Dear Sir or Madam,

Please would you provide me with the official schedule for the
three doses of HPV vaccine for Year 8 girls?

The reason I ask is that your letter to Head Teachers and Boards of
Governors in February 2008 stated "third dose - at least 3 months
after the second dose. Surrey will administer the three doses of
the vaccine to fit in with term timetables." With the accompanying
Q&As, you stated "Surrey may administer the three doses of the
vaccine over a slightly compressed timeframe in order to fit in
with term timetables."

In contrast, the Department of Health's Green Book, Chapter 18a on
HPV vaccine published 15/9/08 and the training slides for health
professionals state that the third dose should be at least six
months after the first dose.

If you have revised the schedule since February 08, please also
send me (a) the date of the official decision and (b) the
notification.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Grace Filby, Reigate

http://www.relax-well.co.uk http://www.amazingphage.info

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Surrey Primary Care
Trust (PCT)'s handling of my FOI request 'Schedule for the HPV
vaccine'. The request was not acknowledged or replied to within the
20 working days but it is an important point that needs to be
brought to your attention without further delay.

My FOI request is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sc...

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Grace Filby

I will be out of the office from on Friday 7th Nov and Monday 10th Nov. Please contact Tracy Cox on 01372 201717 if the matter is urgent. Switchboard can be contacted on 01372 201717.

Many thanks
Lynsey

Dear Ms Filby

Re: Request under Freedom of Information Act 2000 – LOG Surrey FOI 270

Thank you for your e-mail correspondence regarding your outstanding FOI request. The deadline for response was Monday 10th November and unfortunately I was on annual leave, please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused, we are currently reviewing the PCT's internal process which will ensure that such an occurrence does not happen again. Once again, please accept our apologies for the delay.

In response to your request, Surrey PCT is implementing the HPV vaccination programme according to the national programme. Surrey PCT is endeavoring as far as possible to schedule the vaccine according to the recommended 0, 1-2, 6 month schedule, however we need to highlight the new guidance which has been issued in the Green Book Chapter 18a to help inform decisions on administering HPV vaccine where there are difficulties in scheduling the third dose. This states: ' If there is a high likelihood that the third dose of HPV vaccine cannot be given according to the recommended schedule, a third dose of Cervarix® can be given three months after the second'.

The Green Book is national policy, so in answer to your question regarding official decisions, at Surrey PCT these are always taken in accordance with the Green Book.

Please see below link to the updated page on the Green Book which gives this information- please go to chapter 18a:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Hea...

Please also find attached the latest vaccine update from the Department of Health outlining the national guidelines of the schedule for HPV vaccine (page 4). This states the decision of the DoH that the gap between the 2nd and 3rd dose of Cervirax can be 3 months.

With regard to notification, as a PCT we have distributed the Department of Health official web site and helpline number so that parents and young women can keep themselves as up to date as possible with any changes in the national policy.

I hope that you find this information useful, however if we can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Lynsey Davies
FOI Officer

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Dear Lynsey,

Thank you for answering my question and I accept your apology about
the lack of acknowledgement and undue lateness of reply. Thank you
also for now reviewing the PCT's internal process which will ensure
that such an occurrence does not happen again.

So to clarify:

The DoH national policy is still that the HPV vaccine schedule
should span at least SIX months - yet now they are releasing the
time frame so the PCT can reduce this to FOUR or FIVE months
sometimes if they wish.

This was my initial concern and the reason for asking the question.

Yours sincerely,

Grace Filby