| Interventions |
In participant practices, when any patient book an appointment the Doctor Control Panel (DCP), as part of its standard preventative health communication with clinical software, compares demographic and clinical data in the patient's electronic clinical record with authoritative guidelines for preventive services including immunisations. If the DCP identifies that the patients meets the follow conditions: Any of the target diagnoses (IMID) are identified in the patient list of health problems, AND no record of refusal of the relevant vaccine is documented, AND there is no record of contraindication to the relevant vaccine, AND if the visit is in the influenza vaccine season (April to July in Australia) and there is no record of the administration of that season influenza vaccine, OR the recommended number of doses of pneumococcus vaccine is not recorded, OR a herpes zoster vaccination is not recorded, and the practice is already able to contact the patient by SMS, the DCP will automatically send a brief and generic immunisation reminder SMS upon the patient booking an appointment, and another brief generic reminder SMS on the day of the appointment. When they arrive for an in-clinic consultation they will also receive from the receptionist a reminder letter printed automatically by the DCP. The reminder explains why each outstanding preventive service is recommended and encourages the patient to ask about those services during the current consultation with the GP. Patients who cannot be contacted by the practice via SMS, but who do come to the clinic for their consultation, will receive one printed immunisation reminder. The same software will also be used to remind GPs electronically about the immunisation status of |