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Flu Vaccination and precautions to help prevent childhood illness

With winter fast approaching, the NHS in the North West is urging parents of young children to take steps to ward off serious illnesses over the coming months.Woman wearing lanyard looking down camera

The latest figures show that between October 2021 and September 2022 there has been an 15% increase in the number of emergency hospital admissions for children compared to October 2020 to September 2021.

Health leaders are promoting messages about managing childhood asthma, where to find a simple symptom checker for children and advice about the need for and benefits of flu vaccine programme.

 Dr Paula Cowan, Medical Director for Primary Care, NHS England North West, has some advice for parents with children who have asthma:

“Over the winter period children can be exposed to more things that can trigger their asthma. Colds and flu viruses and dust mites are some of the biggest culprits.

“Some children, over the summer and autumn periods, may have fallen out of their usual preventer inhaler routines which can leave them much more vulnerable to an asthma attack.

“There are a few key things parents can do to prevent their children having an asthma attack such as ensuring  they take their preventer inhaler as this helps reduce inflammation in their airways and so helps to reduce the risk of an asthma attack.

“We would encourage parents to ensure that their child has their reliever inhaler and spacer at school to use if they have asthma symptoms and ensure their child has a yearly review with their GP or asthma nurse.

Having vaccinations, especially a flu vaccine is so important to help reduce Flu and the impact this can have on children, especially those with Asthma”

Clinical experts at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust have also developed a free-to-use, simple symptom checker for some common childhood conditions, which can be used by families across the North West region.

 Tricia Spedding, Regional Head of Public Health, is the North West’s lead for the flu vaccination programme and recommends that all children aged 2 to 17 years old get the free flu vaccine, especially if they have any underlying health conditions.

She said: “The flu vaccine helps to protect people from flu and serious complications such as bronchitis and pneumonia at a time when COVID-19 is also likely to be circulating.

“The free flu vaccine is given as a painless nasal spray for children and can be given as an injection for those children who are unable to have the nasal spray.  If your child has an underlying health condition, it is even more important that you give them added protection by making sure they have the free flu vaccine this winter.  Contact your GP and they will advise you on which is the best vaccine for your child.”

Ends

 

Notes to editors

  1. Data from the Hospital Episode Statistics https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/provisional-monthly-hospital-episode-statistics-for-admitted-patient-care-outpatient-and-accident-and-emergency-data/april-2022—september-2022 shows the increase in hospital attendances for children.

For more information, please contact the NHS North West media team – england.nwmedia@nhs.net.