Winner
The Childhood Immunisations and COVID-19 Vaccination Enhanced Recall Project
Partner(s): NHS Black Country ICB
Executive Summary
The Black Country Integrated Care Board (BCICB), serving one of the more deprived populations in England, continues to work towards improving uptake of childhood immunisations (including MMR) and the seasonal COVID-19 vaccine. Current uptake levels remain below national targets, highlighting an opportunity to further strengthen public health outcomes and reduce existing health inequalities. CHASE partnered with the BCICB to launch the Support for Primary Care Vaccination Services (SPCV) project. This project moved beyond passive recall to deploy a team of highly trained Primary Care Immunisation Facilitators (PCIFs). Working remotely with up to 171 GP practices, the PCIFs conduct intensive, person-centred telephone engagement in multiple languages to overcome vaccine hesitancy, a task that GP staff lack the time and specialist training to perform. This highly cost-effective solution targets a 15% uptake increase and includes a strategic pilot of an AI Automation Recaller Tool to maximise scalability. The project has secured exceptional engagement after five months, with 156 of 171 practices on board or in the onboarding stage, 56 practices in active patient recall, facilitating 3,200 childhood immunisations and demonstrating immediate local impact with a proven, replicable model for tackling national vaccination deficits in hard-to-reach communities.
Highly commended
Salford Royal Hospital & Merck Serono: Salford Early Diagnostics MS Clinic Collaborative Working Project
Partner(s): Salford Royal Hospital & Merck Serono
Executive Summary
The Salford Early Diagnostics Clinic Collaborative Working Project is a partnership between Merck Serono and Salford Royal Hospital, led by Dr Joyutpal Das and Christian Magson. It addresses a critical challenge in MS care: timely diagnosis and treatment to preserve long‑term brain health. As highlighted in the MS Brain Health report (Giovannoni et al., 2015) and peer‑reviewed literature (Cerqueira et al., 2018), “time matters in MS” — early intervention reduces relapses, slows disability progression, and improves outcomes.Previously, patients faced an average wait of 18 months before accessing specialist services. To tackle this, Merck provided funding for a new clinic aimed to diagnose patients earlier, supported by referral and diagnostic pathways. Pathway mapping streamlined processes, reducing referral times to 6 months; enabling earlier diagnosis, faster treatment initiation and improved outcomes.Salford Royal, one of the UK’s largest MS centres caring for over 5,000 patients, introduced pathways that increase capacity and triage patients efficiently based on MRI evidence of demyelination. The clinic reviews 6 patients per week, with a 95% diagnosis rate, and is projected to assess 200 new patients by year‑end.This project exemplifies transformative collaboration between industry and NHS, embedding sustainable models of care with clear potential for replication nationally.
