On Sunday 22 January 2023 : OUR NHS IS IN CRISIS. COVID INFECTIONS, HOSPITALISATIONS & DEATHS ARE VERY HIGH. THE FEARED TWINDEMIC OF COVID & FLU IS HERE. VACCINATION CENTRES HAVE CLOSED BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T BEING USED AND GP VACCINATIONS WEREN’T BEING BOOKED. Unvaccinated people are taking up health & care services unnecessarily. Will the Chinese Covid situation, with 60,000 reported deaths in the last month & many more feared, have global consequences? The new Covid sub-variant XBB.1.5 causing concern in the US is also in the UK.
We asked Mid & South Essex Hospitals Trust public Board meeting on 12 January: Given the present situation, what do you say to SWF’s people about the services we can expect today and how we can help make those services work as well as possible? For example, what can we expect and should do if people seem likely to be having a cardiac arrest, a heart attack, a stroke, be involved in a major trauma accident or where someone has an open fracture or may have a broken pelvis? The answer: “We are ensuring we do our best to meet all the emergency demand on the system. The public should be assured we are doing our best to keep things safe. Ambulances have consistently been off loading well at mid Essex; this week we have not been delaying ambulances. So we would expect the public to be confident to use 111, their GP and 999 as appropriate. If safe to do, and appropriate to their need, the public will be asked if they can travel to A&E by their own means by a call handler, otherwise an ambulance will be dispatched. Staff in the East of England are not on strike.” We will ask public board meetings of other local NHS authorities the same question in the coming days and will publish their answers. We also hope to meet our MP about this by the end of this month.
Our local health and welfare service providers are restricted by the funding, resources and targets they are given by central government. All our local medical professionals are terribly upset because they can’t look after us properly. They’re doing their very best. This situation was predicted last summer and not enough has been done in advance.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests SWF had 400* Covid cases w/e 10 January. 2.2m people in the UK have long Covid; 80+ in the SWF & Dengie area. If you may have long-Covid see your GP for a diagnosis & referral to a local recovery service.
There was a slight lull during the festive break but with returns to work, school and bad weather things are worse again. On 12 January 5,263 flu patients were in English hospitals and 349 in critical care, up 5% in a week. 111 service has near record demand; staff sickness absences are up a fifth & Covid absences are up a third. Record numbers of staff are leaving the NHS; some ambulance staff not in East of England will strike on 23 January. Thousands of treatments were lost during recent nurses’ strikes and those strikes made workloads more challenging. Further strikes by nurses and ambulance staff are being planned. The best you can do to protect yourself is GET VACCINATED FOR COVID & FLU. 18% more people are attending A&E than last winter; 13,000 hospital beds are blocked by patients fit to discharge. 100,101 hospital beds are available (up from 90,621 last year). NHS crisis lines are failing to answer suicide calls. Low prescribing of half a million heart drugs may lead to more heart attacks and strokes.
On 15 January 2023 in England only: 64.5% (15,041,173 out of 23,316,385) of people over 50 had had their autumn Covid booster; and only 79.1% of 65+ yr olds, 47.8% of under 65s with clinical risk, 39.8% of 50-64 yr olds & 34.61 of pregnant women had had their flu jab.
Cases of Scarlet Fever and Strep A remain high. Most people don’t get extremely sick but they can be a serious illness, particularly for young children. Both are treated with antibiotics; there isn’t a vaccine. Get the latest information from pharmacists and at: https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/12/05/group-a-strep-what-you-need-to-know/ .
The Dashboard says in w/e 14 January December in England there were 814 (p/w 819) Covid deaths and in w/e 16 January 4,110 (p/w 6,659) patients admitted to hospital. Hospitalisations and deaths lag behind infections. The *ONS data estimates 1,400,000 (1 in 40) people in England had Covid in w/e 10 January (p/w 2,250,000 = 1 in 25). Taking the ONS estimate and SWF’s population as 16,000 that means there were 400 (p/w 640) SWF residents with Covid in w/e 10 January.
To AVOID CATCHING & SPREADING Covid the Government says: TAKE EXTRA CARE, IF UNWELL AVOID VULNERABLE FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES & RELATIVES, GET VACCINATED; ventilate indoor meetings; meet outdoors; wear face coverings in crowded enclosed spaces. If you get Covid stay home if you can and avoid contact with other people. LFD (Lateral Flow Device) Covid test kits are available from some pharmacies and online providers. Most deaths with Covid in Essex and England are of people not fully vaccinated.
Covid Vaccination Centres in Essex are closed because they weren’t being used. 1st, 2nd , 3rd & previous booster Covid vaccinations, as well as the 2022 Autumn Boosters remain available. Information about vaccinations and how to get them is at: https://www.midandsouthessex.ics.nhs.uk/health/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-vaccinations/ . If you can’t go online phone 119 about Covid. Covid vaccinations can still be booked with many pharmacies. Flu vaccinations aren’t available at Covid vaccination centres. Those eligible for free flu jabs had GP invitations but due to lack of take up of these invitations no GP vaccination sessions are planned at present. Flu jabs can be booked with pharmacies offering this service and pharmacies can answer queries about flu and flu jabs. SWF Health & Social Care Group provides health & social care information and signposting to people, especially those at risk, isolating, housebound, and without local support. Information is on our website https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/ . Contact us on swfhealthsocial@outlook.com or leave a voicemail on 01245 322079 which is monitored daily.
SWF Health & Social Care Group 