First flu jab event held for homeless people

The first pop-up clinic in Bournemouth to offer winter flu jabs to homeless people has been held as part of a national vaccination campaign.

The NHS is offering people with increased health risks due to sleeping rough or living without fixed accommodation a free flu jab for the first time this winter.

More than 40 people were vaccinated and received health checks at the Winter Wellness session at St Swithun's Church in Bournemouth

Paul Bolton, clinical service manager at Dorset Healthcare, said the vaccination scheme was protecting those "most at risk".

Thirty-five thousand people sleeping rough or using homeless hostels or night-shelters are being targeted as part of the national programme to provide flu and pneumococcal disease vaccines.

These patients are seen as facing increased health risks from these viruses due to exposure, underlying health conditions, poor living conditions, poor nutrition, high levels of stress and limited access to healthcare.

Bournemouth is among the areas where NHS teams will also offer one-stop-shop health services alongside the vaccinations, including cancer checks, podiatry and sexual health services.

Bolton said: "This group is most at risk because of every other element that they are trying to address within their lives - be that trying to get food, trying to find shelter at night, trying to remain safe and get something to drink, stay well.

"This really important for them because they're living out at night, they're living in the cold, really vulnerable to all those elemental changes - so making sure they are vaccinated is just one other aspect of protecting their health."

It is hoped increasing vaccination levels among vulnerable groups can also help to protect the wider public by reducing the spread of flu through communities and easing winter pressures on the NHS.

The NHS rollout follows a decision in June when the government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to make NHS pneumococcal and seasonal flu vaccinations available to homeless people.

Among those at the drop-in clinic, Pete Turner, 60, who lives in a tent in Bournemouth, said it was the first time he had received a flu jab.

"Because it's here I thought 'might as well get it done'. I wouldn't like to have flu to be honest," he said.

"It makes people feel secure as well, especially if they're living rough."

This winter's flu vaccine has been updated to protect against last year's subclade-K strain.

Also for the first time this year, some pharmacies can now vaccinate children, aged between two and under 18, who are in clinical risk groups.