Seasonal flu campaign launches with a POW!

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust have launched their own superhero-themed campaign, which aims to celebrate our flu fighting heroes, promote the benefits of the vaccination, whilst busting the myths that surround having it.

The campaign, designed and led by the Communications Team, will support the three-month programme of vaccination clinics held for staff across our Trust, run by our Occupational Health and Wellbeing Team. With its own logo and strapline ‘Be a Flu Fighter’, the campaign has already been appearing throughout the Trust on PC screensavers, in news bulletins and on posters.

A series of videos have been produced, featuring members of clinical and nursing staff, which bust the myths surrounding having the jab. These will be rolled out over the next three months via the Trust’s YouTube channel.

Fred Allen, Head of Occupational Health and Wellbeing, said: “It is important for our staff to protect themselves against the flu as by doing so, they are also protecting their patients. Having the vaccination means that not only will our staff avoid becoming ill with flu but they will ensure it is not spread to patients too.
“In the last couple of years, we have seen an increase in the number of staff who have chosen to have the vaccination. However, we do recognise that some of our staff, for whatever reason, are reluctant to have their vaccination. Therefore, in the planning of this year’s campaign, we have taken on board the feedback received from our staff who haven’t had their vaccination in previous years, in the hope to ally their worries and make having the vaccination more accessible.”

Our campaign is predominately aimed at our staff, however, anyone in an ‘at-risk’ group in the public should speak to their GP about getting a free flu vaccination. These include people of 65 years of age or older, pregnant women or main carers of elderly or disabled people.

Flu Facts

The flu vaccine is safe: The risk of having a serious (anaphylactic) reaction to the seasonal flu vaccine is less than one in a million: much lower than the risk of getting seriously ill from having the flu itself. If you have a serious allergic reaction to hen’s eggs you should enquire about vaccines with a very low egg content and be vaccinated under clinical supervision.

The flu jab can’t give you the flu: It is impossible to get flu from having the flu jab because the vaccine doesn’t contain live viruses. A very small number of people experience side effects such as aching muscles, but this is simply the immune system responding to the vaccine.

You need the vaccine every year: If you were vaccinated last year you helped to fight the flu and took an extra step towards excellent patient care. Please do the same again this year. You won’t be protected against the new strains of flu circulating.

Flu kills: For the majority of people who catch flu it is unpleasant, but for some it can lead to chest infections, severe complications and death. Globally, seasonal flu accounts for about three to five million cases of severe illness annually and between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths.