English community pharmacy saw its most successful flu season to date, administering over 1.4 million vaccinations in 2018/19.

According to data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), 1,431,538 patients received a flu jab in a community pharmacy under England’s nationally commissioned scheme during that period.

This is over 87,000 more jabs than were administered by pharmacists in England the previous year, with 84 more contractors offering the service in 2018/19.

Almost eight in 10 (78%) of community pharmacies in England offered the service in this time period.

While the average number of vaccinations carried out by each of these pharmacies was 158, five contractors greatly exceeded tis number by giving out over 1,000 jabs each. One pharmacy administered over 2,500, according to the NHSBSA data.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) noted that contractors have until September 2019 to submit their claims for the vaccinations their teams carried out, so the total number of vaccinations could be higher.

PSNC Director of NHS Services Alastair Buxton said: ‘It is great to see that community pharmacies have again surpassed last year’s total, despite the obstacles they faced last winter with the phased delivery of the adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine.

‘Community pharmacy has shown once again that even during difficult times, there is a real appetite to offer patients and local communities excellent services that contribute to the prevention agenda prioritised in the NHS Long-Term Plan.’

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