A FLU vaccination programme for the elderly has been hailed a great success by Worcestershire Health Authority after the number of deaths last winter dropped by 20 per cent.

The county had one of the highest uptakes in the inoculation scheme, according to David Bell, WHA's director of strategy and partnership development.

"This is very welcome news," he told the authority's board meeting.

"This winter, influenza was contained among the elderly, which I think is down to the immunisation programme we carried out."

Despite measures being taken to cope with the winter pressures, the period was more unusual than most.

"We usually have a sharp increase around December to January, but that didn't happen this year. Instead, we saw a steady build-up from mid-January through to March, and it's just tailing off now.

"Only four patients experienced a trolley wait over 12 hours throughout the winter."

One Worcester doctors' surgery vaccinated more than 2,000 people between September and December last year.

'More aware'

"Every year, it's a very worthwhile thing to do and we put 100 per cent effort into it," said office manager Sue O'Neill, of Haresfield House Surgery, on Bath Road.

"We have special flu clinics where we target 30 to 40 people at a time. In past years, we've sent out letters, but we didn't need to send out so many this year.

"People have become more aware that there's a flu vaccine available and are taking more care to help themselves."

The practice manager at St John's Bull Ring surgery, Martin Lewis, said use of the flu vaccine had been particularly high this year, especially among the over-65s.

"The uptake in high-risk groups was way over 70 per cent of registered patients," he said, adding that the surgery had written to all 'at-risk' groups, including people with heart conditions, diabetes and asthma.

The chairman of the UK Vaccine Industry Group, Richard Stubbins, said there had been a "massive" increase in the number of people receiving the jab.

"The Department of Health changed the recommendations to cover everybody 65 and over and also asked surgeries to target high-risk people," said Mr Stubbins.

"As a result, there was a considerable increase in the number of doses administered, from around 7.8 million last year to 10.8 million this winter, which is a massive increase and obviously great news."