Immunisation catch-up calculator piloted in Southern region

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Picture: Southern District Health Board clinical nurse coordinator Jillian Boniface talks to Health Minister David Clark and Invercargill-based Labour list MP Liz Craig about the new immunisation catch-up calculator.

eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A digital tool that calculates the immunisations needed for immigrant children to ‘catch up’ to the New Zealand schedule will be piloted in the Southern region.

The immunisation catch-up calculator automates the existing manual process, involving both primary care and district health board support staff, to determine what vaccinations newly arrived children need.

This can take up to a month to complete, but by using the calculator a practice nurse will be able to fast-track the process and offer vaccinations to a family all in the same visit.

It will also save between 45–60 minutes of time for a DHB specialist immunisation nurse, allowing them to focus on more complex cases.

Following the current clinical audit phase of the prototype tool, the immunisation catch-up calculator will be piloted in Southern with immigrant children under 10 years of age.

Southern DHB clinical nurse coordinator vaccine preventable diseases Jillian Boniface and public health analyst Leanne Liggett developed the tool in partnership with WellSouth Primary Health Network.

WellSouth chief information officer Kyle Forde says 750 children a year need catch-up immunisations in the Southern region and 10,000 nationally.

The tool has been built around an application programming interface, meaning it can be picked up and used elsewhere in the country, as “any developer or third-part integrator can interact with that”, he says. 

Liggett and Boniface won the Clinician’s Challenge national innovation award in 2017, a joint initiative by the Ministry of Health and Health Informatics New Zealand.

“Planning immunisation catch-ups is a complex, time-consuming and manual process for busy practice nurses,” says Boniface.

“An online calculator will simplify data management, improve workflow efficiencies, support timely clinical delivery and ensure the National Immunisation Register is updated.”

The Ministry of Health immunisation team and the Immunisation Advisory Centre also supported the initiative.

Health Minister David Clark met with members of the team on 15 August and says the tool was a great way to improve health outcomes for newly arrived young New Zealanders.

“Vaccination is one of the best ways we can keep our children safe from dangerous diseases so it’s important that children arriving from overseas get the same protection as those born here,” he says.

“The other great thing about this calculator is that it allows our healthcare staff to do this work much more efficiently and in less time, which is better for everybody.’’

If you would like to provide feedback on this news story please contact the editor Rebecca McBeth.

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