Health visitors are to offer childhood vaccinations during routine home visits to some families as part of a new £2m Government pilot.
The one-year pilot will focus on families who have not taken up immunisations through their GP practice, aiming to address common barriers to vaccination uptake.
These include travel costs, childcare problems, language difficulties, not being registered with a practice and vaccine hesitancy.
The programme will involve 12 pilot schemes, rolling out from mid-January across five regions in England: London, the Midlands, the North East and Yorkshire, the North West, and the South West.
The Government said the pilot was not intended to replace GP practices, which would remain the first port of call for childhood vaccinations. Instead, it aims to tackle health inequalities by targeting families with children ‘who’d otherwise slip through the net’.
Families will be identified using GP records, health visitor notes and local databases.
Health visitors taking part in the pilot will receive additional training to support conversations with worried parents – including those with concerns about vaccination – and to administer vaccines safely.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said that ‘by meeting families where they are’, the pilot would help protect more children from preventable diseases.
‘Health visitors are already trusted faces in communities across the country. By allowing them to offer vaccinations, we’re using the relationships and expertise that already exist to reach families who need support most,’ he said.
Chair of the RCGP, Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, said any initiatives to improve vaccination uptake and reduce health inequalities ‘are worth considering’.
However, she stressed the importance of care coordination.
‘Collaborative approaches, such as this, should complement rather than replace GP-led vaccination services, and will require clear communication, appropriate training and robust information sharing between the health professionals involved, so that care is coordinated and patient records remain accurate,’ said Prof Tzortziou Brown.
‘We look forward to seeing a full evaluation of these pilots, including the impact they have on vaccination uptake, safety and workload, ahead of any wider rollout,’ she added.
The Government said the year-long pilot will be evaluated before being rolled out across the country from 2027.
Separately, GP practices will begin offering vaccination against chickenpox as part of an expanded NHS childhood vaccination programme from this month.
