BCHC Staff Flu Vaccinations
BCHC colleagues can get free flu vaccinations throughout 2025 and 2026 at a time and location convenient to you.
Take a look at the below timetable to view where/when vaccinations slots are available.
Members of the public are advised to speak to their local GP or pharmacy to receive flu vaccinations this winter.
Drop in on the day or book your slot using the online system at one of the following five sites:
- Birmingham Dental Hospital
- Moseley Hall Hospital
- Priestley Wharf
- West Heath Hospital
- West Midlands Rehab Centre
If you need to cancel a winter vaccination appointment for any reason, please phone the Adult Vaccination Service on 0121 466 3637.
Date |
Venue |
Time |
1 October |
Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 West Heath Hospital Ward 10
|
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
2 October |
Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre Clinic Room 1 |
9.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
3 October |
Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre Clinic Room 1 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
4 October | Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 | 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
6 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital Rooms 3.11 and 3.12 Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 Priestley Wharf G04 and G04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Priestley Wharf (8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.) |
7 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital Room 3.11 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Priestley Wharf (8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.)
|
8 October |
West Heath Hospital Ward 10 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
West Heath Hospital (9.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.) 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
9 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.11 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
10 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.12 Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
13 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.11 and 3.12 West Heath Hospital Ward 10 West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre Clinic Room 1 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. Priestley Wharf (2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.) |
14 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.11 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
15 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.12 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
16 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.11 and 3.12 Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
17 October |
Birmingham Dental Hospital 3.12 Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
Birmingham Dental Hospital (8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.) Priestley Wharf (8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.) |
18 October |
West Heath Hospital Ward 10 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
20 October |
West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre Clinic Room 1 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
21 October |
Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
22 October |
Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
23 October |
West Heath Hospital Ward 10 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
24 October |
Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
27 October |
Priestley Wharf G03/04 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
28 October |
West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre Clinic Room 1 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
29 October |
West Heath Hospital Ward 10 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
30 October |
Moseley Hall Hospital Ward 3 |
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. |
31 October |
|
|
Flu vaccination Frequently Asked Questions
Every year, the flu vaccination is offered to frontline healthcare workers in the NHS to reduce the risk of staff contracting the virus and transmitting it to their loved ones, patients and service users. Frequently asked questions, and their answers, are listed below.
Why is it important NHS colleagues get the flu vaccine?
Protecting yourself from the flu.
Frontline healthcare workers are more likely to be exposed to the influenza (flu) virus, particularly during winter months when some of their patients will be infected. It has been estimated that up to one in four healthcare workers may become infected with influenza during a mild influenza season - a much higher incidence than expected in the general population.
Typically, the elderly, the very young, and people with underlying medical conditions are at a greater risk of suffering severe illness. However, even previously healthy people and the young can develop severe complications from influenza including bronchitis, secondary bacterial pneumonia and, more rarely, meningitis, encephalitis and/or death.
Protecting your family against flu.
Some healthcare workers, aware that they are more likely to become infected with influenza (flu), get the flu vaccination to protect their family members, particularly babies, children or other relatives who may fall into at-risk groups such as elderly parents.
Protecting your patients against flu.
Influenza is a highly transmissible infection. The patient population found in hospital is much more vulnerable to its severe effects. Healthcare workers may transmit the illness to patients even if they are mildly or sub-clinically infected. There are reports of influenza outbreaks within hospitals and other care settings where transmission from healthcare workers to patients is likely to have facilitated the spread of the disease. From our newborn babies cared for by our health visitors to our community nurses supporting our elderly patients, we have a duty to protect them.
How safe is the flu vaccine?
In short, the flu vaccine is safe. The most common side effect can be very mild bruising.
Although people sometimes say that the vaccine gave them influenza, this is not possible. The influenza vaccines offered to healthcare workers in the UK are inactivated and do not contain live viruses. Only one vaccine (Fluenz) contains a live virus that has been attenuated and adapted to grow at temperatures below body temperature, but this is only used for the extension of the flu immunisation programme to healthy children.
It is most likely that the flu-like symptoms experienced by people who have just had the vaccine are not caused by influenza but by one of many other circulating viruses that can produce influenza-like symptoms. Since it can take up to two weeks following vaccination to develop immunity to influenza, it is possible for infection to occur if exposed to influenza during this period.
Why should we worry about influenza?
Influenza can cause a spectrum of illness ranging from mild to severe, even among people who were previously well. The impact on the population varies from year to year, depending on how many people are susceptible, any changes to the influenza virus and the severity of the illness caused by the influenza subtype in circulation. The capacity for the virus to mutate/change and the duration of protection from the vaccine (about one season), are the reasons that the vaccine is tailored each year to protect against the most commonly circulating strains and shows why annual vaccination is necessary.
The timing, extent and severity of influenza seasons is unpredictable, and intermittent epidemics can cause significant illness and mortality.
The UKHSA estimated that an average 8,000 people die from flu in England each year. Some years that figure could go beyond 14,000.
Is the flu vaccine safe in pregnancy?
There are benefits to both mother and child. The inactivated influenza vaccine is now recommended for women during pregnancy, because flu during pregnancy may be associated with perinatal mortality, prematurity, smaller neonatal size, lower birth weight and increased risk of complications for mother.
What about severe reactions to the flu vaccine?
The risk of having an anaphylactic reaction to the seasonal influenza vaccine is very low, but anyone who has had a severe reaction (anaphylaxis) to a previous dose of seasonal influenza vaccine, or to any part of the vaccine, should not receive it.
Individuals who have an egg allergy can be immunised in primary care with an egg-free influenza vaccine if available, or an inactivated vaccine with an ovalbumin content of less than 0.12 μg/ml. Patients who have either confirmed anaphylaxis to egg or egg allergy with severe uncontrolled asthma can be immunised with an egg-free influenza vaccine.
How is safety of the flu vaccine monitored?
As with all medicines used in the UK, influenza vaccines require licensing by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Like other medical products, passive surveillance, using reports from yellow cards, is used to identify adverse events. The observed rate of adverse reports is compared to the expected rate, based on data from a general practice research database, after making allowance for under-reporting.
Does the flu vaccine contain porcine (pig) products?
The inactivated vaccine that is routinely offered to NHS/BCHC healthcare workers does not contain porcine products.
The live attenuated vaccine Fluenz that is used for the childhood flu programme contains a highly processed form of gelatine that is derived from pigs, which is used in a range of many essential medicines.
When should I be vaccinated?
The new vaccines should be available each year from the beginning of October and any healthcare worker with direct patient contact is urged to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Any healthcare worker in at-risk groups can receive the vaccine at their GP surgery but are asked to report this vaccination at work to ensure inclusion in uptake figures collected and published by UKHSA.
Can the flu vaccine can give you the flu?
There is no possible way the flu vaccine can give you the flu as the virus when injected is already dead. Some people may mistake the symptoms from bugs caught at the same time or the body's response to the vaccine for flu.
Can antibiotics can fight the flu?
Only bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics; the flu is a virus and therefore antibiotics would have no effect on the flu.
Is the flu is only dangerous for the elderly?
It is true that flu is dangerous for people over 65, however flu can also be dangerous for others, when they are healthy, unhealthy, young or elderly.
Is it true that if you get the flu, you cannot get it again?
Lots of people assume that if they have had the flu recently, they can't get it again, so they won't need the vaccine, however there may be more than one type of flu virus in circulation. There is nothing stopping you catching the flu virus more than once.
Why do I need the flu vaccine every year?
Each year the strain of flu can vary meaning the vaccination varies. Plus, your antibodies produced by vaccination decrease overtime so you may have less if no protection against the flu.
Quick facts about flu vaccinations
· Having the flu jab will protect yourself and others. By having the flu jab you will not only be protecting yourself but those around you preventing the spread of the virus.
· Anyone can catch the flu. But the vaccine offers the best protection from the strains of flu in the vaccine.
· You can be contagious one day before symptoms occur. Flu is a highly infectious illness you can carry and pass the flu virus around before you know you have got it. This is another reason why getting the flu vaccine is important.
· The strain of the virus can change each year. This is why it is important to get your vaccination annually.
· Flu often occurs as an epidemic. This is where an outbreak of sickness affects a lot more people than normal vaccinations can reduce the number of those affected.
· You are 11 times more likely to die if you get the flu if you are one of the following:
- 65 or over
- Pregnant
- Someone with a serious medical history
- Someone who lives in a residential or nursing home
- The main carer of an older and or disabled person.
· People with mild or no symptoms of flu can infect others.
· The vaccination of health and social care workers protects a chain of people. It protects them and reduces the risk of spreading the flu to their patient's service users colleagues and family members.
· Flu immunisation is one of the most effective interventions we can provide to reduce harm from flu and pressures on health and social care services during the winter.
· By preventing flu infection through vaccination, secondary bacterial infections such as pneumonia are prevented. This reduces the need for antibiotics and helps prevent antibiotic resistance.
· By reducing transmission of flu, it should also avert many cases of severe flu and flu-related deaths in older adults and people in clinical risk groups.
· Getting vaccinated against flu can help protect you, your patients and family everyone is susceptible to flu, even if you are in good health and eat well you can be infected with the virus and have no symptoms but can still pass flu virus to others including patients or residents.
· Good infection control measures reduce spread of flu and other acute respiratory infections in healthcare settings but are not sufficient alone to prevent them.
· Throughout the last 10 years there has generally been a good to moderate match between the strains of flu virus in the vaccine and those that subsequently circulated.