MMR Survey for GP Practice Staff – Tackling health inequalities within Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine uptake

Have you been involved in the delivery of the practice’s childhood immunisation service?

Despite the existence of a safe and effective vaccine, measles cases are on the rise in the UK. Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine uptake is the lowest it has been in a decade, with a recent UK Health Security Agency risk assessment revealing that unless MMR vaccine uptake improves, London alone could see a measles outbreak of between 40,000 and 160,000 cases (UKHSA, 2023). In addition, uptake of childhood immunisations in the UK is frequently found to be lower amongst ethnic minorities, particularly Black communities, further exacerbating health inequalities.

This survey seeks to understand what are successful strategies GP practices can implement to increase the MMR vaccine uptake amongst Black communities. Its purpose is to capture the direct perspectives and experiences of GP practice staff and their involvement with delivering the practice’s routine childhood immunisation service. Emphasis will not just be on which strategies are most effective in increasing uptake, but also which strategies are most feasible for practices to implement with their current capacity.

This research is being carried out as part of an NHS England-funded MSc in Health Policy at Imperial College London. The Researcher is an NHS England London Immunisation Commissioner and therefore the results of the survey will produce valuable insights into patient behaviours and the role NHS England can play in facilitating the successfulness of strategies, via future policy development and implementation.

Any NHS GP practice staff who are or have been involved in the delivery of the childhood immunisation service can participate in this survey (i.e. both clinical and non-clinical staff such as doctors, nurses, healthcare support workers, practice managers and reception or administrative teams).

Please note that participation is entirely voluntary, all answers are anonymised, and personal data will not be collected. There are 15 questions to answer in total and an estimated completion time of 3-5 minutes. There will be an opportunity at the end of the survey to indicate willingness to participate in a separate 30-minute online follow-up interview on this topic.

If you would like to participate in this study, please complete the survey here: https://forms.office.com/e/UhkmHUkPLn.