Following up on immunisation
The Times has a followup on the issue of immunisation records not being available in the London area following last years botched implementation of the Child Health Interim Application (CHIA) software by BT.
The health of children is at risk because an NHS computer system wrecked 20 years of accurate immunisation records.
Faulty software introduced in 2005 has left some primary care trusts (PCTs) unable to track whether children have been vaccinated and screened for genetic conditions, raising fears that many are unprotected against diseases. Parents are not being reminded when their children are due for jabs and check-ups.
The Health Protection Agency cannot publish full statistics on the uptake of vaccines because the five worst-affected London trusts cannot provide accurate data.
When the shortcomings of the Child Health Interim Application (CHIA) software were disclosed by The Times a year ago, the Department of Health stated that the problems were being addressed. Staff were said yesterday to be “in despair†at continuing difficulties with the system supplied by BT.
Christine Sloczynska, consultant community paediatrician at Waltham Forest PCT, in East London, said: “I’m sure there will be kids who slip through the net and will be unimmunised. Our immunisation take-up has fallen from 94 per cent to 58 per cent, but we don’t know how much it is due to children missing their vaccinations, or to lack of data.â€
“We are sometimes told of a child’s death before we know it has been born,†Dr Sloczynska said.
I wonder if there is any way that this problem will be blamed for the UNICEF shocker, though it has already been claimed that the report used old data.