OBJECTIVES

Vaccination has greatly reduced the burden of infectious diseases. The UK’s immunisation programmes are world-leading and have led to a dramatic fall in serious infectious diseases. Vaccines can be administered in primary or secondary care and it is important that vaccinations are captured on individual health records to ensure that immunisation status is current, maintained and allow for data reporting. Using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data we sought to analyse vaccination delivery and reporting in hospitals.

METHODS

Using HES data from April 2019 to March 2020, procedure codes X44 (Administration of vaccine) and E952 (Administration of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine) were extracted from inpatient and outpatient activity. For outpatients, appointment type and main specialty were obtained. For inpatient activities, length of stay (LoS), and primary ICD10 diagnosis were extracted. The number of patients, median age and gender were extracted for both.

RESULTS

Outpatients: 28,349 patients received vaccination at an appointment. Median age was 22 years, 68.7% were female, 49% were ‘first appointments’ and 48% were ‘follow up’ appointments. The main outpatient specialities were midwifery (29%), paediatrics (20%) and obstetrics (14%).

Inpatients: 1,273 patients received vaccination during an admission. Median age was 3 years, 47.1% were female. Median LoS was 2 days. The principle primary diagnosis ICD10 codes for the admissions were: Z23-27 (Need for immunization) for 932 patients; Z380 (Singleton, born in hospital) for 170 patients

CONCLUSIONS

A considerable number of vaccines are given in secondary care which help reduce infectious diseases. These data appear to capture the vaccination of children at birth, or mothers during pregnancy. It is likely that HES coding underestimates the number of vaccines given. There is more scope for routine vaccinations in hospital, and it is important that these are captured in the medical records.