Please note that the Mid and South Essex STP meeting in Maldon tonight has be been cancelled.
Due to the adverse weather the Plume Academy is closed and we are unable to hold the event. We will seek to reschedule so please keep an eye on our website and social media.
Sincere apologies to anyone planning to attend.
A sepsis campaign has been launched to help parents spot the symptoms to protect young children and save lives. Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of any infection.
Parents of children aged 0-4 are encouraged to take immediate action by going to A&E immediately or calling 999 if they spot any of the following symptoms:
Acting quickly can save a child’s life!
For more information visit nhs.uk/sepsis or sepsistrust.org.
The Essex Lifestyle Service was commissioned by Essex County Council from 1st April 2016 to deliver health and wellbeing services for the county of Essex (excluding Southend and Thurrock). Services include:
The service offers Stop Smoking support, guidance on diet and exercise and help to improve your self-esteem. The service also offers classes to support people suffering with Long Term Conditions. In addition to the services provided, they can signpost people to appropriate support provided by partner organisations. See below for more information on each of the core services Essex Lifestyle Service offer.
Many smokers who want to quit aren’t sure where to turn, but getting advice and support from our friendly expert team will mean you are up to 4 times more likely to quit for good.
The service provides a free programme offering a maximum prescription of either 12 weeks Champix medication or 8 weeks nicotine replacement therapy, as appropriate. Your stop smoking adviser will support your attempt to quit for up to 6 sessions, on either a one-to-one community based programme, via telephone support or through our stop smoking app. Your advisor will offer behavioural and motivational support throughout the process and will assist you to reduce your reliance on the medication using a “weaning off” process.
The service support people on an individual basis, establishing what works for them and supporting them to reach their goals. The team give advice on food groups, portion sizes, food package labelling and physical activity. Eating healthily can help to reduce high blood pressure, cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
Physical activity is a crucial part of health & wellbeing. In infants, it encourages use of muscles & helps to develop motor skills. It also helps to build social & emotional bonds. It improves cognitive development & enhances bone & muscular development. It also contributes to a healthy weight. For adults, being physically active can help with self-esteem, mood and contribute towards a healthy weight. It also helps reduce the risk of dementia.
The team will work with you to develop physical activity targets considering your health and any restrictions to your movement.
Many people suffer with Long Term Conditions (a health problem that cannot be cured but can usually be controlled by medication and other therapies). Long Term Conditions can affect many parts of a person’s life, from their ability to work and have relationships, to housing and education opportunities.
Examples of Long Term Conditions include – high blood pressure, depression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and arthritis. Provide offer Managing Health Courses for people living with Long Term Conditions. The course aims to help them take control of their health by learning new skills to help manage their condition better on a daily basis. The course covers many issues and topics faced daily including – Dealing with pain and extreme tiredness, coping with feelings of depression, relaxation techniques and exercise, communication with family, friends and health professionals and planning for the future.
This free programme delivers health promotion advice and support services to small, medium and large workplaces in the private, public and voluntary sectors across Essex. We will work with your organisation to promote and foster an environment of health and wellbeing. We will train your staff to become Workplace Health Champions who will deliver a range of healthy lifestyle programmes and activities.
We work in partnership with a wide range of local employers and business support agencies including: local Councils, Hospital Trusts, Community Health Providers, Walking for Health, the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes groups and MacMillan Cancer Care, Active Essex and Living Safe and Well Board.
Social prescribing is helping people to make a positive change to their lives by linking them to voluntary and community groups and services that will help them to increase their confidence, meet new people and improve their general health and wellbeing. With Essex Lifestyle Service working with initiatives such as Essex Connects and Live Well in social prescribing, we can ensure that our clients will receive the services that will support them to make good lifestyle choices and maximise their emotional, practical and social wellbeing.
People can self-refer to the service by contacting the team on the details below. Clinics are held at various locations across the county, the team are also able to offer telephone appointments for those unable to attend a clinic.
For more infomation view the Essex Lifestyle Service website.
Public Health England have launched a new national campaign, highlighting that taking antibiotics when you don’t need them puts you and your family at risk of more severe or longer illness. To help keep antibiotics working you are urged to always take your doctors or nurse’s advice on antibiotics.
It is estimated that 5,000 deaths are caused every year in England because antibiotics no longer work for some infections and this figure is set to rise with experts predicting that in just over 30 years antibiotic resistance will kill more people than cancer and diabetes combined.
Antibiotics help ward off infections during chemotherapy, caesarean sections and other surgery. They also treat serious bacterial infections such as pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis, but they are being used for everyday viral infections, such as colds or flu, where they are not effective.
Taking antibiotics encourages harmful bacteria that live inside you to become resistant. That means that antibiotics may not work when you really need them.
How to look after yourself and your family:
If you or a family member are feeling unwell, have a cold or flu and you haven't been prescribed antibiotics, here are some effective self care ways to help you feel better:
Click here for further information on antibiotic use.
Health professionals, patients, health leaders and those who work with, own or treat animals are being encouraged to visit the antibiotic guardian website and choose a pledge that they can fulfil and play their part in protecting some of our most precious medicines.
The NHS Long Term Plan is the national health service’s plan to make sure it is fit for the future. It aims to give everyone the best start in life, will deliver world-class care for major health problems such as cancer and mental health, and will help people age well.
The plan, backed by extra investment, has been developed by people who know the NHS best – frontline health and care staff, patients and their families, and other experts – who will continue to shape how it is implemented across the country.
Over the next few months, the NHS in mid Essex will be working with patients, the public and partners - including local councils, the voluntary and community sector and social care – to develop local plans to turn the national ambitions contained in the Long Term Plan into real improvements to services and outcomes for patients, building on the progress we’ve already made together over the last few years.
Dr Anita Donley, OBE, independent chair of the Mid and South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership said: "We welcome the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan today and the priorities it contains. The plan is a helpful blueprint for change which reflects many of our own ambitions and the work we are already doing as a health and care partnership to shape our care for the future.
"Building on the conversations we are having with the public and our staff we now have the opportunity to shape what the NHS Long Term Plan means for our area, and how we can continue to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities we serve."
More details about opportunities to help shape our local plans will be shared shortly. In the meantime, to read a copy of the national plan and find out more visit www.longtermplan.nhs.uk.
More than 15 million general practice appointments are being wasted each year because patients do not turn up and fail to warn surgeries that they will not be attending.
NHS England report that around 307 million sessions scheduled with GPs, nurses, therapists and other practice staff every year and 5% – one in twenty – are missed without enough notice to invite other patients. That works out as around 15.4 million missed slots.
In mid and south Essex more than 12,000 GP slots are wasted every month across due to people failing to show up to their GP appointments.
GP leaders say the missed appointments contribute to increased waiting times in practice and therefore could be contributing to people with minor illnesses going to local A&E departments for treatment.
ADVICE:
NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups across mid and south Essex are working together to raise awareness of the impacts of missed appointments and to help educate local people about tools such as online GP services that help to make cancelling GP appointments easy.
