Hospital Trust wins national award for flu campaign
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has won a top national award for its Get a Jab, Give a Jab flu campaign.
The campaign, which saw a total of 87% of front line staff vaccinated against the flu bug this winter across Birmingham Children’s and Birmingham Women’s Hospitals, has been named Most Innovative at NHS Employer’s Flu Fighter Awards.
This national accolade comes just days after Birmingham Children’s Hospital was ranked the best hospital in the country for its 95.7% front line vaccination uptake. Birmingham Women’s Hospital also secured a record uptake of 68% front line staff vaccinated.
The six-month Get a Jab, Give a Jab campaign launched in September 2016 and saw 10 tetanus vaccines donated to young children and expectant mothers in Africa via Unicef, for every flu jab staff had. This means that in total, the Trust’s efforts secured 40,000 tetanus vaccinations. Tetanus is a swift and painful disease and kills 58,000 newborns, as well as a significant number of pregnant women, each year around the world.
Mary Hobin, Head of Nursing and lead for the flu campaign at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We are so proud of all of our incredible staff for taking responsibility to protect themselves, our women, children and families, their colleagues and their own families from flu, and to have been presented with this national award is the icing on the cake.
“As we well know, flu can be a nasty and sometimes life-threatening bug, especially for the vulnerable people we care for, so it’s really important we do everything we can to protect everybody who walks through our doors.
“This year’s campaign really hit home with many of us and has meant we could do even more to protect not just women, children and families in this country, but mums and babies in Africa too.”
The flu jab is not compulsory for NHS staff but is an important part of delivering the best patient care and hugely reduces the risk of patients getting the virus.
Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers which runs the national flu fighter campaign, said:
“This is very inspiring local work by staff who go the extra mile to keep their colleagues and patients safe. When the national flu fighter campaign started in 2011 only a third of front line NHS staff in England were having these vaccinations and now it is almost two-thirds. That is a huge improvement over a relatively short time in the life of the NHS, so really all the flu campaigners are winners.”
The Trust is already busy planning its 2017 winter campaign.