RIVIAM has been working with a large NHS provider in B&NES, Wiltshire and Devon to revolutionise the children’s immunisation process for Flu, HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), DTP (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) and Men ACWY (Meningitis) with a new online system for parents to give permission for vaccinations.

We started work in May 2018 to configure our Digital Immunisations Consent Service to help the organisation improve delivery of their public health immunisation programme and the experience for everyone involved.

Paper consent forms sent home in children's school bags have been banished to the past.

1000s of digital consents

So far, nearly 100,000 digital consents have been received from parents across the region for Flu vaccinations. In addition to this, 3000 digital consents have been received for the HPV vaccination.

We have just completed configuring the service to enable the processing of eConsents for adolescent immunisations for DTP and Men ACWY. Over 2000 consents for this have now been efficiently managed online by the service centre team.

Significant benefits for everyone involved

For the provider organisation the new online system enables efficient online triage and scheduling of immunisations by their service centres and the ability to keep track and co-ordinate what’s been done to whom and when. They have a single view for each child and they can perform and record tasks such as calls to parents who have raised concerns using a simple online interface. The system also enables useful reporting.

Parents and schools too benefit from an easy to use eConsent form which can be completed by parents online at any time of the day that suits them via a computer or mobile device. We have been really interested to see some consents are completed late into the evening or during the night.

This new process replaces the old paper-based immunisations consent system. It's too early to document and evidence outcomes but we know there is less room for error (because a child has lost a form, for example) and minimal administration work for the school, for example chasing and collecting in forms.

School nurses conducting clinics have all the information they need about the children they are vaccinating at their finger tips before they arrive at the school.