nabenet

Written by Mark Manokaran – Nabenet Health Manager

The provision of influenza vaccination programs to all staff in residential aged care homes will be compulsory from May, 2018. The moves comes amid the staggering results of a national survey conducted across residential care homes which showed a significant link between increased staff immunisation and lower aged care flu outbreaks. The Hon Ken Wyatt, Minister for Aged Care recently advised that aged care homes with only a quarter of their staff vaccinated had a 25% higher rate of flu outbreaks than those with more than three quarters vaccinated.

The national survey also revealed that 43% of the 2609 residential aged care homes reported at least one influenza outbreak in 2017. Alarmingly, only 3.5% of facilities had the recommended staff coverage of over 95% or higher to gain herd immunity.

Those providing in-house staff vaccination programs had higher coverage than those who only encouraged staff to go to an external provider.

“Vaccination is imperative for staff and residents in aged care, where the flu can spread quickly and have devastating consequences,” said Minister Wyatt. 

 Nabenet Health provides onsite flu vaccination programs for facilities with no travel*, booking or administrative charges – contact us now on 9981 9888 or workhealth@nabenet.com.au to book in your flu vaccination program.

 *metropolitan and wider Melbourne areas only. Regional areas may require additional travel fees 

Resources:

https://beta.health.gov.au/news-and-events/news/2018-influenza-season-important-information-for-residential-aged-care-workers

 https://www.agedcareguide.com.au/talking-aged-care/aged-care-staff-target-for-new-mandatory-flu-vaccine

 http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2018-hunt041.htm

2018 Flu Vaccination Bookings are NOW OPEN

Nabenet Health can provide your organisation with flu vaccinations for the 2018 flu season. It is recommended that organisations offer flu vaccinations from March to ensure protection before flu season peaks in winter.

Why choose Nabenet?

Nabenet Health will provide a professional service by one of our qualified nurse immunisers at your workplace.

We understand the needs of your business and offer an online booking system, SMS reminders, as well as catering for shift workers.

We do not charge administration fees, setup costs or travel within metropolitan Melbourne.

TO MAKE A BOOKING OR ENQUIRY PLEASE CALL MARK MANOKARAN AT NABENET on 9981 9888

To read Mark’s article about Flu Vaccinations click here

With all this beautiful weather it’s difficult to think about the flu, however, it’s time to start booking flu vaccinations for the 2017 flu season. Each year in Australia the flu causes an estimated 1,500,000 sick days and vaccination is a great way to reduce sick days in the workplace.

For 2017 vaccinations the World Health Organisation is no longer recommending the Trivalent (3 strain) vaccine and we are only offering the Quadrivalent (4 strain) vaccine. We are offering the same price for this vaccine as last year with no increase.

Our price is inclusive of equipment, metropolitan Melbourne travel, booking and setup costs and we can cater for shift workers as well if needed.

The Australian made 4 strain vaccine, recommended by the World Health Organisation for 2017 covers the following four viruses;

• an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus;
• a B/Brisbane/60/2008- like virus; and
• a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus.

We expect to have the vaccine available in early March and we also expect this will be a popular time for bookings as this is the optimum time for receiving the flu vaccination. If you would like to make a booking we urge you to do this now to secure a preferred date and time while stock is available.

PLEASE CALL NABENET HEALTH ON (03) 9981 9888 TO RECEIVE A QUOTE AND SECURE YOUR BOOKING.