Background

UK has lost its World Health Organisation (WHO) Measles eradicated status. Due to this, there is concern within NHSE of an outbreak of measles. A likely contribution to this is that the number of children aged 1 to 6 inclusive that are being vaccinated for MMR (Measles Mumps, Rubella) has been flagged as relatively low.

There is an ask for a national call/recall system to be put in place in England to complement the existing local call/recall which is ran by local GPs, in order to drive the MMR vaccination effort among these children, and eventually re-acquire the measles eradicated status with WHO. 

The campaign will focus on 1 to 6 year old's initially using a National Call & Recall  approach (i.e. letters, emails, SMS to be initially sent - then letters, emails, SMS as reminders.). This campaign will then align with the wider campaign for individuals up to the age of 25 years for those missing one or two doses of MMR after 12 weeks. The campaign must cover the complete eligible childhood population in England. This is only achievable through GPIT facilitated bulk transfer of MMR data from all English GP practices.

Outline Plan

• Supplier Engagement and Plan – 6 – 19^th May 2022

• Build timeframe TBC. Expected Plan confirmed 20^th May 2022.

• Assurance Approach - TBC. Expected Plan confirmed 20^th May 2022.

• Clinical Oversight - 5 Working Days

• CSG - 7 Working Days, with an end date or Wednesday or Thursday 

• DPS Release 1 Day, arranged for a Thursday

Note: There will be a decision in the foreseeable to determine whether the Extract will be required after the initial twelve week period. This will be communicated via the appropriate channels once a decision is available. 

Summary of Change

The MMR vaccination programme requires IT system providers to support the vaccination effort by providing NHS Digital with a new feed of data to support national call-recall activities for this vaccine. In addition this will also support reporting by Foundry on vaccine coverage, as a means of monitoring progress towards regaining WHO Measles elimination status.

The data will only be maintained for the duration of the applicable programmes, including (but not limited to):

• National call/recall
• Central immunisation status recording within the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS)

The latest spec for the Data File Format can be found at:

https://digital.nhs.uk/binaries/content/assets/website-assets/developer/vaccination-specifications/gp-suppliers-to-nhsd-mmr-file-specification-v1.1-approved-1.docx

There will be one historic upload to DPS, following by 11 weekly delta transfers. A weekly GPIT bulk transfer of MMR data for 1 to 25 year olds is required to be flowing into NIMS. Call & Recall will only be for 1 to 6 year olds but data for older individuals will be used to inform planning of the campaign of the larger MMR catch up campaign to follow.

Full Specification

Patient Information Maintenance - GP v2.0.0 (Published)

Assurance Approach

In order to gain assurance of the MMR extraction, the suppliers will be provided a list of scenarios to execute after which a video and extract files should be provided to NHS Digital for verification. Solution Assurance will verify the video against the extract files to confirm:

• MMR data is extracted without data loss or corruption
• All records, matching the criteria, are extracted
• All records, not matching the criteria, are not extracted
• Data is output matching the MMR specification

Details of the scenarios will be shared directly with suppliers by 13^th May