Birmingham Children’s Hospital offers its 3,600 employees annual winter flu immunisations. Of those, 2,610 are frontline staff, who are in constant contact with patients. Last year, 90% of them made use of the jab.
The hospital also has a team managing the campaign, as well as 120 voluntary flu champions who are responsible for encouraging colleagues to have the injection.
The immunisation is offered from the end of September through to the end of March each year.
When it comes to communication, the hospital has an annual strapline to illustrate the significance of the flu vaccination. For example, this year’s slogan is: “Twit twoo, don’t get the flu”, while 2014’s was: “Get injected, stay protected.”
In line with this, large models of owls were placed all over Birmingham. These were later sold at an auction and the proceeds donated to the hospital.
James Shanahan, associate service director and head of emergency planning at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, says: “If [an employee] is encouraged to do something by other people [they] work with, it becomes part of [their] culture, which is why we try to make sure employees encourage each other to have the jab.
“The campaign links back to our culture and values of helping people feel better. We are not driven by the target of how many staff we can immunise, but by how much we are helping them and their families in the winter.”