The report of our independent academic survey about accessibility to healthcare services in the SWF, Dengie & Maldon Integrated Neighbourhood Team area has been finished and submitted to Warwick Medical School. It will be published shortly. It seems to highlight that only a monopoly can get away with it being so difficult for its users to access its services.
At a carers group meeting this week we discussed what welfare related activities we’d like to see started/restarted in and for the Town. The relatively new SWF Community Hub is designed to provide a venue for such things. Amongst the ideas suggested are: a Dementia Café for patients and carers – a meeting about this is being attended later this month; an accessibility group to be able to advocate for people with special needs; a mental health drop-in group. It might be good to resurrect the ‘No Need to be Lonely Group’? Please do let us have your ideas of what you’d like as SWF is not well served with such things.
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. Continuity of services is exactly as we recommended. The necessary NHS business plan is being developed for July.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has accepted the independent Pay Review Bodies’ pay recommendations for all NHS staff. Agenda for Change NHS staff (including nurses, midwives, paramedics, porters, healthcare assistants and clerical workers) will receive an uplift of 3.6%. Resident doctors (previously called Junior Doctors) will see an average uplift of 5.4% (a 4% rise plus a consolidated payment of £750), with a pay rise of 4% for consultants, specialty doctors, specialists and GPs and dentists seeing a contract uplift. But resident doctors, who took part in 11 strikes in 2023 and 2024, say it’s not enough to make up for below-inflation pay awards since 2008. The union (BMA) is urging members to vote for industrial action, with sources saying strikes would be the likely action taken.
This year’s pay rise comes after resident doctors were awarded rises worth 22% over the previous two years. Taking account of this year’s pay rise, it means the starting salary for a doctor fresh out of university has risen by £9,500 over the past three years to around £38,800, but the British Medical Association (BMA) said even after the latest pay rise another 20% was needed to bring wages back to where they were in 2008. The vote on industrial action runs until 7 July.
Will Resident Doctors have support from patients for any industrial action this time? Inevitably working to rule or striking would have a severe impact on waiting times and waiting lists. Please tell us what you think about this.
In April performance for Broomfield, Basildon and Southend Hospitals was:
| 66.9% (68% in March) patients were seen within four hours in our emergency departments |
| 36 minutes (33 minutes in March) is the average time for ambulances to hand over patients, compared to 32 minutes in the East of England and 43 minutes nationally |
| 65.5% (68.1 % in March) patients received cancer diagnosis results within 28 days |
Millions receive help from NHS high street pharmacies – More than 5 million patients have received help from high street pharmacies for minor illnesses, as the NHS brings care closer to people’s homes, reports NHS England.
Flu vaccine prevented around 100,000 hospital admissions
| Newdata from UKHSA shows the flu vaccine prevented between 96,000 and 120,200 hospitalisations in England during last winter’s severe flu season. The figures reveal a mixed picture of vaccine uptake across different groups. While there was record uptake among secondary school children and high coverage in those aged 65 and over (nearly reaching the World Health Organization’s 75% target), concerning declines were observed in young children, primary school pupils and people with long-term health conditions. The statistics show that many vulnerable individuals who declined vaccination ended up seriously ill in hospital unnecessarily. Vaccination remains our strongest defence against flu and UKHSA continues to work with partners to develop initiatives to boost vaccine uptake. |
UKHSA has published the latest data on sexually transmitted infections. The data shows:
- Syphilis cases continue to rise
- Gonorrhoea cases fell but too soon to tell whether trend will continue
- Concerning jump in antibiotic resistant strains of gonorrhoea, with more diagnoses of ceftriaxone resistant gonorrhoea to date in 2025 than the whole of last year
Despite the declines in some STIs, cases still remain high and STIs continue to significantly impact young people aged 15 to 24 years; gay and bisexual men; and some minority ethnic groups.
UKHSA is reminding everyone having sex with new or casual partners to use a condom and get tested regularly, whatever their age or sexual orientation. STI testing is free and confidential and can be accessed through local sexual health clinics, university and college medical centres or through self-sampling kits sent discreetly through the post.
You can read more detail on the latest data in our press release. We have also updated our communications toolkit which collates existing content from UKHSA on sexual health which may be useful to stakeholders and can be used on external channels.
For listeners to The Archers and Farming Today amongst others the UKHSA has published
Public health advice ahead of Open Farm Sunday; sorry it’s late but it is relevant for all farm visits over the summer.
| Ahead of Open Farm Sunday on 8 June we are reminding people planning to visit a farm that there are small things they can do to reduce the risk from gastro-intestinal infections such as Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and E.coli, which can be passed from farm animals to humans and cause illness. A reminder that we have a farm visits communications toolkit with messaging and materials you can use to help encourage people to wash their hands thoroughly to avoid getting bugs which can make them seriously unwell. |
Specialist mental health crisis centres will be opened across England over the next decade to reduce crowding in accident and emergency departments. Ten hospital trusts have been piloting new assessment centres to deal with people experiencing a mental health crisis. The aim is to get these patients into appropriate care in a calm environment, avoiding long waits in A&E. This will reduce overcrowding in hospitals and relieve pressure on emergency services, including the police. The scheme is expected to be expanded nationally to “dozens of locations”, the government said, as part of its 10-year NHS plan. These clinics will be open to walk-in patients as well as those referred by GPs and police, with specialist staff present to treat people in acute mental distress.
Mid & South Essex Integrated Care Board (MSE ICB) answered our questions on 15 May saying:
“We’ll ensure the findings of [our] research are shared with appropriate stakeholders in the hope it can positively influence the experience of people travelling to health appointments.”
“MSE ICB has taken the approach to retain investment in those areas [maternity, prevention, mental health and children’s services] where existing commitments have been made and, as such, continues to invest in the priority areas raised in your question. The ICB has not decommissioned any services as a result of new flexibilities introduced.”
“The five-year time horizon proposed by the community consultation working group for a new facility in Maldon was intended to be a realistic estimate. Ideally we would like this to be faster than the 5-year time horizon.” More Public Health news is on our website and in our 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.
SWF Health & Social Care Group 