Between Christmas and New Year, I booked to have my Covid booster and popped along to Laycocks Pharmacy in Ore to have it done. I had my flu vaccine a few weeks earlier. Covid and flu are currently circulating at high levels, creating risks of serious illness (or worse), as well as putting pressure on our local hospital and other health services. It makes sense that the more vaccinations taken up locally, the better protected we will be and there will be less demand on our local health services.
Earlier this month, a critical incident was declared across Sussex in response to the extreme pressure experienced across our health services. Through the hard graft of our wonderful local team working together around the clock, additional measures across services were put in place and the critical incident was stepped down.
It is really good news that Sussex Health and Care ICS has been selected to rial new ways to help free up hospital beds as one of the new six national ‘Discharge Frontrunners’. This will help to make sure patients get the right care at the right time – key to reducing future urgent and emergency care delays and getting ambulances back on the roads quicker.
However, we must all recognise that our local health services remain under pressure and the system continues to be very challenged. I am aware that there has been anxiety amongst some residents as it has also been necessary to reschedule some non-urgent operations, procedures and appointments. I understand that these measures were taken to allow the health services to focus on patients with the most urgent clinical need.
To maintain protection levels in our local communities and reduce pressure on our health services, Covid and flu vaccines are being offered to specific groups of people across the country and whilst the take-up has been heartening, I would urge all those eligible or at risk to take up vaccines offered. It is also worth thinking about children taking up the available nasal flu vaccine as Strep A often arises as a complication of flu.
Vaccines are one of the greatest medical advances of all time. The Covid vaccine has saved countless lives and allowed us to live with the virus without restrictions on our freedoms. As it is easy to pass on Covid or flu viruses without knowing, vaccines are the best protection we have this winter. Like many people, I do not like needles, but I know that having my jabs is the best way to protect me, my family and my community.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/