Primary care, health visitor, and midwife experts to give evidence to Lords committee on childhood vaccinations

On Monday, the House of Lords Childhood Vaccinations Committee will be questioning two panels of witnesses as part of its inquiry into childhood vaccination coverage in England. The first panel will be experts from primary care, and the second will be experts in health visiting and midwifery. 

The purpose of these sessions is to hear from representatives of the GP, practice nurse, health visiting and midwifery professions about delivering effective childhood vaccination services. 

Giving evidence at 2:15pm will be:  

• Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown OBE, President, RCGP Council, Royal College of General Practitioners  

• Dr Katie Bramall, Chair, General Practitioners Committee, British Medical Association  

• Kim Ball, Primary Care Professional Lead, Royal College of Nursing 

Questions the committee is likely to ask include: 

• How effectively do GP practices deliver core childhood vaccination services? How has this changed in recent years? 

• How effectively and sustainably do GP practices support and deliver outreach to under-vaccinated communities? How has this changed in recent years? 

• How well do commissioning and funding arrangements support primary care childhood vaccination services? 

• How well do data and call-and-recall systems support childhood vaccination uptake and what are the best ways to improve the systems? 

• How effectively are practice nurses and GPs trained and supported to communicate with families about childhood vaccinations? 

Giving evidence at 3:15pm will be: 

• Professor Helen Bedford, Professor of Children's Health, University College London  

• Dr Heather Bower, Head of Education, Royal College of Midwives 

Questions the committee is likely to ask include: 

• How effective is the use of the nursing, health visiting and midwifery workforce to support uptake of infant and pre-school vaccinations? 

• How effective is the core offer for infant and pre-school vaccinations in primary care? What would be the best ways to improve this core offer? 

• How effective and sustainable are outreach services for under-vaccinated communities? 

• How effectively are nurses, health visitors and midwives trained and supported to communicate with families about childhood vaccinations? 

• What are the main barriers to effective communication? What would be the best ways to improve communication with families?lp 

The sessions will take place on Monday 20 April 2026 and can be followed live on Parliament TV.