ways of communication:
- SMS - includes patients with a mobile number that have not declined text messaging. You may also wish to review patients appearing in the 'Mobile phone number in wrong field' search folder to correct patients with the mobile phone number entered incorrectly.
- Email - includes patients that have declined SMS (or have no mobile number) but do have a recorded email address and have consented to emails being sent.
- Post - includes patients that have declined SMS and Emails (or have neither) therefore a letter is to be sent.
- All due - lists all patients for invitations due, regardless of communication type.
Please note - if batch texting or emailing, the associated reports can be exported as a CSV file and will contain the relevant information for the third party messaging service. Please see further details on how to export reports here.
2. INVITE - October clinics
The guidance states that from October 2024 the following cohorts are to be offered a flu vaccine:
- aged 65 years and over
- aged 18 years to 64 years in a clinical risk group (defined by the Green Book).
- patients in long-stay residential care homes
- carers in receipt of carer's allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person
- close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
- frontline workers in a social care setting without an employer led occupational health scheme including those working for a registered residential care or nursing home. registered domiciliary care providers, voluntary managed hospice providers and those that are employed by those who receive direct payments direct payments (personal budgets) or Personal Health budgets, such as Personal Assistants.
The searches have been broken down by 18- 59 years in a clinical risk group, 60-64 years, 65years or over.
The invite searches work the same as folder 1 and are broken down by 1st invites, 2nd invites and information on those that have had two or more invites.
Please note - if you are unsure why a patient is being identified as a clinical risk, this can be checked by clicking on the Full Hierarchy option on the EMIS ribbon, right clicking on the *Clinically at risk based on 2023/24 green book guidance' search and selecting Check Patient. Enter the patient details and this will show what risk category the patient falls under.
Remember! before inviting the patients in this folder, make sure you have considered and actioned patients in the 1. CLINICAL review before recall reports to ensure this list is accurate.
3. CONSIDER invite method
The following searches include patients were you need to consider the invite method. This includes patients who has communication needs, reasonable adjustment needs, dementia, learning disability, severe mental illness or on a palliative care register. These patients will not be included in the main invite searches (sub folder 1 and 2).
The reports contain all contact details.
4. VISIT - Housebound and or Care Home
This search folder identifies care home and housebound patients to be considered for a visit. These patients will not be included in the main invite searches (sub folder 1 and 2).
5. INFO - Excluded as contraindication code
This search folder identifies patients coded with a contraindication code and they will not appear in any of the recall lists.
3. OVERVIEW
This folder contains searches to support practices in monitoring the uptake of flu vaccine amongst the practice. The searches are broken down by cohort and report on the following:
- information on flu vaccines done by the practice and other healthcare providers (providing the right code has been recorded)
- patients that have declined or contraindicated
- outstanding patients due their flu vaccine
- data quality for patients that have had a flu vaccines but the incorrect coding has been used
For the data quality (DQ) searches we suggest reviewing the list of patients (Population Included) and adding the appropriate flu code. Ardens provides a flu protocol which can be launched in the patient record to add the correct code.
4. PAYMENT 2024 - 25
This folder contains searches to support practices in identifying coding that is incorrect or missing which may be impacting payment, along with reports to support PPA claims and flu auditing.
Data quality
The folder contains a list of reports, with the search title indicating what action needs to be considered e.g. code if eligible as the patient is not in a risk category but they have been vaccinated last month / season, action - add 90X4 to the patient record to be paid correctly.
Flu audit searches
This search folder includes the total number of vaccines given at the practice this season, including which vaccine type.
PPA claim report for flu (FP34D)
This folder provides practices with a report to claim vaccine costs. There is no need to issue a prescription for each flu vaccine administered as the Flu vaccine (along with some others) is a 'high volume vaccine', further information here.
Please note - some manufacturers may provide more than one type of flu vaccine and these types have different values. Therefore, just putting the manufacturer in your PPA claim may not be sufficient to ensure you get paid the correct amount for each vaccine and this may not be clear on the report. You may wish to cross match your batch numbers to find the vaccine type and add this information to the report to ensure you have all the relevant information to hand when completing your claim.
05. Ordering searches for next year 2024-25
The Ordering searches for 2024-25 search folder supports practices in planning for the next flu vaccination season. The searches will report on the number of
patients for each eligible cohort.
06. Seasonal flu immform upload
The search folder supports GP practices with data uploads for Immform, please see the following support article for further information.
07. Flu activity data (for info)
This folder contains a suite of useful activity searches, including low uptake cohorts (homeless, housebound. ethnic minority) and a breakdown of flu activity by risk condition.
08. School Age Children (for info)
School aged children will usually be vaccinated by their school, however we have provided searches for information only.
zDenominators and subreports
If you wish to find out why a patient has been included in a certain eligibility cohort, please use the denominator searches:
From the searches in this folder, you are able to use the 'Check Patient' function described above and it will let you know which code is on the record and is putting the patient on the relevant list.
If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: