The flu season is getting close again
Posted on:3rd August 2025
Flu clinics 2025:
Just like last year, we cannot do any flu clinics on a Saturday. Our request to open during a weekend was declined.
Although we are disappointed with this, we are sure we can make it work for our patients. There will be 2 Friday walk-in flu clinics in early October:
Friday 3 October 9 am – 5 pm in Cudworth
Friday 10 October 9 am – 5 pm in Grimethorpe
No need to book your appointment in advance, just turn up on the day and book in at reception.
We will only provide the flu vaccine during these clinics to our eligible patients. No other service will be run at the site where the flu clinic takes place (no GP or other appointments at that site in principle on that day).
If you are also eligible for other vaccinations (pneumonia, shingles, RSV), you will need to book these separate. Covid vaccinations are not provided at the surgery and should be booked centrally.
If you are housebound and would like to receive your flu vaccination, please check that you are on our housebound list so we can arrange for these vaccinations to happen in your home. If we are not aware you’re housebound, we may need to ask a clinician to assess whether you fit the criteria for a housebound person. (eg. not being able to leave the house because you have a roast in the oven is not equal to being housebound)
In September, we will provide some pre-bookable appointments on weekdays for pregnant ladies and 2-3-year-olds to book into. There will be additional pre-bookable appointments in the following months too.
If you are due your annual review from 1 October onwards, you can also receive your flu-vaccination and any other vaccinations that you are eligible for at the same time as the annual review. Please let the receptionist know at the time of booking and mention it at your appointment.
Eligibility criteria:
Only patients registered with Grimethorpe Surgery in Grimethorpe and Cudworth (Dr Maters/Dr Sakellaropoulos (Dr Sam))
Pregnant ladies (eligible from September)
2-3-year-olds (eligible from September) – preferably not during flu clinics
Children over 6 months but below 18 in a clinical risk group (eligible from September)
Those aged 65 and over (from October)
Those aged 18-65 in a clinical risk group (from October)
Those in long-stay residential homes (from October)
Carers in receipt of carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person (from October)
Close contacts of immunocompromised individuals (from October)
Frontline workers in a social care setting without an employer-led occupational health scheme (otherwise will need to be arranged by employer) (from October)
Timing of eligibility
Why are those who appear most at risk not eligible until October?
This is a very good question and has nothing to do with the surgery and other providers being discriminatory or just being difficult.
Evidence has shown that the protection against influenza following the vaccination slowly diminishes the longer it is since the vaccination. It is therefore preferable to vaccinate individuals closer to the time when the flu virus is likely to circulate (which typically peaks in December or January), as this will provide optimal protection during the highest risk period.
So why do pregnant ladies and children get it in September already?
One of the benefits of the flu vaccine is the protection it offers to the child in the first few months of life, when they are particularly vulnerable to flu. It is important to ensure that as many newborn babies are protected during the flu season by not delaying vaccination for pregnant women.
They are not expected to lose protection as rapidly as the elderly population; starting vaccination earlier (particularly in those women who are in the later stages of pregnancy) will still offer protection to women themselves in the peak season.
As flu circulation in children normally precedes that in adults, the children’s programme should continue to start from 1 September or as soon as delivery and supply of vaccine allows. Protection from the vaccine also lasts much longer in children so the priority is to start vaccinating all children (including those in clinical risk groups), both to provide early protection to children and to reduce transmission to the wider population.
Following clinical assessment there may be a small number of other adults who would benefit from vaccination from 1 September. For example, for those who are due to commence immunosuppressive treatment (such as chemotherapy), having a flu vaccine before they start treatment would allow them to make a better response to their vaccination.
What are the at-risk groups?
Chronic respiratory disease
Asthma that requires continuous or repeated use of inhaled or systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including chronic bronchitis and emphysema; bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung fibrosis, pneumoconiosis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).
In addition to those with chronic respiratory disease, children who have previously been admitted to hospital for lower respiratory tract disease.
Chronic heart disease and vascular disease
Congenital heart disease, hypertension with cardiac complications, chronic heart failure, individuals requiring regular medication and/or follow-up for ischaemic heart disease. This includes individuals with atrial fibrillation,
peripheral vascular disease or a history of venous thromboembolism.
Chronic kidney disease
Chronic kidney disease at stage 3, 4 or 5, chronic kidney failure, nephrotic syndrome, kidney transplantation.
Chronic liver disease
Cirrhosis, biliary atresia, chronic hepatitis.
Chronic neurological disease
Stroke, transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Conditions in which respiratory function may be compromised due to neurological or neuromuscular disease (for example polio syndrome sufferers). Clinicians should offer immunisation, based on individual assessment, to clinically vulnerable individuals including those with cerebral palsy, severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), Down’s syndrome, multiple sclerosis,
dementia, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease and related or similar conditions; or hereditary and degenerative disease of the nervous system or muscles; or severe neurological disability.
Diabetes and adrenal insufficiency
Type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes requiring insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs, diet-controlled diabetes. Addison’s disease, secondary or tertiary adrenal insufficiency requiring steroid replacement.
Immunosuppression
Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment, including patients undergoing chemotherapy leading to immunosuppression, patients undergoing radical radiotherapy, solid organ transplant recipients, bone marrow or stem cell transplant recipients, people living with HIV (at all stages), multiple myeloma or genetic disorders affecting the immune system (for example IRAK-4, NEMO, complement disorder, SCID). Individuals who are receiving immunosuppressive or immunomodulating biological therapy including, but not limited to, anti-TNF- alemtuzumab, ofatumumab, rituximab, patients receiving protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors, and individuals treated with steroid sparing agents such as cyclophosphamide and mycophenolate mofetil.
Individuals treated with or likely to be treated with systemic steroids for more than a month at a dose equivalent to prednisolone at 20mg or more per day (any age), or for children under 20kg, a dose of 1mg or more per kg per day.
Anyone with a history of haematological malignancy, including leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma and those with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis who may require long term
immunosuppressive treatments.
Some immunocompromised patients may have a suboptimal immunological response to the vaccine.
Asplenia or dysfunction of the spleen
This also includes conditions such as homozygous sickle cell disease, hereditary spherocytosis, thalassemia major and coeliac disease that may lead to splenic dysfunction.
Morbid obesity (class III obesity)*
Adults with a Body Mass Index ≥40 kg/m².
Any further questions, or any questions left unanswered? Please, just ask us and we will try to answer you. You can do so by contacting us at the surgery (in person, via the telephone, or using our online consultations –
https://accurx.nhs.uk/patient-initiated/c85018), or asking questions in our Facebook Group (Friends of Grimethorpe Surgery), which can be found at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1090092811812011.
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