We will be participating in a Respiratory surveillance programme from the Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) network.
The Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) is in it's 57th season of disease surveillance in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The RSC is now the largest it has ever been, with 2,000 general practices, sharing data.
By providing virology samples it allows the RSC to monitor the spread of respiratory infections and to measure
vaccine effectiveness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, sampling provided pivotal information on the spread of and immune responses to the COVID-19 vaccines.
This year there is going to be a much wider range of vaccines and treatments for respiratory disease, alongside influenza vaccines. Incorporating virology sampling into clinical workflow provides the practice results about the aetiology of respiratory disease and great data quality is important for disease surveillance.
We would like to thank patients in advance for their support and participation in this important work. By participating you are enabling public health bodies to make crucial public health decisions.