NHS flu jab cost-cutting puts pressure on hospitals

ATTEMPTS to cut costs on flu vaccines have worsened the NHS winter crisis, senior doctors have warned.

Health service documents suggest GPS were put under pressure to save around £3 per jab by buying vaccines that do not protect against one of the strains in circulation.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society of Acute Medicine, said around half of flu cases being treated in hospital might have been avoided if a more comprehensive jab had been chosen.

Influenza levels could reach epidemic levels if current trends continue. Half of cases in hospital are suffering from A strains, the most deadly of which has been labelled “Aussie flu”, because it resulted in Australia’s worst flu season in two decades. But half are B strains, and the vast majority involve a strain called B-yamagata, or “Japanese flu”, which is not covered by the vaccines most patients have received.

Two types of vaccine were available. Quadrivalent vaccines, sold to the NHS for around £8, offer protection against two types of influenza A, including the “Aussie flu” strain A (H3N2), and two types of B strain, including B-yamagata. Trivalent vaccines, which cost around £5, protect against both the main A strains, but only against a second B strain, which has proved to be rare this year.

NHS England last night insisted it had issued no national advice to GPS about which vaccines to buy.

But documents seen by Health Service Journal say that three clinical commissioning groups (CCGS) reported being told by NHS England’s regional outposts to “select the product with the lowest purchase price”.

Dr Scriven said “Not using the quadrivalent vaccine has increased the risk of flu admissions.”

Guidance from Public Health England published last month said that the quadrivalent vaccine was “likely to be cost effective”. However, vaccines were ordered far earlier last year.

An NHS England spokesman said Public Health England was responsible for advising on flu protection and CCGS were responsible for advice issued in their areas.