Implementing and Evaluating a Workplace Flu Vaccination Pilot in a Local Authority Setting: A Mixed Methods Study
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Authors
Shona Mackinnon
Sally Hudd
Una O'Brien
Denise Malcolm
Mar Estupiñán
Fatai Ogunlayi
James Moore
Contact
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Issue Date
06-May-26
Type
Conference Abstract
Language
Keywords
Implementation/scale up , Rapid evaluation
Alternative Title
Abstract
Background: Seasonal influenza poses a substantial risk to staff health and organisational resilience. Vaccination reduces illness, absenteeism and onward transmission. In the 2024/25 flu season, Croydon staff flu vaccine voucher offers recorded no uptake, reproducing a trend observed in previous years. To address this, in 2025/26 Croydon Council piloted free onsite flu vaccination for all staff.
Objectives: 1. Improve staff vaccine uptake. 2. Evaluate programme effectiveness. 3. Identify opportunities to increase public health awareness and strengthen future delivery.
Methods: A mixed methods evaluation was conducted during delivery of five onsite drop in vaccination clinics in November 2025. Quantitative data included vaccination records and a post vaccination online survey capturing demographics, experience, ease of access and impact. Qualitative insights were gathered through free text survey responses and informal interviewing during clinic sessions. Data were collected using Microsoft Forms and Microsoft Word, and analysed and triangulated using Microsoft Excel.
Results: 336 staff received a flu vaccine, including 66 NHS eligible individuals, with a total cost of £4,880. The evaluation survey achieved a 45.2% response rate (n=152): 70.4% (n=107) female, 61.8% (n=94) white ethnicity, most common age range 55–64 (n=40, 26.3%). 82.9% of respondents described the vaccination experience as excellent and 98.7% found the clinics easy to locate. 51.4% of respondents reported they would not/probably would not have been vaccinated elsewhere. 94.7% reported increased awareness of flu vaccination and 58.6% reported improved understanding of other health initiatives promoted during the sessions. Key themes included a desire for the initiative to be repeated in future years, started earlier in the flu season and expanded to other sites.
Discussion: The initiative was associated with high satisfaction and substantially increased vaccine uptake compared to 2024/25, including among those otherwise unlikely to be vaccinated, and offers a useful model for other local authorities. Convenience, robust communication and a supportive clinic environment were central to its success. Limitations included the inability to correlate vaccination status with staff sickness absence data and risk of bias associated with unstructured interviewing. Recommendations include initiating the programme earlier in the flu season, exploring satellite clinics for staff at non central sites and strengthening wider public health promotion.