Staff and residents from care group HC-One are in high spirits after the organisation scooped the accolade for ‘Best Flu Fighter Care Campaign’ at the annual NHS Flu Fighter Awards.

The Flu Fighter Awards 2019 were held on 25th March and were hosted by Daniel Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers. The awards are an opportunity to reward the hard work of ‘flu fighter’ teams across England who endeavour to keep those in their care safe from the risk of flu infection.

HC-One delivered an impactful and passionate campaign which saw a 68.8% increase on flu jab take-up on the previous year, with more than a quarter of HC-One’s 350 care homes achieving a 100% staff and resident vaccination rate.

NHS Flu Fighter judges said of HC-One’s win: "[HC-One] tackled the challenges of engaging social care staff with the flu vaccination boldly and comprehensively. They demonstrated innovation and led by example by working in partnership with key organisations, as well as utilising multi-level marketing channels to effectively communicate with staff.

“All this activity saw this organisation achieve their most successful flu vaccination campaign yet."

Forming part of their wider ‘Winter Wellbeing’ campaign, HC-One drew on the expertise of colleagues across the business to fully engage with staff at every level of the organisation. From the Chief Executive to care workers, everyone across the company worked together to encourage vaccination uptake and save lives during this winter. This included all of HC-One’s senior management team and Board participating in the vaccination programme and sharing pictures of themselves doing so through internal communications and on social media.

Alongside dedicated ‘Flu Champions’, who were on the ground in each home encouraging vaccination, HC-One also had a ‘Flu Fighter’ helpdesk which gave staff the opportunity to raise questions or concerns anonymously and allow the Flu Fighter team to offer advice and support.

Karen Johnson, HC-One’s Head of Clinical Quality, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the Best Flu Fighter Care Campaign, particularly in our most successful vaccination year to date.

“Ingrained in HC-One’s ethos is the desire to always do the best for our residents. This is how we approached our campaign and why we are so proud all our colleagues made such a concerted effort to maximise take-up, which has helped save lives this winter.

“HC-One seeks to provide the kindest care in all our homes, and our colleagues are at the very heart of this. Thank you to all who participated, and we hope to achieve even more next winter.”

https://www.hc-one.co.uk/