Houston, we have a problem!
You may recognise this quote (some say misquote) from the Apollo 13 space mission. In fact, for Ballarat and District Division it’s more like Ballarat, we have a problem!
Ballarat and District Division has declining immunisation rates. A growing number of practices are falling below the 90% immunisation rate for their patient population. A number of other practices are teetering just above this minimum cut off. This reduces herd immunity (and your ability to receive the PIP payments for your practices). Pertussis (whooping cough) is highly contagious in the unimmunised.
Ballarat & District overall immunisation coverage rates
Last year 136 cases of Pertussis were reported in BDDGP. From Jan 1st til 30th April 2009, 57 people infected with Pertussis had their cases notified to DHS from the Ballarat & District Division of General Practice. In the same time frame 83 out of 821(Victorian) cases have been notified from Grampians. Not all cases are actually notified.
Over the next few months Jo Millard and Michelle MacGillivray from BDDGP will contact practices to discuss measures for improving these immunisation rates for your practice.
Simple things you can do to improve your practices immunisation rates:
- Sometimes it’s as simple as correcting data entries or checking that immunisation data is being sent to ACIR. Do you know who is responsible for this in your practice?
- Could sending data electronically to ACIR benefit your practice and your patients?
- Have you changed software recently? It may be that your immunisation data isn’t going through electronically to ACIR.
- Is your practice receiving the 20A reports from ACIR? These reports assist in recalling patients behind in their immunisation schedule and therefore not protected from vaccine preventable disease.
Please contact me for assistance on jom@bddgp.org.au.
Congratulations to Skipton Medical Practice for achieving 100% immunisation coverage!
