Currently Scotland has a number of influenza surveillance schemes, including âflu-spotterâ practices, and enhanced surveillance general practices that submit clinical samples for virological testing (SERVIS practices). This information feeds annually into the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme1. Information from the systems is seasonal, and limited geographically covering 6% and 3% of the population respectively. The utilisation by Scottish community physicians (general practitioners, GPâs) of the same administration system in over 80% of settings - the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS) - offers an alternative approach to influenza surveillance with some additional benefits.
Objective
To develop and pilot an enhanced primary care surveillance system of influenza-like illness in Scotland, record influenza vaccine uptake and estimate vaccine effectiveness in season in real time.