BCG vaccination GP practice referrals for children over 1 years old
Neonatal BCG Programme – infants up to 12 months
Under Section 7a of the Public Health functions agreement, NHSE can only commission and take responsibility for the neonatal BCG vaccination programme which is for babies up to 12 months old. This service is delivered by community BCG providers that receive specific funding for this cohort (contact details below).
The eligibility criteria for the neonatal BCG service is as follows:
- all infants (aged 0 to 12 months) with a parent or grandparent who were born in a country where the annual incidence of TB is 40/100,000 or greaterÂ
- all infants (aged 0 to 12 months) living in areas of the UK where the annual incidence of TB is 40/100,000 or greater (Newham is the only universal borough in London)
The community BCG providers list for delivering BCG vaccination for those infants under 1 year old is in the table below and valid until 31st August 2024. In the next 2 weeks, NHSE London Region will issue a new list of providers who will be delivering the neonatal BCG service from 1st September 2024.
| BCG Providers | ||
| Provider | Borough | Generic email addresses |
| CNWL | Brent Camden | cnw-tr.immunisationteam@nhs.net |
| Ealing Hillingdon | ||
| LGT | Lewisham | lg.neonatalbcg-antenatalimmunisation@nhs.net |
| NMUH | Enfield | northmid.bcg@nhs.net |
| Vaccination UK | Hammersmith & Fulham | vul.london.bcg@nhs.net |
| Kensington & Chelsea | ||
| Westminster | ||
| Newham | Newham.bcg@nhs.net | |
| Tower Hamlets | towerhamlets.bcg@nhs.net | |
| CLCH | Harrow | clcht.harrowandbarnetbcg@nhs.net |
| Barnet | ||
| Croydon Health | Croydon | CH-TR.croydonbcg@nhs.net |
| GSTT | Lambeth | gst-tr.immunisationteam@nhs.net |
| Southwark | ||
| HRCH | Bexley | hrch.bcg@nhs.net |
| Bromley | ||
| Greenwich | ||
| Hounslow | ||
| Kingston | ||
| Merton | ||
| Richmond | ||
| Sutton | ||
| Wandsworth | ||
| Lawson Practice | City and Hackney | lawson.practice@nhs.net |
| NELFT | Barking & Dagenham | paediatricbcgimmunisations@nelft.nhs.uk |
| Havering | ||
| Redbridge | ||
| Waltham Forest | ||
| Whittington Health | Haringey | whh-tr.bcgimmunisationreferral@nhs.net |
| Islington | ||
BCG for children over 1 year
NHSE does not have a mandate to commission BCG vaccination beyond 12 months old. Therefore, the community providers listed above are not commissioned by London Region to deliver BCG vaccinations to children over the age of 12 months. Please therefore do not refer children over the age of 12 months to these providers. We also understand some practices are making complaints directly to these providers and in some cases practices are advising parents to make complaints to these community providers for a lack of provision for children over the age of 12 months. The providers are unable to respond to complaints about a service they are not commissioned to offer.
For children over 12 months old who are eligible and seeking BCG vaccination, GP practices should contact their local ICB vaccination team to enquire about a locally commissioned BCG service for over 1s.
The ICB is responsible for commissioning a TB service and ensuring all other elements within this are in place, such as BCG vaccination for over 1s. If a patient over 1 is referred to the neonatal BCG service, the referral will be declined and the GP will be required to re-refer to the local ICB TB service.
Please contact our team directly at england.londonimms@nhs.net with any queries.