PARENTS have been made aware of changes to the way they give consent for their children to be vaccinated.

Children across Dorset will soon be receiving information from the school they attend about this year’s immunisations for those in reception to year six.

Giving consent for children to receive vaccinations is changing from a paper based consent form to a digital consent process for the 2019/20 academic year.

This enables parents to give consent on any device, including a smart phone, for their child to be vaccinated and paper consent forms will no longer be sent home.

This will also enable the Dorset HealthCare service to send parents reminders and inform them by email once their child has been vaccinated.

For those that do not have access to the internet, a service will be available for the consent form to be completed over the telephone.

Dorset HealthCare provides immunisations to children in Dorset on behalf of NHS England. A spokesperson for the service said: "Our aim is to provide a fully accessible service to all school aged children whether educated at school or at home, offering them in a timely manner and a convenient location."

For further information please visit www.dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/schoolageimms