UPTAKE of the flu vaccine among NHS staff in Gwent has risen this year, following a campaign to boost the amount of frontline workers getting protected.

Figures to the end of December indicate that 45.9 per cent of the healthcare staff in the area have taken up the offer of a flu jab.

That is comfortably above last year’s overall figure for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board staff, of 41.4 per cent, which was the lowest of Wales’ health boards.

And this year’s figure could rise further, with staff continuing to be encouraged to get protected, with the flu ‘season’ underway.

The target is for a minimum 50 per cent of NHS staff in Wales’ health boards to be vaccinated against flu.

Some divisions of the health board have exceeded the 50 per cent target, including unscheduled care, and family and therapies.

The health board has trained flu ‘champions’ - able to administer flu vaccinations to their colleagues at work - across all its divisions in preparation for the current campaign.

The aim was to deploy in particular in divisions where uptake was low, and to enable staff to have their flu jab within, or as close as possible to, their work area, to maximise convenience.

A new health board report has hailed the “significantly higher” uptake this year among staff, as a sign that this approach has been successful.

By the end of December, 66.8 per cent of people aged 65 and over in Gwent had received a flu jab, just short of the overall figure for last year (67.7 per cent). That is equivalent to just under 120,000 older people being vaccinated, and is above the all-Wales rate of 652 per cent. The target for this age group is 75 per cent.

Uptake in Gwent among ‘at risk’ groups, which include people with diabetes, heart problems, respiratory diseases, and kidney and liver problems, was at 48.2 per cent by December 31.

Again, this was above the all-Wales rate of 45.2 per cent, with the target also being 75 per cent.

Last year, 49.2 per cent of people in ‘at risk’ groups in Gwent were vaccinated, the highest percentage in Wales.

Flu vaccination has also been introduced for two-and three-year-olds, and in Gwent the uptake rate to date is 43.4 per cent.