Over 70s urged to take up shingles vaccine

Published on Oct 26, 2018

Over 70s in Scarborough and Ryedale are being urged to get vaccinated against shingles.

Eligibility depends on age and date of birth, but anyone born after 1 September 1942 is eligible on their 70th birthday and remains eligible up until they are 80. Patients born before this will become eligible on their 78th birthday and will also remain eligible up until they are 80.

There is a cohort of people aged 76 and 77 who are currently not eligible but who will become eligible on their 78th birthday.

An estimated 50,000 cases of shingles occur in people aged 70 years and above each year in England and Wales.

Eligible patients are being advised to contact their GP practice to make an appointment to have the vaccination. The NHS says it’s “safe and may be more convenient for you to have the shingles vaccine at the same time as your flu vaccine”.

Dr Greg Black, NHS Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body member and clinical lead for medicines, said: “Shingles isn’t like other infectious diseases because you don’t catch it from someone else. It can be very painful and tends to affect people more commonly as they get older.

“For some, the pain caused by shingles can last for many years. Shingles can really affect your life, stopping you from doing all the things you usually enjoy.

“By having the vaccination you will significantly reduce your chance of developing shingles, and unlike the annual flu jab, you will only have the vaccination once.

“Side effects are usually quite mild and don’t last very long and, if you do go on to have shingles after the vaccine, the symptoms are likely to be milder and the illness shorter, than if you had not had it.”

Approximately 20 per cent of shingles cases develop into a painful and long lasting condition with two per cent of cases resulting in hospitalisation. One in 1,000 cases of shingles are estimated to result in death.

There’s more information about shingles on the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/shingles/

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Services to be shared between Peasholm and Prospect Road Surgeries

Published on Oct 19, 2018

From Monday 12 November some services for Peasholm patients will be relocated to Prospect Road branch. The changes will not amount to any reduction in services.

The two surgeries are part of the Central Healthcare group which formed in July.

Peasholm branch will be open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and will be providing pre-bookable appointments with nurses and GPs, while Prospect Road branch host on-the-day the day appointments as well as a late opening service until 8pm.

Development Manager at Central Healthcare, Lesley Clemmet, said: “It is important to stress to patients that there is not a reduction in any of the services they usually access, but we will be delivering them differently across the two sites.

“It is hoped that joining the services across both branches will enable us to deliver a better overall service to our patients. We have recently recruited six new nursing staff to help with appointment access.”

With a bigger team of GPs and nurses located at Prospect Road delivering on-the-day care, it will increase staff peer support and training opportunities.

Prospect Road surgery also offers level access for all patients; the overall plan is to change the Peasholm branch to a pre-planned care centre due to the less than ideal accessibility for patients at this site.

The current Peasholm team will be working across both sites so patients will still see familiar faces when they go for appointments.

For further information on these shared services, you can still contact the surgeries on their usual numbers: Peasholm (01723) 361268 and Prospect Road (01723) 360178.

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Work starts on improvements to specialist community mental health services for new and expectant mums

Published on Oct 1, 2018

Mental health services for new and expectant mums in the Humber region and parts of Yorkshire are expanding this autumn using an NHS cash injection worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Having secured part of a £23 million NHS England grant earlier this year, the Humber Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership – an alliance of more than 20 healthcare organisations, Local Authorities and Voluntary Sector organisations – will work together to deliver perinatal mental health services across Hull, East Riding, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Scarborough and Ryedale, and York.

From 1 October, the services will extend to ensure women who experience complex mental health needs, as well as their families receive the support they need and have access to treatments at the earliest possible stage.

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust is strengthening its specialist community perinatal mental health services in Hull and East Riding, whilst working collaboratively with NAViGO and Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust to implement a new service for the North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire areas.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust will provide new, much needed community perinatal mental health services across the Vale of York and Scarborough.

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive and the Mental Health Partnership Lead, Michele Moran said: “We are delighted to have started work on improvements to a much needed service to the Yorkshire, Humber and North Lincolnshire regions.

“So many new and expectant mothers experience mental health problems and we’re proud to work with our partners to extend the perinatal service into underserved areas and hopefully help hundreds of women and their families.”

The funding granted is part of a £365 million plan to ensure 30,000 more women can access specialist perinatal services by 2021.

Michelle Thompson, Assistant Director for Women’s and Children’s services for North East Lincolnshire CCG and the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership Lead said: “Having a baby is a major life event for mums and dads, and it’s natural to experience a whole range of emotions and reactions during and after pregnancy.

“But if these problems start to have a big impact on day to day life, it might be a sign of a mental health problem and this service will provide some much needed specialist support for local families who are experiencing difficulties during or after the birth of their child.”

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New service provider for minor eye conditions in Scarborough and Ryedale

Published on Sep 26, 2018

A new service provider has been announced to deliver a Minor Eye Conditions Service (MECS) across Scarborough, Ryedale and the Vale of York.

Healthcare Business Solutions UK has been announced as the new provider as a result of a recent formal procurement process.

NHS Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will be working with the new provider to help mobilise the new service beginning on 1 December 2018.

Both NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG and Vale of York CCG will deliver the MECS from community optician practices in their area meaning many patients will be seen closer to home rather than if they were referred into the hospital eye service.

The service will assess and treat a wide range of conditions, including: ocular pain and irritation, blurred vision, or flashes and floaters.

Scarborough Medical Group GP and NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG Associate Chairman, Dr Peter Billingsley, said: “When suffering from minor eye conditions it is important you are seen by the right healthcare professional depending on your condition, as well as being able to access the service closer to home and at a convenient time.

“The demand on GPs is currently very high and making sure patients are referred to the correct healthcare professional first time is only going to benefit local practices and hospital services.”

Patients will be seen by an optometrist with additional accreditation in minor eye conditions, within 24 or 48 hours depending of the urgency of the symptoms, so that many patients will be seen sooner than if they made an appointment to see their GP or were referred into the hospital eye service.

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