As part of the work we're doing to ensure you're able to invite your patients for their second vaccinations, we display NIMS (National Immunisation Management Service) data in accuBook. We get the following data back from NIMS:
Type of vaccine administered (Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna)
Date of 1st vaccine administered
Date of 2nd vaccine administered
Date of booster vaccine administered
This means there are a few changes to how your patients appear in accuBook:
Primary course
After you upload a new CSV of patients, we now show you a new column, 'National vaccination data'. This will display the data we got back from NIMS for each patient - one of the following:
No data returned - this means we didn't get any results from NIMS for this patient. It's likely that it's a test patient, or the NHS number has been entered incorrectly.
No recorded vaccinations - we matched this patient on NIMS, but there are no recorded vaccinations for them. You can now invite them for their first vaccinations.
1st vaccination recorded - we matched this patient on NIMS, and they have already had at least one vaccination recorded (for instance from a mass vaccination site). They cannot be invited for their first vaccinations, but we will still import them into accuBook, into the appropriate states (see below).
Filters
You will see some patient filter options that get filled based on the vaccination data we have. Patients will automatically be moved to these states based on the data we've received about them from NIMS.
Awaiting invite - 2nd - Anyone who has already had their first vaccination will go into the 'Awaiting invite - 2nd' filter. They are ready to be invited for their 2nd vaccinations, and will not receive any invites to 1st vaccinations.
Had all - If NIMS tells us that a patient has had both of their primary vaccinations, we will import them, and add them to this state. This means that the patient can no longer be invited for vaccinations as they have had their 1st and 2nd, but you can still import them for your records.
Had booster - In the booster tab, if we receive data from NIMs that the patient has had their booster, they will be in this filter. Patients may move into this state from 'awaiting invite/response' if we receive information about a booster vaccine.
When does the NIMs data get refreshed?
We also check NIMS after a patient has had an appointment in accuBook, at the following times:
When uploading a patient to make sure we have the correct state for the initial invite, and ahead of inviting for the second dose
The day before an appointment
1 day, 3 days and 1 week after an appointment to capture changes once they've synced back from Pinnacle (PharmOutcomes) and to try and catch patients who have had their dose elsewhere ahead of them being invited for a second or booster.
We also will automatically refresh NIMS data for all patients with active invites in our system where they've not yet had the relevant doses and the data is older than 4 weeks
Manual request (when you click on 'Refresh NIMS data') - see below.
This should mean that we leave enough time for NIMS to be updated and patients will then be moved into the appropriate state. If we don't get any NIMS information after day 3, then the patient will remain in 'Booked - 1st'.
We unfortunately can't allow for a mass refresh option in the product, as this would overload the NIMs service.
Manual Refresh from NIMS
You can manually refresh the NIMS data for each individual patient by opening the 'details' section for this patient.
Please note: you will only be able to manually refresh from NIMS every 12 hours. As Pinnacle and NIMS only update nightly, data is very unlikely to change during a working day.