| Vaccination | Age | Schedule | School session and clinic dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 9 (catch up for Year 10 and Year 11) | January to March | ||
|
Video: All about HPV |
Year 8 (catch up for Year 9 and Year 10) |
April to July |
|
| MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) | Year 9 | June to July | |
| Reception to Year 11 (up to year 13 in special schools) | October to December | Schedule will show here near the time |
School based
If your child is due a vaccination, school will forward you an email inviting you to give consent for their vaccination. The email will contain a link to the online consent form as well as a unique code for your child’s school. Please follow the link to complete the electronic consent form.
You are requested to complete and submit the consent form no later than 1 week before the school session. The date of the school vaccination should be shared with you by school.
Once you have submitted a consent form, you will receive an email to confirm this. Please check both your inbox and junk mail to ensure you have received this confirmation.
Get in touch if you have any problems completing the consent form.
Home educated/not in school
If we have your child’s details and they are due a vaccination we will send a letter to your home address. This letter will contain the information to access the consent form online as well as the unique code to enable you to proceed with the consent. After submitting the consent form, please contact us to book your child into one of our community vaccination clinics. Dates, venues and our contact details are on this webpage.
Once you have submitted a consent form, you will receive an email to confirm this. Please check both your inbox and junk mail to ensure you have received this confirmation.
Get in touch if you have any problems completing the consent form.
Children registered at a school will receive a consent link and school code to complete the online school code. The children will receive the vaccination at the school session. If children miss the session at school and there isn’t a catch-up school session, parents can book the child in for a clinic appointment. Please check the schedule for catch-up dates and clinics.
Children educated outside of school will receive a letter inviting for a community clinic.
If you are a healthcare professional or a parent/guardian and you think a child is outstanding any school vaccinations, please contact us.
Before you begin completing this consent form, make sure you have your child's school code to hand.
If you choose not to consent for your child to be vaccinated, please complete the form indicating no-consent.
Guidance for completing the consent forms
- The direct link for the consent forms is: cumbriaschoolimmunisations.co.uk. If you experience problems with the link, please let your local immunisation team know.
- Please enter your email address and confirm your email address. It is important you have filled this in correctly as this is where you will receive any correspondence relating to the vaccination.
- Next you will need the school code which can be found on the invite email or letter or in the section on this webpage. The school code is very sensitive to how it is typed in. Please ensure there are no spaces before or after the code and no full stop.
- Please click 'Find School' once the code is typed in. This enters the name of the child's school in the box underneath school code.
- You can then press ‘Next’ on the form. This will take you to enter your child's details. Please ensure your child's details are entered correctly. If you don’t have your child’s NHS number, we can enter this after the consent form is complete.
- The next section is your contact number. It’s really important to include an up-to-date phone number, this is essential if we need to ring you for further information.
- The consent section is next where you enter if you consent or do not consent to your child receiving the vaccination(s). Consent must only be given by the person with parental responsibility.
- If you give consent, you will then be asked a series of health questions. You must answer all the questions. If you answer yes to any of the questions, please provide any additional information as requested.
- The consent form is now complete and can be submitted. If there are any changes to your child’s health after submitting the consent form please inform your local immunisation team and they can amend this with you.
- Complete and submit the consent form no later than 1 week before the school immunisation session. After this date the link will be closed and you won’t be able to access the consent form. School immunisation dates can be found on this webpage.
- Check your inbox and junk mail after 6pm on the day you submitted the e-consent form for an email to confirm the form has been received. If you do not receive this email, please speak to the local immunisation team before submitting a new consent form as we can check if a form has been received and confirm your email address.
- A new form needs to be completed for each child and vaccination programme. If you have children at different schools, their form must be completed with the code for their school.
- If your child has their vaccine at the GPs after you have submitted the consent form, please let your local immunisation team know.
- On the day of the school vaccination session, you will receive an email in the evening to confirm your child has had their vaccination that day. If your child has refused the vaccination or has been absent, you should also receive and email to confirm this and signpost you to your local immunisation team to discuss this or arrange a clinic appointment. You will only receive this email confirmation if you have submitted a yes consent form. Please remember to check in your junk box too for this email.
Allerdale and Copeland
Call 01900 705867
Email ncm-tr.westschoolimmsteam@nhs.net
Carlisle and Eden
Call 01228 608157
Email ncm.tr.northschoolagedimmunisationteam@nhs.net
South Lakes and Furness
Call 01539 718014
Supporting children and young people with needle phobia
Having a fear of medical procedures that involve a needle is a common problem and affects about 1 in 10 people. Here are some tips and advice to help support your child to have their vaccination.
- If your child is anxious or nervous about having their vaccination, as their parent or carer it is important to remain positive and calm. If you appear stressed this can make them feel stressed too.
- Be aware that they may not have their vaccination on the first school or clinic visit. Sometimes a child or young person needs more time to become familiar with their surroundings and with the immunisation nurses. Building a trusting, positive relationship with the nurses is important but may take a few visits.
- If you are aware your child is going to be anxious about getting their vaccination, please ring your local immunisation team in advance. We can discuss this with you and the best way to meet your child’s needs.
- In the week leading up to the vaccination appointment practice this relaxation exercise with your child:
Breathing for relaxation
Sit in a comfortable position, back straight but not rigid, relax your shoulders and jaw.
With one hand on your belly, breathe in through your nose, a long and slow gentle breath and the out through the mouth.
Repeat this 5 times, 3 times a day in the week preceding their vaccination if possible.
- Help your child to understand how vaccines work and why they are important. Explain how by having the vaccination they can protect themselves, their friends and families. Use the information leaflets to help you. These will be available at the school session and in the clinic waiting rooms and information is also available online (please see the links in the vaccine schedule section)
- Talk to them about what is going to happen when they go in for the vaccination. Tell them in small steps so they don’t feel overwhelmed.
- Be honest with your child, some people can feel the injection but it is over very quickly.
- On the day of the vaccination ensure your child has a good breakfast before leaving for school or a snack if coming to a clinic appointment. It helps if they wear a short sleeved top so it is easier for them to show the top of their arm.
- Watch out for signs of anxiety. These can be non-verbal such as fidgeting, being quieter than usual, biting nails or they may be chatting more, talking loudly or may not be engaging in conversation with you.
- Use distraction techniques, if you are with them in the clinic talk to your child, use a phone or tablet to play a game, if they like listening to music or sounds, do this. Remember to bring their earphones!
- Try to make them laugh. Tell a joke and see if you can get them to smile. This can help relieve their tension.
- Encourage them to take deep breaths while waiting.
- Use the 5 senses grounding technique to calm them down: Ask them to identify one thing they can see, hear, touch, taste and smell.
- Once they are in the clinic room, or sitting with the nurse in the school session, the nurses are very experienced in using distraction techniques to help divert their attention away from the needle.
- The nurses are patient and caring. Like you, they want your child to have the vaccination but they will never force or coerce your child to have this.
- Often the longer the child sits with the nurse, the more their anxiety can increase. The nurse will use her experience to advise the child/young person if they are best to go back to class or to rearrange another clinic appointment.
A child or young person who is very anxious has done well to come and sit with the nurse and start their journey towards getting the vaccination.
If possible, plan for a treat afterwards!
Fainting
Occasionally children and young people can faint after a vaccination. When something triggers their fear such as thinking about an injection, the heart rate and blood pressure increase. This is followed by a rapid drop which leads to fainting. The nurses are very experienced in dealing with this and they may need to lie the child or young person down for a short while with their legs elevated. This helps them to recover quickly and they should be well enough to return back to class. We will always inform you as well as the school if your child has fainted. If the child or young person is feeling faint, they may asked to do the applied tension technique.
Applied tension technique
Stay sitting in your seat
Tense the muscles in your arms and legs and upper body for 10-15 seconds, or until you feel warmth rising in your face. Avoid tensing any part of the body where you have a health problem.
Release the tension, wait 30 seconds and then tense again. Repeat this sequence 5 times.
This can also be practiced 3 times a day in the week before their vaccination.
If your child doesn’t get their vaccination on the day of the school session, the parent or carer will be notified of this later that day via a message to the email address assigned to the consent form.
Your child may be offered the option of the vaccination again in school if there is a catch-up session or you can make an appointment to attend with them at one of our vaccination clinics.
Key points for children and young people fearful of injections
- Do not be ashamed if you are scared of injections. You are not alone.
- Tell your parents/guardian, school teacher or health professional about your worries. You can then start to get support to help you manage these.
- Think about what helps.
- Learn the applied tension technique if you faint or feel faint, or the breathing for relaxation exercise if you feel panicky.
- Overcome your fear one step at a time.
Additional resources:
A person who gives consent for their child to have the vaccination must have parental responsibility for that child.
This could be:
- the child's mother or father
- the child's legally appointed guardian
- a person with a residence order concerning the child
- a local authority designated to care for the child
- a local authority or person with an emergency protection order for the child
If you sign a consent form for a child and you don’t have parental responsibility, this may delay the child receiving their vaccination.
Further information on parental can be found on the Government's website.
We offer the opportunity to contact your local immunisation team to give verbal consent to your child’s vaccination. This is available if you have missed the school cut-off date for completing the form or you are experiencing difficulty completing the form online yourself. The nurse will ask you all your child’s details as well as any relevant health information.
If you have consented for your child to receive a vaccination, but at the session they refuse, we will not coerce them into having the vaccination. We will discuss the vaccination with them so they have been informed of the benefits and risks. You will receive an email to confirm your child has not received the vaccination that day. We will contact you to discuss this and the best way to support them to have the vaccination.
Very occasionally a young person under the age of 16 may request a vaccination without parental consent. In these circumstances an experienced immunisation nurse would make a thorough assessment of the young person’s understanding, knowledge and competence to make such a decision. If the decision is made that they have the right level of knowledge and understanding, and they cannot be persuaded to discuss it with their parents, the immunisation nurse may go ahead and vaccinate the young person. This is known as being Gillick Competent.
If a Gillick-competent child consents to treatment, a parent cannot override that consent.
Further information can be found at the links below:
Without vaccines, we are at risk of serious illness and disability from diseases like meningitis, measles pneumonia, tetanus and polio. It is estimated that childhood vaccines alone save over 4 million lives every year.
Vaccines protect ourselves and those around us. Not everyone can be vaccinated so they depend on others to be vaccinated to ensure they are also safe from vaccine preventable diseases (World Health Organisation 2020)
Vaccines work by causing the body’s immune system to make antibodies (substances to fight infection and disease). So, if you come into contact with the infection, the antibodies will recognise it and help to protect you.
We are always looking to improve our service and value feedback from both our young people and their parents/guardians. We would like your feedback on the care or treatment you receive any time you use our services. It doesn’t take long. Your response is anonymous and really appreciated.
We will use the feedback we receive to make improvements in our services.
If you would like to give feedback on our services or clinic provision, complete our online survey online or contact the Patient Experience & Involvement Team 01228 814309 | PET@ncic.nhs.uk