Re: Measles in the UK: a test of public health competency in a crisis
The national measles vaccination ready reckoner (1) indicates the extent to which children aged 10-16 years may be susceptible in different individual PCT areas. In areas of high turnover, these averages may not always reflect the GP electronic record of vaccination. Over 5 years of age there is no incentive for GPs registering new patients, to record vaccination in children or adults. We found that of 66,461 children registered with GPs in inner east London, the national reckoner gave a good fit for those with no record of vaccination in Tower Hamlets and City and Hackney, but in Newham the GP electronic record was less likely to record measles vaccination status than expected;
Table 1.
Newham is an area of high patient turnover with a large South Asian and Black African population including recent immigrants whose vaccination status may be uncertain. Newham currently has a successful dedicated programme for this population and vaccination levels are high, but the historical record is less complete. Only half the children aged 10-16 years old who newly registered with GPs in 2012 had an electronic record of full measles vaccination.
We mapped GP electronic records of vaccinations and measles vaccination status of all children 10-16 years by lower super output area in the three boroughs. The overall figures conceal substantial local variation and in some areas up to half these children have no electronic record of vaccination (Fig 1). Many inner city GPs have a substantial piece of work to checking paper records and contacting parents.
Fig 1.
The east London Clinical Effectiveness Group based at Queen Mary University of London, covers 150/154 GPs practices in these areas with a single web enabled GP electronic record system (EMIS Web). It has remotely enabled electronic searches for all these practices identifying children 10 -16 years with an incomplete record of measles vaccination so that the paper records can be searched and potentially susceptible children invited for vaccination. Searches for all major GP computer systems are available on the website at ceg.qmul.ac.uk (2) and on the Londonwide Local Medical Committees website (3).
Rapid Response:
Re: Measles in the UK: a test of public health competency in a crisis
The national measles vaccination ready reckoner (1) indicates the extent to which children aged 10-16 years may be susceptible in different individual PCT areas. In areas of high turnover, these averages may not always reflect the GP electronic record of vaccination. Over 5 years of age there is no incentive for GPs registering new patients, to record vaccination in children or adults. We found that of 66,461 children registered with GPs in inner east London, the national reckoner gave a good fit for those with no record of vaccination in Tower Hamlets and City and Hackney, but in Newham the GP electronic record was less likely to record measles vaccination status than expected;
Table 1.
Newham is an area of high patient turnover with a large South Asian and Black African population including recent immigrants whose vaccination status may be uncertain. Newham currently has a successful dedicated programme for this population and vaccination levels are high, but the historical record is less complete. Only half the children aged 10-16 years old who newly registered with GPs in 2012 had an electronic record of full measles vaccination.
We mapped GP electronic records of vaccinations and measles vaccination status of all children 10-16 years by lower super output area in the three boroughs. The overall figures conceal substantial local variation and in some areas up to half these children have no electronic record of vaccination (Fig 1). Many inner city GPs have a substantial piece of work to checking paper records and contacting parents.
Fig 1.
The east London Clinical Effectiveness Group based at Queen Mary University of London, covers 150/154 GPs practices in these areas with a single web enabled GP electronic record system (EMIS Web). It has remotely enabled electronic searches for all these practices identifying children 10 -16 years with an incomplete record of measles vaccination so that the paper records can be searched and potentially susceptible children invited for vaccination. Searches for all major GP computer systems are available on the website at ceg.qmul.ac.uk (2) and on the Londonwide Local Medical Committees website (3).
1) Measles ready reckoner https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-mmr-coverage-read... ; Accessed May 2013.
2) Clinical Effectiveness Group MMR Catch-up searches and templates
http://blizard.qmul.ac.uk/ceg-resource-library/mmr.html
3) Londonwide LMCs measles catch-up. http://www.lmc.org.uk/article.php?group_id=8282
Competing interests: No competing interests