CHANGING TIMES FOR NHS

THE coronavirus pandemic has created an unprecedented requirement to alter the way patients have traditionally accessed local GP services.

To keep GP practice staff and patients as safe as possible from COVID-19 infection, and to ensure primary care plays its part in increasing resilience within the wider NHS in these very difficult times, community surgeries across the country have had to drastically change how they organise their care.

There has been a huge increase in the number of telephone appointments, needed to limit face-to-face contact between clinicians and patients and even video consultations in some practices.

We at SSP Health run GP surgeries in many areas of the North West, including this one, and these telephone appointments have been received extremely positively by our patients and we have seen very high satisfaction levels in how these new consultations are carried out.

Also, it will be reassuring to know that the very exacting targets for excellent healthcare set for our practices by the NHS continue to be hit despite this new way of working.

We would like to thank all our patients who have understood the need for these very swift changes and helped to make sure the new processes have been brought in smoothly and successfully. Their co-operation is very much appreciated.

We would also like to thank our SSP Health colleagues – doctors, nurses, other clinicians and admin staff who keep our local GP services running – and fellow professionals in primary care across the region for their compassion and courage in caring for their communities during the pandemic.

The public can continue to play its part in reducing pressure on the wider NHS during the crisis by following Government advice to stay at home, learning how to SSP Health manage common health problems and the milder symptoms of COVID-19 themselves at home, through the very informative NHS 111 webpages found online, and by using the NHS App to access their local GP surgery.

We in the NHS are working in very challenging circumstances, but we will weather this storm and we will all come through it together, and stronger, as a society. appear in the roof by spending on average a sixth less on healthcare (as a proportion of national wealth) than other Western European countries.

This was a deliberate Government policy to curtail the rise in health spending that had been implemented under the previous Labour Government.

The number of NHS beds has fallen by 17,000 since 2010 - the intensive care doctor who leads Doctors Association UK has pointed out that the NHS has 10,000 doctor vacancies and 43,000 nurse vacancies.

Arguing that the systematic underresourcing of the NHS and exodus of staff has left the country with a severe lack of specialist intensive care nurses and doctors.

That is the reality we hear on the news every day reflecting the concerns expressed by doctors. ‘PowerWise’ educational resource to help support children’s learning from home during COVID-19. The online resource aims to raise awareness of power safety among families with kids and young people in Halton.

The PowerWise website aims to help children to understand how electricity is generated, distributed and how to stay safe around it. The lesson ideas are fully interactive and engaging with different activities for kids in their early years, primary school and secondary school. The activities and challenges are also all linked to the national curriculum.

The online resource includes fun and educational activities for children to enjoy while at home. Children can choose between taking on a safety, environment or science mission where through different types of tasks they can learn more about safety, biodiversity, fuelling the future, and the science behind electricity.

There is an exciting mission to suit every child with challenges ranging from designing a fun comic strip, recording their own podcast or even taking part in electrifying experiments from home.

We know parents are looking for ways to inspire their kids and keep them busy for hours on end, so we’re making resources available online to help keep bright sparks entertained with fun, hands-on activities that can be done at home.

We’ve included interactive minimissions specifically designed for kids that explain complicated science and technology in a really simple and fun way. We would love to hear what parents, carers and kids think of PowerWise, so post your PowerWise feedback and comments to our SP Energy Networks Twitter and Facebook pages using the hashtag #powerwise.

SP Energy Networks owns and manages overhead and underground powerlines in Cheshire, Merseyside, North Wales, North Shropshire and Southern and Central Scotland. In the event of a power cut, call SP Energy Networks on 105.

Find out more about PowerWise by visiting powerwise.org.uk and for any questions or feedback on the resource visit the SP Energy Networks Twitter page here or Facebook page here.

Customers who have received a letter from the NHS advising them that they are ‘at risk’ and should take additional measures to protect themselves from COVID-19 are being advised to sign up for the Priority Services Register.

This provides free additional services to customers in vulnerable circumstances if there is an unexpected power cut. They should sign up at spenergynetworks.co.uk or text PSR to 61999.

In the event of a power cut, customers should call the national 105 hotline no matter who they pay their bill to.