Noticeboard

JUNIOR DOCTOR STRIKES: 3rd January 2024 - 9th January 2024

Local health services

If you need help from your GP or another member of the practice team over the above period, we are open every weekday from 8am until 6.30pm, except for bank holidays when we are closed. Please contact us if you have a health condition that needs checking or an illness that won't go away.

Junior doctors will be on strike from 7am on Wednesday 3 January to 7am on Tuesday 9 January. This means that all NHS services, particularly hospitals, will be under severe strain. But please don’t put off seeking medical help if you need it. Here is a reminder of what local services are available:

The NHS website – nhs.uk has lots of advice to help you to look after yourself when you have minor symptoms. There is also information about what is a serious medical emergency.
If your child is feeling unwell, the Healthier Together website has advice about some common symptoms, how to look after your child at home and when to get further help.
Drop in to a pharmacy for health advice or information about your medicines. A pharmacist can help you to deal with a cough, cold and lots of other winter illnesses.

If you need help urgently, use NHS 111 online (www.111.nhs.uk) or call 111. Your symptoms will be assessed, and you will be given advice or an appointment to see a doctor or nurse if this is needed. NHS 111 can also send an ambulance and can book an appointment for you in some services like urgent treatment centres. Using 111 online means you won’t have to wait on the phone.
If you are in a mental health crisis, call NHS 111 and get straight through to mental health help by selecting option 2.
You should call 999 in a life-threatening emergency. Life-threatening emergencies are different for adults and children.
Do not visit anyone in a hospital or care home if you have recently had diarrhoea or vomiting. Stomach bugs are easily spread, make already ill people very seriously unwell, and can lead to whole hospital wards being closed. Please wait 48 hours after your last bout of sickness or diarrhoea before visiting anyone who is vulnerable.

More information on these services and self-help advice can be found at: https://hertsandwestessexics.org.uk/help-us-help

Cancer Awareness

BOWEL CANCER SCREENING

All men and women aged 60 to 74 who are registered with a GP in England are automatically sent a bowel cancer screening kit every 2 years. If you're 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60.There are detailed instructions with each kit - you can read the kit instructions by clicking on the following link:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-kit-how-to-use

Bowel cancer screening could save around 2,000 lives in the UK per year by 2025, reducing the bowel cancer mortality rate by 12-15% in females and 13-17% in males.

BREAST SCREENING

Breast Screening is offered 3 year to all women aged 50-70.

For more information, call 01582 597599

For more information please click on the link below:-

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/breast-cancer-screening/what-happens/

20-year Outcomes for Women With and Without Breast Screening, Estimates per 1,000 Women, UK

Estimated 20-year outcomes per 1,000 UK women	No breast screening	With breast screening
Deaths from breast cancer	21	16
Lives saved by breast screening	0	5
Women treated for breast cancer and survived	37	59
Breast cancer present but not diagnosed, with no ill effects	17	0
Breast cancer overdiagnosed due to screening	0	17

CERVICAL SCREENING

Cervical Screening is offered at our surgery to women aged 25-64. It is offered every 3 years for those aged 26-49 and every 5 years for those aged 50-64.

To book your screening, call 01438 31130

At least 2,000 cervical cancer deaths are prevented in the UK each year through screening.

Cervical cancer 3-year relative survival is higher among people diagnosed via screening than those diagnosed via any other route.

Screened women in the UK aged 35-64 have a 60-80% lower risk of being diagnosed with cervical cancer in the five years following their screening, compared with unscreened women.