Don't forget to get your flu jab

It is even more important than usual that we all get our flu jabs this year. Free for everyone over 50 (rather than the usual 60) and vulnerable groups. 

Some employers (including mine) have organised free flu jabs for all employees under 50 as well.

GP practices here in North Cumbria have started the annual flu vaccination programme. It is a bigger job than usual as they have to maintain social distancing to keep everyone safe.

But the last thing we can afford this winter is the combination of another wave of the Coronavirus combined with the usual winter flu outbreak. 

Both to protect yourself and your family - not least because people whose system is weakened by flu might well be more vulnerable to COVID-19 - and to protectg the NHS so they can protect you, get your flu jab.

Recognising our NHS heroes

The Prime Minister has announced that doctors, nurses, fundraisers and volunteers who have made outstanding contributions to the UK’s coronavirus response will be recognised in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours list on Saturday 10 October.

• As we all redouble our efforts to control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives this Winter, the Queen’s Birthday Honours list is an opportunity to recognise those who have given so much to this country already. 
   
• The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest health challenge in our lifetime. We all have to play our part, but the dedication, courage and compassion seen from these recipients, be it responding on the frontline or out in their communities providing support to the most vulnerable, is an inspiration to us all. 
   
• We owe them a debt of gratitude and the 2020 Queen’s Birthday honours will be the first of many occasions where we can thank them as a nation.

October meeting of the Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee

Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee will meet online a week tomorrow, Monday 5th October 2020. The meeting will be live-streamed. 

The main agenda items will be 

• Urgent and Emergency Care & Elective Care (To consider a report from the North Cumbria Integrated Care Trust) 
• Winter care plans from both NCIC in the North of the county and from Morecambe Bay health trust in the South (which also covers part of Lancashire.) 

Full details of the meeting including the agenda papers and a link to watch the meeting can be found on the CCC website here.

Coronavirus update 23rd September 2020

 Covid-19 update received today:

"Last night, the Prime Minister addressed the nation outlining that although there are difficult months to come if we follow these simple rules together – the new restrictions outlined yesterday, the rule of six and remember Hands, Face and Space – we will get through this winter together. At every stage of this pandemic we have struck a delicate balance between saving lives by protecting our NHS and minimising the wider impact of our restrictions.   It is because of the common sense and fortitude of the British people that earlier this year we were able to avert an even worse catastrophe. But we always knew that while we might have driven the virus into retreat, the prospect of a second wave was real. As in Spain and France and many other countries, we have reached a perilous turning point.   On Monday, the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser warned that the doubling rate for new cases could be between seven and 20 days and in the last fortnight, daily hospital admissions in England have more than doubled. The UK’s Covid alert level was raised from 3 to 4 yesterday meaning that transmission is high or rising exponentially.      So, this is the moment when we must act. If we can curb the number of daily infections, and reduce the R number to 1, then we can save lives, protect the NHS, and the most vulnerable, and shelter the economy from the far sterner and more costly measures that would inevitably become necessary later.      So now it falls to each and every one of us to remember the basics – wash our hands, cover our faces, observe social distancing – and follow the rules.    Then we can fight back against this virus, shelter our economy from even greater damage, protect the most vulnerable in care homes and hospitals, safeguard our NHS and save many more lives.

We are introducing new restrictions and strengthening the rules – making them easier for people to understand, for the police to enforce and to ensure the minimum damage is done to lives and livelihoods:  We are once again asking those who can work from home to do so – with particular emphasis on office workers. In all professions where homeworking is not possible, such as construction or retail and for all those key public services, people should continue to attend their workplaces.    From tomorrow all pubs, bar and restaurants must operate table-service only, except for take-aways – with all hospitality venues required close at 10pm daily. In order to help enforce this the Prime Minister made it clear this is not the calling of last orders but closing at 10pm. The same rules will apply for takeaways – although deliveries can occur thereafter.   We are extending and strengthening the requirement to wear face coverings. These new requirements will include the wearing of facemasks by staff in retail, all users of taxis and private hire vehicles, and most importantly both staff and customers in all indoor hospitality – except when seated at a table to eat or drink.    We are making our Covid-secure guidelines a legal requirement. In retail, leisure and other sectors these guidelines will become a legal requirement – meaning businesses can be both fined, up to £10,000, and closed if they breach these rules.    From Monday, we will tighten the rule of six. The rule of six will be extended to all adult indoor team sports. A maximum of 15 people will be able to attend wedding ceremonies and receptions. However, up to 30 people can still attend funerals as they can do currently.    Business conferences, exhibitions and large sporting events will be unable to reopen as planned from 1 October. We recognise the implications this will have for our sports clubs – the decision was not taken lightly. We are urgently considering how we can support these clubs, many of which are central to our communities.    This is not a return to the full lockdown in March. We are not issuing a general instruction to stay at home. We will ensure that schools, colleges and universities stay open - because nothing is more important than the education, health and well-being of our young people. We will ensure that businesses can stay open in a Covid-compliant way."

Testing, Testing

Today, the Health Secretary has announced £500 million to trial new technologies that can speed up coronavirus testing and assist with repeat testing, helping us to continue controlling the virus and getting life back to normal. Testing is a vital line of defence against coronavirus. Britain's testing system is one of the best in the world: we have rapidly scaled up our testing capacity from 2,000 tests per day in March to 300,000 per day currently, and have now carried out over 16 million tests in the UK.   The government is now levelling up the testing system by rolling out trials to assess the benefits of repeat population testing, while we continue to trial for a new rapid test, using the latest cutting-edge technology, which aims to deliver results within 20 minutes.   If we can roll out rapid and repeated testing, chains of transmission will be broken almost immediately by delivering on-the-spot results – helping to control the virus and get us back to a more normal way of life.

Special meeting of West Cumbria Community Forum at 2pm on Friday 4th September to discuss Breast Care

There will be a special meeting of the West Cumbria Community Forum this Friday, 4th September, to discuss a single item agenda.

That item is the  One Stop Breast Clinic which it is hoped to re-start at West Cumberland Hospital.

Dr Rod Harpin, Interim Medical Director of North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, is attending this special virtual meeting on Friday 4th September from 2pm to 4pm to explain the position with Breast Care in West Cumbria and to seek feedback from members of the wider community.

The meeting will be chaired by Archdeacon Richard Pratt. 

Members of the public can attend this virtual meeting or submit questions about the one stop clinic for Dr Harpin and his colleagues to answer by contacting Healthwatch Cumbria.

I know a number of elected representatives including myself are planning to attend. The Health Scrutiny Committee's Variations subcommittee, of which I am a member, will have to review the changes and the proposed public consultation and formally rule on whether this constitutes a major variation in which case the trust has to formally discuss with is the arrangements to consult the public.  

A statement from the Trust includes the following:

"Breast care clinicians at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust are working together to develop a plan to restart the one stop breast clinic at West Cumberland Hospital before the end of the year.

The Trust changed how a number of outpatient services were delivered at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in line with national guidance and is now looking at the best way to safely restart services with the current restrictions still in place. 

Plans to restart the one stop clinic for some women with symptoms of cancer at WCH are being developed and are also factoring in recent changes in the small radiologist workforce.

Dr Rod Harpin, Interim Medical Director explains:

“The Trust offers a range of breast care services for women across north and west Cumbria including breast surgery, breast screening and a clinic for women who are symptomatic and require investigation and diagnosis. 

“Most breast surgery for women across north and west Cumbria takes place at West Cumberland Hospital and breast screening services for around 6000 women per year is provided at West Cumberland Hospital and this is continuing. This relates to the weekly ‘one stop’ clinic at West Cumberland Hospital for some symptomatic women referred by their GP which sees around 6 women a week.” 

Dr Harpin added: “This particular clinic had been provided with a single experienced radiologist without onsite support from colleagues where a second opinion or discussion about a case is required.  With the reduced radiology hours available to us, it has been more difficult to restart this clinic, however we are preparing to do so with the aim of restarting in two months time.”

“There is a positive future for the clinic in the long term as new radiologists with an interest in breast care are due to arrive later this year, however they will need to undertake a period of training with colleagues in Carlisle.  Following that we would like to hold a larger clinic at West Cumberland Hospital with two radiologists working at any one time which would enable us to provide a resilient and high quality service.”

Dr Harpin added: “I do appreciate that in the immediate term this will mean longer travel times for some women for some treatments, however I have to prioritise a safe effective service for women who need it now.

“Our services at West Cumberland Hospital for women undergoing breast surgery are second to none and it’s our ambition to provide a bigger and better one stop treatment service in the future.”