Interprofessional and inter-organisational collaboration in the COVID-19 vaccination programme: lessons from North Central London

Aim
To discuss inter-organisational collaboration in the context of the successful COVID-19 vaccination programme in North Central London (NCL).

Design
An action research study in 2023–2024.

Methods
Six action research cycles used mixed qualitative methods.

Results
Four findings are presented which illustrate inter-organisational collaboration across professional and organisational boundaries: working in the action research group, learning to work as an action research group, working collaboratively in new ways, working outside professional, occupational and organisational silos. These themes are discussed in relation to the literature on interprofessional and inter-organisational collaboration.

Conclusion
The COVID-19 vaccination programme offered a way out of the pandemic. Between December 2020 and February 2022, 2.8 M people were vaccinated by the NCL Vaccination team in an example of inter-organisational collaboration between science, health and community. Staff on the vaccination programme worked inter-organisationally in new ways to achieve this. In NCL several thousand local residents joined the NHS to work with healthcare professionals including nurses, nursing associates and students to deliver the programme in new ways which are illustrative of inter-organisational collaboration.

No Patient or Public Contribution
No PPI within this study.

Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care
The implications for the profession and for healthcare organisations of the findings are that, in contrast to traditional ways of working which have been entrenched in silos of professional knowledge and expertise, health professionals are able to work in new ways and find inter-organisational work satisfying. This has implications for patients as it has the potential to improve communication between very different organisations and as the vaccination programme shows, results in successful public health vaccination rates.

Impact
This study set out to create a public resource for learning (for future pandemics or other works of national effort) to commemorate the collaborative efforts of the diverse vaccination workforce and volunteers involved in the programme. Participation in the COVID-19 vaccination programme had a profound effect on NHS clinical and professional staff, on partners across business and volunteer organisation in North Central London and on volunteers from the public in North Central London. Inter-organisation collaboration has been sustained after the delivery of the vaccination programme in North Central London; innovative ways of working have been introduced in the local community to deliver ongoing vaccinations and wider prevention activities and the partnership between academia and clinical practice. The research findings have had an impact on the research participants and the wider public through the website created as a public resource to commemorate the COVID-19 vaccination programme in North Central London.

Reporting Method
The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ) was used as a guide throughout data collection and analysis.

Patient or Public Contribution
The public were involved as participants in this study. They did not participate in the study design.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work isproperly cited.