Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 13 Feb 1996

Vol. 461 No. 4

Written Answers. - Private Vaccinations Recall.

Helen Keogh

Ceist:

74 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Health the mechanisms, if any, that are in place for the call/recall of private patients for childhood vaccinations in view of the fact that General Medical Service patients are assigned to a general practitioner and private patients are not. [2903/96]

Helen Keogh

Ceist:

75 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Health the upper and lower vaccination uptake levels of childhood vaccination for each health board area. [2904/96]

Helen Keogh

Ceist:

76 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Health if he intends to direct a childhood immunisation information-education publicity campaign at parents in view of the recent high profile case related to allegations around infant immunisation. [2905/96]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 74, 75 and 76 together.

With the childhood immunisations currently available it is possible to eradicate the diseases in question if an uptake level of 95 per cent of the child population is achieved and maintained. The objective, therefore, of the national primary childhood immunisation programme is to achieve and maintain an uptake level of not less than 95 per cent in the total childhood population to eliminate conditions such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hib disease, measles, mumps, rubella and pertussis.

The 1994 report of the Review Group on Primary Childhood Immunisation recognised that the general practitioner was ideally placed to deliver the primary childhood immunisation programme. Agreement has been reached on the delivery of the primary childhood immunisation programme by general practitioners. This scheme will cover all children, irrespective of whether they are covered by the GMS scheme.

Under this agreement every child will be assigned to a general practitioner with a contract with the health board for the delivery of the immunisation programme. Contracting general practitioners will be responsible for ensuring that, as far as possible, there is an uptake level of 95 per cent among the children assigned to them. To facilitate routine monitoring of uptake levels and, in particular, to identify children who have not been immunised, a contracting general practitioner is also required to notify the health board of the children who have been immunised.

As a consequence of a number of deficiencies in the previous method of delivery of the primary childhood immunisation programme which related to the system of delivery, the absence of computerisation in some areas and an inadequate system of reporting by general practitioners on vaccinations carried out, it is not possible to assess uptake levels accurately.

As a result of the introduction of the revised system of delivery, each health board will be in a position to make an annual report to my Department on:—

(a) the system of delivery;

(b) the immunisation uptake in each region;

(c) the number of children who have not been immunised;

(d) the measures taken to promote immunisation and, in particular, the measures taken to follow-up the children who were not immunised; and

(e) the cost of the immunisation programme.

With a view to promoting the importance of immunisation and to provide parents with information to enable them to make an informed decision regarding immunisation, an immunisation-awareness campaign is to take place in the coming months. In addition, health professionals are being urged to take every opportunity to encourage and advise parents to immunise their children.