An update from SWF Health & Social Care Group

Posted on by swfhealthsocial

Our major activity in recent weeks has been our independent academic survey about accessibility to healthcare services in the SWF, Dengie & Maldon Integrated Neighbourhood Team area. Hopefully you completed the survey which closed on Wednesday 7 May 2025.  We held a couple of focus groups for it last Friday too. The report of this research is due to be published around the end of May. It will be used to enable us to lobby for improvements in communicating with providers of health services when we need them and to enable us to travel to appointments, diagnostic tests and treatments locally, at local hospitals and from emergency and specialist providers.

Working Group Recommendations for Community Health Services include investing to keep St Peter’s Hospital, Maldon operational for five years while funding is assembled for a purpose-built new facility, ideally on the current site. This will maintain all existing outpatient, investigative and therapy services. The NHS cannot efficiently operate Inpatient Care in Maldon due to low utilisation. Stroke and Birthing Services will be consolidated as near as possible. Decisions will be made in the coming months.

Winter illnesses seem to have fallen at last to normal levels for this time of year. So we will no longer refer to them as such after this. So for the last time for 2024-25, in week 17:

  • influenza (flu) activity decreased across most indicators and was at baseline levels
  • COVID-19 activity remained stable across most indicators and was circulating at baseline levels
  • respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity decreased across indicators and was circulating at baseline levels.

Norovirus activity however remains high even though it has stabilised in the recent weeks. The total norovirus laboratory reports between weeks 10-13 of 2025 was more than double the 5-season average for the same period. There are still many new local cases each week. You can catch Norovirus twice. If you have Norovirus

  • Stay home; don’t return to work or school until two days after the vomiting and diarrhoea have stopped
  • Drink plenty
  • Wash hands regularly with soap and water; disinfectants and alcohol hand-gels don’t work well against the virus
  • If you’re concerned – eg if a child can’t keep fluids down or the illness doesn’t stop after a few days – seek medical advice.

Integrated Care Systems have to reduce budgets by 50% and will be rearranged to cover larger areas and populations. Mid & South Essex ICB will have to lose many staff to achieve this and must do so by October. It’s likely ‘our’ ICB will cover at least Greater Essex. This is part of the plan to improve NHS efficiency. Local community operations undertaken by Primary Care Networks and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, which are improving GP performances, seem to be unaffected.

English Community pharmacies are considering starting to work to rule unless a new NHS contract is agreed.

Spring Covid-19 vaccinations continue to be available from GPs, the NHS national booking system https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/vaccination-and-booking-services/book-covid-19-vaccination/ and local pharmacies.

A new UKHSA campaign has launched to keep antibiotics working and tackle antibiotic resistance:

  • Do not take antibiotics for colds and flu, for which they don’t work. This remains one of the biggest misconceptions about taking antibiotics.
  • Only take antibiotics when you have been prescribed them and taking them as directed by a healthcare professional.
  • Don’t save antibiotics for future use.

At a conference we attended this week it was very encouraging to hear about two research projects instigated by UKHSA about antibiotic resistance. They are in the same scheme as ours about accessibility to health services, with Warwick Medical School. The results of these projects will help further develop this serious campaign.

World Health Organization Members have agreed a legally binding treaty designed to avoid the disorganisation and competition for resources seen during the Covid-19 outbreak.

A scheme to help GPs provide care and advice to patients without them joining long NHS hospital waiting lists is being expanded. English. GPs will work closely with specialists to access expert advice for patients with conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, menopause symptoms and ear infections.

In March Mid & South Essex Foundation Trust’s performance for Broomfield, Basildon and Southend Hospitals was:

66.8% patients were seen within four hours in our emergency departments
33 minutes is the average time for ambulances to hand over patients, compared to 33 minutes in the East of England and 40 minutes nationally
68.1% patients received cancer diagnosis results within 28 days (up from 60.1 in January)

Cuts to NHS England ring fenced budgets see maternity, prevention, mental health and children’s services suffering the biggest cuts according to the HSJ, the health service journal for healthcare leaders. The rest of the money will instead be given to the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) that decide how the health service funding is allocated locally. So what will our Mid & South Essex ICB do with it? We know midwifery services aren’t as good as they should be. Our mental health services are subject to a public inquiry. Our children’s special needs services are the worst in the country and we know prevention will lower serious illnesses. We will ask about this.

According to a report from the Health and Social Care Select Committee: Failing to fix England’s social care system is costing the country in financial and human terms. Reform of social care for older and disabled adults is essential. According to the report, “Taxpayers are currently paying £32 billion a year for a broken system” propped up by contributions from unpaid carers “equivalent to a second NHS”. Social care is consuming an increasing proportion of councils’ budgets, crowding out spending on other services. Investment in the system could help drive economic growth. An extra £1 billion spent on social care could create 50,000 jobs across the country, and every £1 invested could generate a £1.75 return to the wider economy. The report comes as an independent commission into adult social care begins its work. Its first report is due next year, with a final report due in 2028. Whilst we have been saying for a long time that reform of social care is the key to unlocking the NHS will this report and the new commission at last result in the necessary action?

On 28 & 29 April we published the following separately online only as we couldn’t fit them into the space we have in monthly Issues of Focus:

More Public Health news is on our website and in weekly e-newsletters. SWF Library provides online services and help with internet access. For health & welfare information and subscription to our newsletter, email swfhealthsocial@outlook.com , or leave voicemails on 01245 322079.

https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/