This report summarises the activities, events, and lessons learned from the South West London Childhood Immunisation Grant Fund 2024. The programme provided grants of up to £500 to community and voluntary organisations to promote awareness about childhood immunisations, and to signpost to the relevant NHS services.
With a rise in measles cases in summer 2024, the fund aimed to increase vaccination uptake by working with trusted community organisations to engage parents and carers. The grant programme aimed to increase awareness about childhood immunisations including MMR, whooping cough and flu. It also focused on understanding local communities’ views on immunisations. 36 organisations from six boroughs (Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton, and Wandsworth) were funded to host activities between July and September 2024, reaching 3800 people. The funding was distributed by Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA) on behalf of the South West London VCSE Alliance.
What we achieved:
- The childhood immunisation grant programme engaged diverse communities, providing information in 20 languages including English and Polish as the most common, and then Urdu, Arabic, Tamil, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Turkish, Romanian, Bengali, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Farsi, Ukrainian, Italian, Lithuanian, Igbo, and Albanian. Materials were also provided in Easy Read. Polish, Tamil, Urdu and Ukrainian.
- Parents felt reassured and more informed about childhood immunisations.
- Engagement with nine community and voluntary sector organisations who we had not worked with previously as part of this childhood immunisation fund.
- Continuing our relationship with 27 community and voluntary sector organisations who had previously been successful in our winter grant programmes.
What we heard:
- Community trust: events delivered by trusted community organisations helped parents feel more confident about vaccinations.
- Information needs: Parents wanted clearer information and guidance on vaccination schedules, ingredients and alternatives such as non-gelatine for flu vaccines.
- Barriers: Some organisations face language barriers have concerns about vaccine safety and difficulty accessing GP services.
What worked well:
- Fun, child-friendly events attracted families and created opportunities for conversations.
- Clear, accessible materials including translations were well received.
- NHS staff at events reassured parents.
What could be improved for future funding:
- Simpler handouts, for parents to take home.
- Ensuring materials and translations are delivered on time.
- Provide more notice for clinical attendance and flexibility for planning events.
To build on this success we will:
- Develop clear, culturally sensitive vaccine information.
- Use the learning from this grant programme to feed into our future grant programmes.