The NHS England Vaccination, Policy and Contracts Team have confirmed that:
“In light of the national measles outbreak and urgency to support rapid uptake of the MMR vaccine, we are permitting practices to administer MMR vaccines to their eligible staff who are registered with another practice under INT (immediately necessary treatment). Please note this is a time limited arrangement until 31 March 2024 in light of the on-going national incident and only applies to MMR vaccinations.
“An item of service fee cannot be claimed for the administration of MMR vaccines to staff registered with another practice. However, indemnity cover will be provided through CNSGP and nationally supplied MMR stock can be used to vaccinate eligible staff. Staff must be strongly encouraged to inform their registered practice that they have received an MMR vaccine, requesting it be included in their medical record.”
There is currently a banner on the NHS Resolution homepage confirming this. The agreement to extend this cover was put in place following a request raised with NHS England by the BMA General Practitioners Committee England (GPCE), in light of the risk to practice staff posed by current measles outbreaks.
Communications resources
North West London ICB has provided a collection of resources to support MMR uptake and increased patient awareness of measles.
For practice staff they have provided these resources:
NHS England guidance
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has recently published updated guidance regarding the management of suspected measles cases. This includes details on clinical diagnosis, public health management, and isolation of cases in primary care. There is also updated infection prevention and control guidance on risk assessment and IPC measures which supports the use of PPE including respiratory protective equipment. The London region has confirmed there is currently no additional funding for this equipment.
The mumps, measles and rubella vaccine (MMR) is part of the NHS Routine Childhood Immunisation Programme with the first dose offered at one year and a second dose at three years, four months. As part of the national MMR call/recall programme, reminders will be sent to the parents/guardians of children aged 6-11 years who require one or two doses of the MMR vaccine. In London where the risk of measles outbreaks is currently high, NHS England plans to extend the target age cohorts so that children and young adults aged 6-25 receive MMR vaccination reminders. Further information on the practice role and GP contract requirements in support of the national MMR campaign is available here.
This page was originally published on 28 February 2024, the updated with the ICB resources on 20 March.