This week’s leadership message comes from Richard James, Consultant in Public Health, and Rob Goodyear, Associate Director of Strategic Operations, NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board

Posted on: 14 November 2025

Image of Richard James and Rob Goodyear Picture yourself walking through the streets and ginnels of any one of the towns or cities in West Yorkshire a couple of hundred years ago, a time when one in three children wouldn’t survive to the age of five. Winter would have been an especially perilous time of year, as a wide range of different infectious diseases spread through communities, catalysed by widespread poverty, to become an ever-present part of daily life.

In the present day, thankfully, several of these diseases are now largely consigned to history, in large part thanks to vaccinations which have saved an estimated 150 million lives to date – 50 more by the time you’ve finished reading this blog. It is easy to take this monumental achievement in public health for granted and not consider the progress we have all made. However, we now see the uptake of some vaccinations falling, growing incidence of some infectious diseases (including a resurgence of conditions we may associate more with the past like tuberculosis) and significant inequalities in where these impacts fall.

That’s why today I wanted to talk specifically about the winter vaccination programme, the work our system is doing to improve uptake, and to help you think what opportunities you might have to continue the progress we have made in saving lives through vaccination.

The winter vaccination programme

Over winter, we know that respiratory infections like flu, COVID-19 and RSV can have a huge impact on the health of the population we serve, the wellbeing of our workforce, and on the resilience of our health and care system. We’ve seen in the news very recently that we may be facing an especially challenging winter with respect to flu.

Vaccination is the most effective tool we have to prevent these infections. Last year, the flu vaccine alone prevented an estimated 100,000 admissions across the country. This winter, our seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccination programmes for eligible cohorts (described for flu here and COVID-19 here) are well underway.

Working as a system

As a system, we’re working together to ensure as many as possible of those eligible benefit from vaccination offers, and that health inequalities around vaccination uptake are reduced.

We have embedded co-ordination across West Yorkshire through our winter operational delivery group (WODG). We’ve been meeting monthly to add value to the collaboration already going on across our places, and to create oversight that has allowed us to co-ordinate with other parts of the West Yorkshire system and feed into winter planning. The group has also provided us with a space to share what is and is not working and learn from some of the fantastic examples of good practice going on inside and outside of West Yorkshire, especially when it comes to reversing some of inequalities in vaccination uptake we know exist within our communities.

We’ve also learned from prior years about inconsistencies in messaging across different parts of the system and have worked closely with NHSE this year to consolidate communications. We shared an ‘anchor’ letter with partners at the start of roll out which has since been supported with some further letters specific to care homes and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.

Health and care staff

Vaccination of our health and care workforce is essential to protect staff wellbeing, prevent transmission of illness to those using our services and ensure the resilience of our health and care system over winter. In recent years, uptake of flu vaccination amongst staff has continued to fall. This winter, NHSE has made an ask around the unplanned and emergency care (UEC) plan to increase uptake by five percent. This ask has fed into our winter planning and as a system we’ve been sharing examples of good practice from within West Yorkshire and across the wider region.

We’re aware that the NHS is one of many different organisations in which frontline health and care staff provide care. We’re working with a range of partners to help us collaborate as a system and have developed clear and consistent messaging to support understanding of the offer, especially for those working in voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.

Communications

You may have seen messaging around the vaccination programmes already, including advertising on television. The ‘Big Weekend’ on 22 and 23 November will see a further push, accompanied by vaccination pop-ups.

We’re working in West Yorkshire to adapt and promote these national campaign resources to make sure these reach as many people as possible. We also re-launched our Together We Can campaign this week, building upon learning from prior years and with a clear focus on the importance of vaccination over winter.

Data

Data is driving a lot of this work to identify both where more targeted work might be required (including dynamic boosting of communications resource) and where we might want to learn from success. However, we understand that the reasons behind lower vaccination uptake can be nuanced and complex, and different communities face different challenges. So beyond just looking at the numbers, we’re keen to learn from the wider insights that we have from partners and communities too.

Life-course vaccination

Whilst we have a seasonal programme around flu and COVID-19, a range of other infectious diseases also contribute to infections and pressures over winter. Many of these are also vaccine preventable, with immunisation provided through our year-round routine vaccination services.

RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) is a key contributor to winter infections and is something we’re including in discussion through our WODG.

Measles and MMR vaccine uptake was highlighted in the regional forecast shared around winter as something that could also have a significant impact this winter. We’ve seen the consequences of decreasing MMR uptake recently with an outbreak of measles in Leeds and are learning from the response the local system mounted.

With World Pneumonia Day on 12 November, it is worth mentioning that bacterial as well as viral infections can also be vaccine preventable, for example through the pneumococcal vaccination.

Improving the uptake of these vaccinations, and the wide range of other vaccinations offered across the life-course, is essential to protect the health of people in West Yorkshire. The flu and COVID-19 programmes provide an impetus to remind us of this importance, and to think about how me make every contact count. We need to ensure the work we are doing doesn’t just make it easier for people to get one vaccine but helps lay the way for greater immunisation across the whole of the life-course.

Thanks for reading this blog, and thanks to all of those who are already working together across the system to improve vaccination uptake both this winter and across the whole life-course. We’ve come a long way since the first smallpox vaccine was delivered a few hundred years ago, and there’s some fantastic work going on to continue to drive this work forward, but this winter and beyond, there is still more to do.

For World Diabetes Day (14 November) we also have a blog from Emma Savage, Network Manager, Children and Young People's Yorkshire & Humber Diabetes Network

Every young person living with type 1 diabetes has their own story - balancing school or work, friendships, independence and self-care. The latest National Diabetes Audit for Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) helps us understand how well we’re supporting 16 to 25-year-olds through one of life’s biggest transitions - moving from children’s to adult diabetes services. Covering 2017 to 2024, it paints a picture of progress, challenges and opportunities to do better.

This year’s World Diabetes Day theme, ‘empowering lives through access and awareness,’ feels especially relevant. Supporting young people with diabetes isn’t just about medical care - it’s about giving them the confidence, knowledge and tools to manage diabetes at every stage of life. Across West Yorkshire and beyond, diabetes teams are using this moment to celebrate how far we’ve come and focus on the changes that will make the biggest difference.

Moving from paediatric to adult diabetes care can be challenging. It often comes at the same time as exams, new jobs or moving away from home. The audit brings together data from both children’s and adult services so we can see how well we’re supporting young people at this stage - and where we need to improve. Read more on our website.

What's been happening this week?

Supporting those affected by Hurricane Melissa

As you’ll be aware, Hurricane Melissa has recently brought devastation across parts of the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica as well as Cuba and Haiti.

People from the Caribbean have been integral to the NHS since its inception. Their legacy and continued contributions are deeply woven into the fabric of our health and care sector and wider society. On behalf of the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, we send our best wishes to all those affected.

Many of our colleagues have family and friends in Jamaica, and other devastated areas, who will face considerable hardship during the long period of recovery and rebuilding. If you would like to support those affected by Hurricane Melissa, there are a number of trusted charities and organisations providing humanitarian relief on the ground in Jamaica. Please see the Gov.uk website for more information.

Shining a light on global partnerships

The West Yorkshire global partnerships conference last week brought together colleagues from across the NHS, social care, voluntary organisations and diaspora communities (people who have moved from their original country to live in other countries) to celebrate and champion the vital contribution of diaspora health professionals to global health. Through keynote talks, panel discussions and case studies, we explored how international partnerships can strengthen health systems both overseas and here in West Yorkshire.

The day provided a platform to share learning, highlight impactful global health initiatives and build networks that will support future collaboration. Most importantly, it created a space to listen to and learn from diaspora voices, recognising their expertise, lived experience and leadership in shaping meaningful and sustainable global health partnerships.

Image of a teacher in front of a class of children Children’s in-school mental health programme alleviates pressures on services under strain

A classroom-based mental health education programme in Kirklees has prevented over 900 referrals to under-pressure child and adolescent mental health services and more than 1,200 referrals to mental health support teams in just over six months.

Known as myHappymind, the programme has also resulted in a radical scaling back of referrals to special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) within schools. This has freed up capacity to support more children with the most significant special educational needs. Read more on the NHS Confed website.

Image of four people, with nurse holding flowers and certificate

Mid Yorkshire colleague recognised in national awards

Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust’s gynaecology clinical support worker, Stacy Robinson, has been recognised with a prestigious national Chief Nursing Officer Award for her significant and outstanding contribution to nursing.

Stacy received her award from Dr Deb Wildgoose, NHS England Deputy Director for Children and Young People’s Services, in recognition of her exceptional commitment to patient care and the positive impact she has made on both colleagues and patients. Find out more on the trust website.

Hundreds more young children to get help in nursery as next phase of early language support programme launches in Bradford District

Hundreds more children across Bradford District will benefit from early speech and language support as phase two of the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme begins in the school year 2025–26.

Co-funded by the Department for Education and NHS England, the programme is being tested across nine regions nationwide and initially ran for one year with each region receiving approximately £1m. Following the success of phase one, additional funding has now been secured for a further rollout. Find out more on the BDC Partnership website.

Video tour created for the Emily Siddon Building in Huddersfield

A video tour has been released of the University of Huddersfield’s Emily Siddon Building, part of the National Health Innovation Campus (NHIC).

The 6,800m² facility is expected to open in January 2026 and is adjacent to the recently completed Daphne Steele Building. The facility will host new purpose-built diagnostic facilities including MRI and CT scanners as well as dental training facilities.

You can watch the video on YouTube or find out more about the building on the University of Huddersfield website

Together we can stay well this winter

The NHS in West Yorkshire is encouraging people to stay well this winter to look after themselves, their loved ones and busy NHS services.

With colder weather comes increased health risks like nasty winter bugs and respiratory illnesses such as flu, RSV and COVID-19. Loneliness also increases during winter, particularly in vulnerable communities such as older people or those with disabilities. Find out more on the Partnership website.