Hertfordshire Health Matters

Friday 18 October 2019

Getting your medicines if there's a 'no-deal' Brexit

The government is working closely with the NHS and suppliers to help to ensure medicines and medical products continue to be available for patients if there is a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

Get prescriptions as normal
Please keep ordering your repeat prescriptions and taking your medicines as normal. It is unnecessary to change how you order and take your medicines.
It's important you don't ask for more medicines than you normally need, doing so risks pressure on availability of medicines for other people.

What the government is doing
The government has put in place contingency measures to help ensure medicines continue to be available. These include:

buffer stocks in the UK
transport priority for medicines
preparing medicines suppliers.

For more information, please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/medicines-information/getting-your-medicines-if-theres-no-deal-eu-exit/.

Have you had your flu vaccination?

The vaccine provides the best protection available against a virus that can cause severe illness. The most likely viruses that will cause flu are identified in advance of the flu season and vaccines are then made to match them as closely as possible.

Vaccines are ideally given in the autumn before flu starts circulating. During the last ten years, the vaccine has generally been a good match for the circulating strains.

Flu can affect anyone but if you have a long-term health condition, the effects of flu can make it worse even if the condition is well managed and you normally feel fine.

The protection that the flu vaccine gives you lasts for about six months, so if you’re in a high-risk group, you should have your free flu vaccine each flu season.

If you want to protect yourself from the flu but you’re not entitled to a free vaccine, you can pay for your own vaccine at a community pharmacy. Priced between £7-15, the vaccine represents a sound investment in your health this winter. Even those who are not at a heightened risk of the flu can unwittingly pass on the virus to someone who could be severely affected.

This leaflet explains how you can help protect yourself and your family and friends against flu this winter: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flu-vaccination-who-should-have-it-this-winter-and-why

Have you got the NHS App?

At home or on the move, with the new NHS App you can book appointments at your GP surgery, order repeat prescriptions, set organ donation preferences, and check symptoms.

The app has been developed by the NHS and has been designed to help millions of people get more information about their health and care - and more control of how they use NHS services. New functions and services will also be added in the coming months. Why not download it and try it out?

What does the NHS App do?
The NHS App allows you to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet. You can use it wherever you are, at any time. It puts valuable information about your health and treatments at your fingertips.

You can:

book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery
order repeat prescriptions
view your GP medical record
register for organ donation and change your donation preferences
use the symptoms checker, including an A to Z of conditions and treatment advice from the NHS website
access 111 online, for advice on self-care and whether urgent help is needed.

Is my information safe?
Just like a banking app, your identity is carefully checked during the registration process. The app has been designed, built and tested so that personal information is always safe and secure.

How to register through the NHS App
Download the app from your mobile device’s app store and follow the easy step-by-step registration instructions. It will help if you know your NHS number, and have a form of photo ID (passport or driving license) to hand.

Every Mind Matters

Mental health is as important as our physical health, and there is always something we can do to improve it. Visit Every Mind Matters to discover simple steps to look after your mental health.

To learn more about how to look after your mental health and create your own action plan, visit the Every Mind Matters website.

Stoptober is back for its eighth year to help smokers realise that they are ready to split up from their relationship with smoking this October.

NHS Stoptober helps people quit smoking

Join in with the thousands of others dumping smoking for 28 days this October.

You can still join 1.9 million people who’ve used Stoptober to split up with smoking. Visit the ONE YOU website for quitting support to end your relationship with smoking.

Partnership working development day
Non-executive directors, lay members and councillors from across the STP’s organisations gathered on Monday 14 October to make steps towards greater partnership and system-wide working. The event was supported by the NHS Confederation and attendees heard from STP leads Iain MacBeath and Beverley Flowers as well as Paul Burstow, the STP’s independent chair. Surrey Heartlands STP shared their experience of developing an Integrated Care System in their area.

Find out more about our STP by visiting: www.healthierfuture.org.uk

There are links to the STP’s ‘Healthier Future’ newsletter and copies of the STP leader’s update on our intranet.

Sign up to receive the Hertfordshire and west Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) newsletter by clicking here...

NEWSLETTERS AND EVENTS

This section promotes useful newsletters from organisations in our area which you can share. We'll also post information on health-related events in the area that you might find interesting.

There are lots of ‘Preparing for Baby’ courses taking place in the area, so please let your family members know if they are expecting. Visit Eventbrite for more dates and locations.

23 October: Memory Cafe, Hertford Theatre, Hertford, 11.30am-1.30pm.

24 October: Cake and coffee morning, Rhodes Arts Complex, Bishop's Stortford, 10am-12pm - A support group run by Bishop's Stortford Breathe Easy Group for people living with a lung condition, COPD or asthma.

LOCAL NEWS week ending 13 October

Some of our area's outlets covered a range of health matters in the past week. Click on the links to take you to their home pages where you can search for health news.

St Albans & Harpenden Review

Essex Live

East London and West Essex Guardian

Herts Advertiser

Hemel Gazette

Watford Observer

@ENHertsCCG Twitter report
6 - 13 October 2019

Total followers: 5,025
New followers this week: 10
Tweets sent this week: 28
Total number of views of our tweets: 14,451
Retweets this week: 13
Total number of ‘follows’ or tweets ‘favourited’ or ‘re-tweeted’: 66

Copyright © 2019 NHS East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, All rights reserved.

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