Impact Review 2024-25: BIG HIT

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Immunisation Group (BIG) HIT is a team of public health and child health experts, scientists and health practitioners working together to improve the uptake of immunisations across our local population. Here are highlights from the HIT in 2024-25.

19th July 2025

Relaunching HIT with new leadership team

Dr Marion Roderick has been joined by four new co-directors: Dr Sarah Denford (University of Bristol), Anne Morris (BNSSG Integrated vaccine programme), Dr Rajeka Lazarus (University of Bristol/UKHSA) and Dr Ilhem Berrou (UWE Bristol).

The new team will aim to create a network of those working together to support vaccine uptake and maximise opportunities to share learning and good practice.

Establishing priorities for the HIT

The HIT held a successful workshop on 22 October 2024, with 30 representatives from across BNSSG, including acute trusts, primary care, Sirona, voluntary sector organisations and people with lived experience. The workshop focused on sharing current work and exploring how the HIT can help address challenges in the system and in communities.

From this priority-setting, the co-directors have developed four new workstreams, including co-producing an education and training programme with leaders within minority community groups increase trust and address misconceptions within their communities. The team is also focusing on unmet health needs within our population and the impact on vaccination uptake.

Evaluation of vaccine outreach work

Engagement work led across the system by vaccine teams during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted areas of practice and novel ways of engaging community groups with vaccine uptake. To capture this learning, Sarah Denford and Rajeka Lazarus have been a project to evaluate this engagement work, due to be published in 2025.

As a result of this, the HIT is testing how best to use the UKHSA evaluation tool to support people undertaking informal health and care research can use to gather meaningful data and assess the impact of projects they are working on.

Vaccine knowledge mobilisation

Vaccine (mis)information was an important theme that came out of the October workshop. As part of the vaccine information workstream we have undertaken a workshop with parents and healthcare professionals to discuss the changes to the childhood immunisation schedule and introduction of a chickenpox vaccines. This work was funded by a grant from the Population Health Sciences Institute.