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Elderly to get £8m protection from
killer diseases
By Julia
Horton, Edinburgh News
September 15, 2003
Thousands
of pensioners in the Lothians are to be vaccinated against killer diseases
like pneumonia under a new £8 million campaign launched today.
 For
the first time, all over-65s in Scotland will automatically be offered a
jag protecting them from diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis and blood
poisoning.
The
massive programme is aimed at slashing the death toll from pneumococcal
forms of the infections, which strike hundreds of elderly people in
Scotland each year, killing dozens.
In
the Lothians, around 60 pensioners are admitted to hospital every year
with pneumococcal infections, with around 15 dying.
The
new Scottish Executive funded programme was launched on September 15 with
a major advertising campaign urging all elderly Scots to get the jag when
GPs start to offer it alongside the annual flu jabs next month.
GPs
and public health experts in the Lothians welcomed the programme.
Deputy
director for public health and health policy at Lothian NHS Board, Dr
Anne-Maree Wallace, said: "This vaccination programme will provide
additional protection for older people against a range of serious
illnesses, in one simple injection."
Dr
Peter Shishodia, chairman of the Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust GP
sub-committee, and an Edinburgh GP, also welcomed the programme - although
he warned that it would give already busy GPs more work.
He
said: "There is some evidence that it does help. We do see people
with these pneumococcal infections but it is difficult to predict who will
get them, so from that point of view the vaccination programme would help
people who are at risk.
"There
is no doubt that it will increase the workload on GPs but hopefully that
will be minimised by tying the programme in with the flu programme."
Dr
David Love, joint chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish
general practitioners committee agreed, saying: "This is a one-off
jag for most patients which will help prevent serious illnesses such as
pneumonia, blood poisoning (septicaemia) and meningitis, which can be
extremely serious for older patients.
"We
anticipate most practices will offer patients the new vaccine at the same
time as they receive their flu jag.
"Although
GP practices will face additional workload in delivering the pneumococcal
immunisation programme, the BMA believes that practices will do all they
can to ensure a high uptake of immunisation and protect vulnerable
patients from these serious illnesses."
Pneumococcal
infection can cause severe forms of pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis
which can all prove fatal.
Figures
from the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health show that
around 600 Scots are taken to hospital each year suffering from
pneumococcal infections, around 50 per cent of whom are elderly.
Of
those elderly victims, about 30 die each year.
Until
now, only people who are deemed to be at high risk of catching infections,
such as heart disease patients or people with diabetes, are routinely
offered a vaccination against them.
But
under the new programme all the half-a-million over-65s in Scotland will
be offered the vaccination from next month.
GPs
are being asked to give the vaccine to patients at the same time as they
administer the flu jag - which is routinely given between October to
mid-December - to try to maximise uptake and minimise inconvenience to
patients and work for GPs.
The
publicity campaign this week includes television and radio advertising,
and new information
Leaflets
are being offered to the public and health professionals by NHS Health
Scotland explaining the campaign.
Announcing
the campaign today, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said: "We now
have clear advice that the vaccine can benefit people aged 65 and over as
a whole, and help them to avoid the serious consequences of pneumococcal
disease and stay fit and healthy.
"However,
we know that awareness of invasive pneumococcal disease and the vaccine is
generally low, and that many people’s response - whatever their age -
could be ‘pneumo-what?’ or assume this is the flu vaccine.
"That’s
why, before GP practices start to offer the vaccination in October, we are
initiating a co-ordinated Scotland-wide information and publicity
campaign.
"This
aims to give everyone the information they need."
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