18 to 24 November is World AMR Awareness Week

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat.

A global action plan to tackle the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines was endorsed at the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015. One of the key objectives of the plan is to improve awareness and understanding of AMR through effective communication, education and training.

World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) is a global campaign that is celebrated annually to improve awareness and understanding of AMR and encourage best practices among the public, One Health stakeholders and policymakers, who all play a critical role in reducing the further emergence and spread of AMR.

Change to urgent care – Frimley south

Change to urgent care – Frimley south | Frimley Health and Care

On Tuesday, 26 November, the pilot Aldershot Urgent Care Centre service will be coming to an end after nearly a year.

NHS Frimley, North Hampshire Urgent Care and Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust are working together to continue to provide urgent care service for the people of North East Hampshire, Surrey Heath and Farnham.

From Wednesday, 27 November, if you have a health concern and need to be seen urgently, contact your GP practice and let them know what the problem is. You can also contact NHS111 (either online via https://111.nhs.uk or by dialling 111 on your phone).

Your local pharmacy can support and advise you with a range of common health conditions. GP practices, NHS111 and pharmacy are open to people of all ages.

Children and young people, or their parents or carers, can also visit Frimley Healthier Together, an online resource with information and advice specifically designed for younger people. The information has been developed by doctors, working with parents, and uses a ‘traffic light’ system to advise you on what the best course of action is.

Your local GP practices are working hard to deliver even more appointments to support you over the coming months. Many hundreds of additional same-day appointments are being provided every week across North East Hampshire, Surrey Heath and Farnham.

If we all Make The Right Choice of health services we can support the NHS to be more effective and that will help us all to get the treatment we need more quickly. You can find out more about what services are available here: Which service do you need? | Frimley Health and Care

A number of patients have been showing anger at our reception staff because travelling to the practice has been longer than anticipated meaning they have arrived late and then can’t be seen.

Roadworks are a common sight in Aldershot and the surrounding areas for sometime and by the look of it will be so for a while yet. Please allow a lot more time to get to your appointment including time to travel and park up if coming by car as the car park is always very busy. Some buses are not stopping at their usual bus stops so allow extra time. The practice is not responsible for delays or notifying patients of where there are road works or changes in traffic light control, if you are unfortunately late for your appointment then you will be asked to re-book as we can’t accept an arrival once you are more than 5 minutes late to be fair to all our pre-booked patients.

That is the policy of the practice and most likely most other practices as we just don’t have gaps and spare time between appointments to allow for late arrivals much like any other travel timetables.

Please don’t be angry or aggressive at our reception staff when you are late and we can’t then see you, they are only doing their job upholding the practice policy. Please take extra time and allow for delays in getting to the Health Centre.

Eligible people in England will soon be able to get a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) via the NHS for the first time.

Health chiefs today detailed their plans to offer the new RSV jab to those aged 75 to 79 as well as pregnant women past 28 weeks, in a bid to protect young children, from September.

A recent analysis has suggested that offering the jab to these groups could prevent 5,000 hospital admissions a season, and up to 15,000 A&E attendances among infants.

The same estimates said the jab rollout could also free up 20,0000 GP appointments and prevent 200 babies being sent to intensive care this winter.

RSV is a common cause of coughs and colds and while a mild ailment for most healthy people they can be dangerous to elderly and very young children.

It can lead to serious infections and breathing complications like pneumonia and as a result RSV is responsible for between 20 to 30 deaths in children each year in Britain

Similar to previous years, those in vulnerable groups and the staff that care for them will be eligible for those vaccines.

However, while people can get their flu and Covid jab on the same day any who are also eligible for the RSV vaccine will need to wait at least a day between injections to maximise its effectiveness.

People who are eligible for the RSV jab are expected to be invited via their GP or workplace in the case of healthcare staff.

Steve Russell, the NHS’s national director for vaccinations and screening said: ‘This year for the first time, we will also be offering the RSV vaccine to older people and pregnant women, to provide vital protection against this dangerous virus for those at greatest risk.’

‘These viruses leave thousands of people in hospital each year, and the vaccinations help us to keep more people well during the winter months when we expect the NHS to again be under significant pressure – so please come forward as soon as you are invited.’

Minister for Public Health and Prevention Andrew Gwynne added: ‘For the first time ever this year, we’re offering RSV vaccinations as well as Covid and flu doses, supporting the most vulnerable people and protecting our NHS this winter.’

It can lead to serious infections and breathing complications like pneumonia and as a result RSV is responsible for between 20 to 30 deaths in children each year in Britain

The NHS’s plans for the rollout comes as part of its winter vaccine plans, which also includes Covid and flue jabs.

Similar to previous years, those in vulnerable groups and the staff that care for them will be eligible for those vaccines.

However, while people can get their flu and Covid jab on the same day any who are also eligible for the RSV vaccine will need to wait at least a day between injections to maximise its effectiveness.

While preventing severe RSV infections, and therefore hospital admissions, is a benefit of itself, health chiefs also hope the jabs will reduce winter pressures on NHS services in general.

People who are eligible for the RSV jab are expected to be invited via their GP or workplace in the case of healthcare staff.

Steve Russell, the NHS’s national director for vaccinations and screening said: ‘This year for the first time, we will also be offering the RSV vaccine to older people and pregnant women, to provide vital protection against this dangerous virus for those at greatest risk.’

‘These viruses leave thousands of people in hospital each year, and the vaccinations help us to keep more people well during the winter months when we expect the NHS to again be under significant pressure – so please come forward as soon as you are invited.’

Minister for Public Health and Prevention Andrew Gwynne added: ‘For the first time ever this year, we’re offering RSV vaccinations as well as Covid and flu doses, supporting the most vulnerable people and protecting our NHS this winter.’

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If you are a smoker, you might receive a text message from us about local services that can help you to quit. Quitting smoking is a normal thing to do and is one of the best things you can do for your health. It will improve your ability to recover after illness or injury and it can even make some medications work better, meaning you might be able to reduce the dosage. If you receive a message from us, please take action, follow the advice and make use of the free stop smoking services available to you. Take control of your health!

Whether you receive a text message or not, there’s free help available to support you to becoming smoke-free. Visit our Quitting Smoking pages for more information and contact details: www.frimleyhealthandcare.org.uk/quitsmoking

Systems are back to normal following the Microsoft outage of last Friday although there are a number of appointments and prescriptions that need to be cleared in addition to those requesting new ones so please do bear with us whilst we clear the  backlog.  Hopefully our increased staffing levels will allow for back to normal from tomorrow.

Thank you for your support