Immunisations and Illnesses
Immunisations and Illnesses
Vaccines are a safe and effective tool that can help prevent serious illness and further transmission of disease. Maintaining a clean environment and encouraging hand and respiratory hygiene can also help prevent germs from spreading and is a good habit to encourage in children.
When working with children and families, you are encouraged to reflect on discussions around immunisation, hand hygiene, and respiratory hygiene with staff members; how your setting provides positive messages to parents about vaccines and how well equipped you are to support parents who have concerns about immunisations, including signposting them to health professionals to discuss these topics further. The key messages you should aim to convey are:
- Good handwashing can help prevent diseases spreading
- Vaccination saves lives, and are safe and effective
- Know what to do if an outbreak occurs
Further information and resources:
The resources and information on this page are to support you with immunisations and infection prevention and management (IPM).
Supporting immunisations
There are some good sources of information on NHS Choices including videos that can be shared with parents/carers. You can also order free leaflets from BNSSG ICB (drop Justin Warr an email at justin.warr@nhs.net).
The current immunisations schedule.
BNSSG MMR Key Facts flyer (available in English, Somali, Polish, Arabic, Romanian, Mandarin and Cantonese): MMR vaccine information – BNSSG Healthier Together
More vaccine confidence resources are available on FutureNHS (request access including a comment about early years and vaccination): South West Vaccination & Screening Team – FutureNHS Collaboration Platform
Infection prevention and management (IPM)
Download a new practical guide for staff on managing cases of infectious diseases in schools and other childcare settings here. This guidance provides advice on:
- preventing the spread of infections.
- which diseases to vaccinate for.
- how long to keep children away from early years setting or school.
- managing infectious diseases.
- cleaning the environment.
Additional considerations are available here, including guidance on:
- Toys
- breast / formula milk
- immunisations
- SEND considerations
- farms/zoos
- forest schools
Outbreak management
Reporting notifiable diseases – if you need to report a notifiable disease, please contact the UKHSA South West Health Protection Team: 0300 303 8162 (option 1, then option 1).
For urgent advice out of hours: 0300 303 8162 (option 1)
Email: swhpt@ukhsa.gov.uk
Email for personal identifiable information (PII): phe.swhpt@nhs.net
Public health exclusion periods for different infections are shown here.
Handi App
The HANDi App aims to provide advice and support to parents and carers when children are unwell. It offers simple and straightforward advice on what to do and who to contact, including illness-specific home assessment guidelines for six common childhood illnesses:
- Diarrhoea and vomiting
- High temperature
- Chesty baby (Bronchiolitis)
- Chesty child (Wheeze and Asthma)
- Abdominal pain
- Common newborn problems
You can download the HANDi App for Android phones here or if you have an iPhone or iPad you can download it from here.
Contacts
Nicola Theobald – (General and Nursery School Enquiries)
Deborah Brown – (General Enquiries)
Dawn Butler – (General Enquiries)
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