Health officials are warning that cases of COVID-19 – and other diseases that normally circulate in winter – are rising.
Increased social contact is thought to be one of the factors behind an increase in illnesses, which include flu and norovirus, sometimes known as the “winter vomiting bug”.
Although most of England’s Covid-19 restrictions have ended, the health and care system in Devon remains busy, with continued high numbers of people in hospital with COVID-19 and staff absent due to the virus.
Flu and Norovirus cases are increasing, although still currently...
Spring booster jabs are being offered to people at greatest risk of COVID-19 infection from Monday 21 March in the latest phase of the vaccine programme.
An additional Covid-19 vaccine dose is being offered as a precaution to people in Devon who are at extreme high risk from COVID-19 infection, many of whom had their first booster six months ago. This will help protect them if COVID-19 rates are high over the summer months and reduce their chances of needing hospital treatment if they do catch the virus.
The best time to have the spring booster is around six months after...
“Please don’t visit friends and family in our hospitals if you have Covid or other illnesses” – that’s the message from Devon’s NHS, as the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 remains high.
Many of the restrictions brought in to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in the community have come to an end, but people are still required to wear a mask in health settings and are being asked to wash and sanitise their hands.
And anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 or other illnesses that can spread easily, such as flu or norovirus, is urged not to visit patients in hospital....
A new organisation has been appointed to run the integrated urgent care service in Devon.
And local people in Devon played a vital role in the process, helping shape the design of the service and choose the successful bidder.
From later this year, NHS 111, out-of-hours GP services and the Clinical Assessment Services (CAS) will be run by Practice Plus Group Urgent Care (formerly known as Care UK Health Care).
The group currently answers 1.5million calls a year to NHS 111, and runs out of hours services, urgent treatment centres, minor injuries units, hospitals...
One of the world’s first Omicron-specific variant vaccines is to be trialled in Devon and Cornwall, as the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc works with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
The innovative study will see participants receive a first or second booster. In the South West, it is opening first at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, with plans to open at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, and the NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre: Exeter at Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust later in March.
CHARITY MENINGITIS NOW are urging young people to take up a potentially lifesaving vaccination to protect against the disease.
The latest Government figures on the uptake of the routine school-based MenACWY teenage vaccination show an increase from 58.3% of those eligible to receive it in 2019-20 to 76.5% last year.
Whilst the charity has welcomed the increase in take up the figure is still not back up to the pre-COVID levels of around 88% and it is concerned that many young people are leaving themselves at risk.
Meningitis Now chief executive, Dr Tom Nutt, said...
The NHS in Devon has announced the launch of a new health and wellbeing app library for local people, powered by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA).
Effectively a comparison website, the localised site for Devon allows patients and healthcare professionals to search and download from a wide range of apps, making it quicker and easier for people across Devon to access safe and accredited health and wellbeing applications on their computer or smart phone.
Founded by NHS clinicians, ORCHA is used widely for health application evaluation and...
Debbie Coles is a nursing degree apprentice from Exeter studying at the University of Plymouth’s Exeter School of Nursing. Joining the NHS in 2003, she worked her way up through diplomas and, after 10 years as an assistant practitioner, applied for the registered nurse degree apprenticeship via Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. Never believing she’d get in, she’s now just months away from graduating.
“I’d completed a higher national diploma during my time in the NHS,”Debbie said. “And I saw the apprenticeship opportunity on the hospital website. I thought, ‘I’...
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has authorised Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in the UK.
This follows rigorous clinical trials supported by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.
Over 700 volunteers took part in the study in the South West, which took place at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and the NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre: Exeter at Royal Devon and Exeter...
The 2022 ‘Outrun an Ambulance’ virtual event has been launched by the South Western Ambulance Charity.
People in the South West of England are being asked to rise to the challenge and support the region’s ambulance workers, by conquering the mileage an ambulance covers on an average shift while responding to people in urgent need.
The South Western Ambulance Charity, the charitable arm of the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT), first launched the ‘Outrun an Ambulance’ fundraiser in 2021 and generated nearly £12,000 of vital donations.
