Dear Colleague
Measles – MMR Catch up Programme UPDATE – 30 April 2013
It has now been announced that there will be an MMR vaccination catch-up programme in England. Please look at this letter from NHS England outlining the main aspects of the programme and including a service specification for your information.
We have simplified the details for you into 3 sections:
2. Payments
3. Anticipated workload for practices
Whilst this is not perfect, it is what has been determined in agreement with the BMA.
Please continue to forward any questions or concerns to us at MMR@lmc.org.uk.
With best wishes
Dr Michelle Drage FRCGP
Chief Executive
a) Target or ‘at risk’ group, i.e. 10-16 year olds
According to the service specification practices are required to identify their registered patients between the ages of 10 and 16 who have not been immunised previously or have had an incomplete course of MMR (i.e. only one dose), contact them and offer them an appointment for vaccination.
The minimum requirement is that contact should be via a letter to the parents or guardians of the children in this cohort.
Payment: £1.50 per qualifying patient.
b) Patients aged 16 and over
No proactive identifying and contacting of these patients is required, but practices should provide one or two doses of the MMR vaccine as clinically indicated to all unvaccinated patients included in this cohort who present to
the practice requesting vaccination.
Payment: £7.64 per dose.
For full payment details depending on the age group, please see table.
c) Keep full records
The reporting requirements for this temporary MMR catch up programme have not been defined yet and the claim form for payment has not been developed yet either. Therefore we do not know what patient information or other
information will be required for practices to be able to claim payment under this programme.
Practices are advised to keep the fullest possible records of all actions, patient contacts and communications as well as the requirements of iii (a) and (b) in the attached service specification, which are standard contractual
requirements for any immunisation offered.
Please see table.
3. Anticipated workload for practices
The London Regional Office of NHS England estimates that there are approximately 57,000 unvaccinated children who will need to be invited to the practice for immunisation under this catch up programme.
This means that most practices in London will be dealing with not more than 100 patients. There will of course be practices where the demand is higher, e.g. those with large migrant populations etc.
Practices are reminded that there have not yet been widespread measles outbreaks in London and that there is time to make appropriate preparations.