The Influenza Specilaist Group (ISG) has been working closely with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to develop an improved Clinal Audit Tool recipe for influenza.

The CAT recipe is a set of instructions on how to interrogate the patient database in order to identify those patients who should be recalled for the purposes of receiving their annual flu shot.The recipe takes in to account the new criteria introduced by the Australian Government (at the beginning of 2010) to enable anyone considered to be at risk of experiencing complications as a result of influenza to receive a free flu shot under the National Immunisation Program.

The groups considered to be at risk include:

1. People aged 65 or more
2. Those from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island decent, aged 15 or more
3. Pregnant women
4. Those aged 6 months or more with conditions that predispose them to severe influenza, including: heart diseas, chronic lung disease (including asthma), diabetes, chronic kidney failure, neuromuscular disorders, and people who have weakened immune defences.

The Cat recipe can be downloaded as a pdf file here, or can be ordered from the Influenza Specialist Group's office at 153-161 Park St, South Melbourne, Victoria, 3205.