Course Overview

This half-day Healthcare Support Worker Immunisation Update is designed for Healthcare Support Workers, including HCAs, who have previously completed foundation immunisation training and are currently involved in supporting vaccination programmes within Primary Care or community settings.

The session provides an opportunity to refresh key immunisation knowledge, review current national guidance, and explore the practical implications of working safely within the HCSW role.

Teaching is aligned with the UKHSA National Minimum Standards and Core Curriculum for Vaccination Training, which was updated in 2025 and now brings together guidance for both registered healthcare professionals and healthcare support workers in one document. The standards recommend that vaccinators undertake regular updates, with annual update training as a minimum.

The course will include current guidance on vaccine administration, documentation, cold chain, adverse events, anaphylaxis awareness, and the importance of safe delegation, supervision and competency assessment.

A key focus of the session will be the role of the HCSW in immunisation practice, including the limits of the role in relation to clinical assessment, Patient Group Directions and informed consent. Current guidance clarifies that HCSWs may have a role in administering vaccines where this has been appropriately delegated, but they should not undertake the clinical decision to vaccinate, work under PGDs, or take informed consent.

Completion of this course confirms attendance at an immunisation update. It does not confirm competence to practise independently, extend a delegate’s scope of practice, or replace the employer’s responsibility for local governance, supervision, competency assessment and role-specific sign-off.

Who Should Attend

This course is suitable for:

Healthcare Support Workers
Healthcare Assistants
GP Assistants, where immunisation activity forms part of their locally agreed role
Non-registered staff currently involved in supporting vaccination programmes

Delegates should have previously completed foundation immunisation training and should already be working, or preparing to continue working, within an immunisation role under local supervision and governance.

This course is not suitable as initial immunisation training for staff completely new to vaccination practice.

What This Course Covers

Current Immunisation Guidance

Review of UKHSA National Minimum Standards and Core Curriculum
Using the Green Book in day-to-day practice
Staying up to date between formal training sessions
Recent guidance relevant to HCSWs in vaccination services
Annual update requirements and ongoing learning

The HCSW Role in Vaccination

What HCSWs can and cannot do within vaccination services
Delegation, supervision and accountability
The role of the registered healthcare professional
The HCSW’s responsibility for their own practice
Working within local policy and agreed competence
Knowing when to stop, check and escalate

Consent and Clinical Assessment

Current guidance on consent for vaccination
The difference between informed consent and consent to administer
Why clinical assessment and informed consent sit outside the HCSW role
Responding safely to patient questions
Recognising when a registered clinician must review the patient
Avoiding role drift in busy vaccination clinics

Vaccine Administration Refresher

Safe vaccine preparation and administration
Intramuscular injection technique
Site selection and patient positioning
Reducing pain, anxiety and avoidable vaccine wastage
Infection prevention and safe disposal of sharps
Practical considerations for high-volume clinics

Vaccine Safety

Contraindications and precautions: what the HCSW needs to recognise
When to pause vaccination and escalate
Common expected side effects
Adverse events following immunisation
Anaphylaxis awareness and emergency escalation
Incident reporting and learning from errors

Cold Chain, Storage and Documentation

Cold chain principles
Safe vaccine storage and handling
Checking vaccines before administration
Batch numbers, expiry dates and documentation
Recording administered vaccines accurately
Managing stock issues, errors and near misses

Programme-Specific Updates

The session can include updates relevant to current or seasonal programmes, such as:

Influenza
COVID-19
Pneumococcal vaccination
Shingles vaccination

Other locally relevant adult vaccination programmes

Programme content can be adapted depending on the needs of the commissioning organisation or local workforce.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this update, delegates will be able to:

Identify key sources of current immunisation guidance
Describe the role and limitations of HCSWs within vaccination services
Explain the importance of delegation, supervision, competency assessment and local governance
Understand the limits of the HCSW role in relation to clinical assessment, PGDs and informed consent
Recognise when a patient query or clinical issue must be escalated to a registered clinician
Refresh safe principles of vaccine administration, including IM and SC injection technique
Apply cold chain, documentation and incident reporting principles in practice
Recognise common adverse events and know when to escalate concerns
Support safe and effective delivery of vaccination clinics within their agreed role and local competency framework

Course Format

Duration: Half-day session

Delivery: Virtual or face-to-face

Format includes:

Structured teaching
Guidance update
Case-based discussion
Scope-of-practice scenarios
Interactive Q&A
Practical problem-solving for Primary Care vaccination clinics

Certification

Certificate of attendance provided for CPD purposes.

Completion of this course confirms attendance at an HCSW immunisation update session. It does not confirm competence to practise independently, authorise vaccine administration, or replace local workplace competency assessment.

Delegates must continue to work within their employer’s policies, clinical governance arrangements, supervision structure and agreed scope of practice.

Immunisation Update for Healthcare Assistants - Flu, COVID-19, Pneumococcal & Shingles