STAFF CHANGES
PATIENT NEWSLETTER
October 2010
FLU CLINIC SESSIONS
If you are unsure if you are eligible for a flu
vaccine; please read the following information.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A FLU VACCINE?
If you fall into the following categories, you
are able to have a flu vaccine:
Over 65 years; If you have Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder; Asthmatic
(on a brown inhaler); Chronic Heart
Disease; Chronic Renal Disease; Chronic
Liver Disease; Diabetic; or if you have
Immunosuppression.
These categories are also the relevant for having a
Pneumonia injection.
If you are unsure about these categories, please do
not hesitate to ask.
Clinics
This year we are holding three flu clinic sessions
during September and October. These will be held as
last year in St James Church Hall next to the surgery.
Please book your appointment as soon as possible
during the following times.
The sessions will be on:
Thurs 14th October between 8:30am – 12:30pm
Wed 21st October between 13:30pm – 17:40pm.
During these sessions we are able to give you your
Pneumonia vaccine as well. When booking your flu
appointment, please ask the receptionist to book your
pneumonia vaccine at the same time.
It would really help all concerned if you are prepared
to have the vaccine.
 Remove any outer clothing as you enter
the hall.
 Prepare your arm by rolling up your
sleeve.
It would also help if you do not come earlier than your
appointment time. This will enable us to administer
your vaccine and stop there being a build up of
patients within the hall.
Nursing Team
There have been changes to our
Nursing team.
Unfortunately we have had to say
farewell to Nurse Shawn Whelan.
Shawn has been with us only for a
short time and we wish him well in
the future.
We welcome back Nurse Anne Greenwood who has
come back for a short while. Anne has been working
as a Practice Nurse in Hereford.
We also welcome Nurse Caroline Samuel who starts
with us on 25th October 2010. Caroline has been a
Practice Nurse previously and comes with lots of
experience in Chronic Disease Management.
Living with Long-term Health Conditions
Did you know that there is a programme
available to help people living with longterm health conditions to develop selfmanagement skills aimed at improving
their quality of life?
It’s called the Expert Patients
Programme and takes the form of locally
held Courses over a period of six weeks, run by
qualified volunteers who are themselves living with
long term conditions. Each session lasts for
approximately two and a half hours and covers a
range of topics aimed at helping us to understand the
complex cycle of our symptoms, suggesting
alternative strategies to help break the vicious circle
and teaching a variety of self-help techniques to
support these and enable us to make the most of our
capabilities. We discussed the art and importance of
good communication, especially with those helping us
to manage our condition and in planning for the future,
as well as briefly covering the more general areas of
diet and exercise. It appears that availability of these
FREE courses is not widely known, which is a pity as
they are arranged according to local demand. The one
I attended recently was held in Taunton and was well
run, enjoyable and full of positivity and
encouragement. I would thoroughly recommend
participation to anyone who feels that they would like
to have a greater involvement in their well-being. They
are available through the NHS, voluntary
organisations, community groups and social
enterprises and more information can be obtained
from the Expert Patients Programme Community
Interest Company, contact details as follows:Freephone: 0800 988 5520
EPPCIC
Regent House
Hove Street
Hove
East Sussex
BN3 2DW
(www.expertpatients.co.uk)
Cancer screening saves lives
In the UK, we have three national
screening programmes, for breast,
cervical and bowel cancers. We know
that screening saves thousands of
lives each year.
What is cancer screening?
Screening involves testing large groups of
apparently healthy people for early signs of
certain types of cancer. This can help
doctors find cancer early, before any
symptoms develop. Screening can also be
used to prevent cancer from developing in
the first place.
Why screen for cancer?
Screening can detect cancer at an early
stage. For most cancers, early detection
means that treatments are easier and have a
higher chance of success. Some, but not all,
screening programmes can also prevent
cancer. The cervical and bowel cancer
screening programmes can detect abnormal
changes before they progress to full-blown
cancer. Treating these changes can prevent
cancer from developing at all. If someone
gets a positive result in a screening test, it
doesn’t mean they definitely have cancer.
But it does mean that they need to have
more tests to find out whether they have
cancer or not.
Why don't we screen for every cancer?
A screening programme can only be set up
for a particular cancer if it will do more good
than harm. We also need to have a good
enough test for it. A good test must:
reliably detect any cancers or abnormal
changes that could lead to cancer; not cause
too many false alarms; by saying that
someone has cancer when they haven’t be
acceptable; so that people will actually take
the test not be dangerous to health be costeffective.
Knowing your body is still important
Screening programmes are a vital part of the
fight against cancer. But not all cancers can
be screened for, and screening tests are not
perfect. It’s really important to know what’s
normal for you and look out for any changes.
And if you notice anything unusual, make an
appointment to see your doctor and have it
checked out.
STAFF TRAINING
The surgery will be closed for staff
training between 1.00pm and 4.30pm
on the following dates
Mon 18th October 10
Tues 16th November 10
Wed 15th December 10
Calling all smokers
Are you amongst the 70% of
smokers who would like to stop?
Did you know that we run stop
smoking clinics at the surgery?
During your first 30 minute
appointment the trained adviser
will discuss your smoking habits and history
with you. You will be given information about
products that are available to help you stop
and we’ll help you to choose the one(s) that
would best suit your quit attempt.
Together we will set a quit date and organise
a prescription for you to have two weeks
supply of your chosen product at a time.
You will also be able to have your carbon
monoxide levels tested. Carbon monoxide
levels are higher in smokers but once you
stop smoking the level will return to that of a
non-smoker within 24 hours.
Follow up appointments will then be for 10
minutes when you will be able to test your
carbon monoxide levels, discuss any queries
or concerns and share and celebrate your
success with us.
Stopping smoking is the best thing that you
can do to improve your health but there are
also other benefits: you’ll have more money,
more time, you won’t smell (and neither will
the house and car), and, with the weather
getting colder and wetter, you won’t have to
stand outside to smoke. In fact smoking will
no longer be controlling your life; you will be
in control of it. Think how good that will feel!
Even if you have tried stopping before we will
be very happy to see you again.
If you are not ready to stop yet, when you
are, give us a call to make an appointment
and we’ll be really delighted to see you.
Comments and Suggestions
If you have any comments or
suggestions about our services please
place them in the box provided in the waiting
room.