Access to Annual Health Checks and Covid-19 vaccine report

Healthwatch Lambeth wanted to gain a better insight into people’s experiences of accessing health checks and COVID-19 vaccines, and to identify strategies that might help the council commission interventions to improve access to these and future physical health and vaccine campaigns. They worked closely with local support organisations to carry out semi-structured interviews with a total of 12 people and/or their carers or support workers. Interviews included six people with severe mental illness and six with learning disabilities and/or autism. Five people had experience of accessing a health check and nine had accessed the COVID-19 vaccine.

They found that people varied in their understanding of what a health check was, were unclear about whether they had received it and were not always clear on their entitlements to it. The role of support networks and proactive approaches by GP surgery staff were key facilitators to access. In relation to the COVID-19 virus and vaccines, whilst most of the participants had been vaccinated, they varied in how they described the virus. Understanding the symptoms, restrictions and seriousness of the virus did not act as barriers to accessing the vaccines.

Personal perceptions of risk, and experience of the virus itself, through knowing others who had contracted it, were factors which influenced trust in the vaccines. Key facilitators to access included social context and, in particular, the role of trusted family members and friends in acting as role models, providing space for different points of views and countering misinformation surrounding the virus and vaccines.

Services, particularly support staff in local organisations and trusted health professionals, also played a key role in reinforcing messages about the vaccine campaign and creating a culture of acceptance. One barrier affecting those with learning disabilities and/or autism concerned vaccine settings, particularly those that were busy and noisy, as well as distances to travel to centres which were seen as stressful and challenging to navigate.

Suggested strategies to improve access to these interventions included working closely with trusted family members and carers to support decision making and access, encouraging peer-to-peer conversations, holding non-judgemental discussions with community leaders, bringing interventions into trusted spaces within the community, time, persistent encouragement and the provision of reliable information.

The report’s recommendations include increasing awareness through a local information campaign, proactive approaches to reminding people to attend annual health checks; and sharing positive stories and/or encouraging peer-to-peer and non-judgemental conversations with adults and young people where relevant.