Vaccination and immunisation changes for 2021/22

NHS England has provided confirmation of the changes to the vaccination and immunisation payment systems for 2021/22. Read our summary of the latest announcement below and our explainer on how these changes were devised here.

The vaccination payment overhaul was first set out in February 2020 as part of the update to the GP contract agreement 2020/21-2023/24 as part of a two-year transition to the new requirements.

From 1 April:

• The provision of vaccination and immunisation services will become an essential service for all routine NHS-funded vaccinations with two exceptions: childhood and adult seasonal influenza, which will continue as enhanced services, and COVID-19 vaccination.

• Five core contractual standards will be introduced to underpin the delivery of immunisation services. These include: i) a named lead for vaccination service; ii) provision of sufficient convenient appointments; iii) standards for call/recall programmes and opportunistic vaccination offers; iv) participation in national agreed catch-up campaigns; and v) standards for record keeping and reporting.

• A single item of service fee will be fully implemented for all doses delivered in vaccination programmes funded through the GMS contract, including where additional doses are required to meet clinical need and where children are vaccinated outside the routine schedule. These programmes are listed in Annex B together with definitions of the eligible patient cohorts and call/recall requirements.

All vaccine and immunisation programmes will be supported with an automated data extraction and monthly payment via CQRS from May/June 2021, with the exception of HPV which will remain a manual service for 21/22. NHS England and NHS Improvement Skipton House 80 London Road London SE1 6LH 10 March 20212

• The Childhood Immunisation Target DES will be retired on 31 March 2021 and a new vaccination and immunisation domain in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) introduced for 2021/22. The vaccination and immunisation indicators in this domain are detailed here and you can read other updates on how reporting of these indicators will work here.

All practices still need to take up vaccination and immunisation services on CQRS, to ensure accurate and timely payment. NHS Digital will publish a full list of the extraction criteria and eligible codes for payment purposes.

All payment details will be included in the Statement of Financial Entitlements from 1 April 2021 and service specifications will no longer be published, other than for seasonal influenza.