Report from this morning's meeting of the West Cumbria Community Forum

I have been attending online this morning's meeting of the West Cumbria Community Forum.

The forum has heard two presentations from Adrian Clements, the Trust's Medical director, who began by telling us that we might not like what he had to tell us but that he would tell us the truth. He kept his promise.

The first presentation was on A&E at West Cumberland Hospital (WCH,) he then reported on cancer treatment in West Cumbria where he was open about the fact that current performance is, quote "unacceptable."

In the past the local NHS has often been accused of wanting to asset strip hospital and health services in West Cumbria and move them to Carlisle or even further afield.

Having heard the presentation from Adrian, I am very grateful that he clearly does not share that approach and wants to keep our local NHS services in West Cumbria open. If he did not have a commitment to our local NHS services, I think we might have already lost more key aspects of healthcare on the West coast.

I am trying to word this in a manner which is not liable to be picked up in an alarmist way and make matters worse. It's clear that there are significant staffing challenges at West Cumberland Hospital, particularly on A&E and that we need to have the NHS, local government and the Community working together as we did to keep consultant-led maternity - we need to work the same way to improve recruitment and retention in Accident and Emergency, and to see what we can do to work together to improve Cancer Care. 

Autumn Booster jab programme starts today

Today the NHS autumn booster programme kicks off, with care home residents, staff and the housebound to first receive their jabs – keeping the most vulnerable in our society safe and strengthening our defences against the virus.

• We know in order to retain our freedoms and live with Covid we must keep the most vulnerable in our society protected from the virus.

• Britain's autumn booster rollout begins today with care home residents and staff amongst the first in the world to receive the new, variant-tackling jabs. Around seven million people who are at highest risk, including the over 75s and those with weakened immune systems, will be able to book a vaccine through the National Booking Service, with the first appointments available from the following week and invitations landing on doormats from 7 September. 

• With a record 3,100 sites forming part of the rollout, the autumn booster roll out will top up the immunity of the most vulnerable and help us to live with the virus without restrictions.

Protect your family - protect your community - protect yourself. If you are invited to take part in the booster programme, get the jab to protect all three.

Approved COVID vaccines are safe and recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women

 The Department of Health and Social Care has reiterated that 

"Covid vaccines are safe and highly effective both for pregnant women and for those who are breastfeeding.

"This is backed by extensive real-world data, including global analysis outside of clinical trials and in healthcare settings."

Some social media posts to the contrary are fake news based on selective and misleading quotes from out-of-date documents published at the time of approval based on the original clinical trials which did not specifically include pregnant women.

However, the UK's Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed that since then new data bas become available which supports current NHS advice in favour of vaccinating pregnant and breastfeeding women.

The NHS's Health Research Authority explains it is quite usual not to include pregnant women in the first clinical trials for a new drug as doctors are extra cautious about doing anything that could affect a developing foetus.

However, some participants in the clinical trials became accidentally pregnant and, once the vaccine became publicly available, some women received it without knowing they were pregnant.

This gave researchers a group of women they could study, who had the jab during pregnancy.

They did not seem any more likely to have miscarriages or other issues.

Then more research took place.

In 27 studies, across eight countries, involving 316,470 women vaccinated while pregnant, no increased risk of miscarriage, still-birth, premature birth, low birth weight or babies with abnormalities was detected.

The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said it also used evidence from the US's V-Safe study, which followed more than 20,000 people vaccinated during pregnancy and found no safety concerns.

Overwhelming evidence suggests that there is NO sign of any higher risk of stillbirth or complications as a result of the COVID-19 vaccines, but there IS a higher risk of stillbirth or premature birth as a result of catching COVID.

If you have any concerns about the safety of vaccination or any other medical treatment for yourself or any member of your family, please discuss them with an appropriately qualified medical professional.