2021 News

Practice Closure – Wednesday 22nd December

From 12.30 – 18.30 on Wednesday 22nd December, this practice will be closed to support the COVID Vaccination Programme.
Emergency cover will be provided, please telephone 111 to access these services:
• Telephone triage
• Face-to-face appointments at Drovers House in Bury St Edmunds or Unity Healthcare (Greenfields Way), Haverhill
Our Pharmacy will be open as usual until 18.30.

COVID19 Vaccination Programme

For information regarding the COVID19 Vaccination Programme including eligibility and clinic dates, please click here

Supporting young people’s mental health Parent/ Carer Workshops

Drive Through Flu Vaccination Clinic for Patients aged 68 and over – Saturday 18th September
We look forward to seeing you all at our Drive Through Flu Vaccination Clinic this Saturday 18th September being held at the following address:
Woolpit Business Park, Synergy House Car Park (BUUK Infrastructure), , Woolpit, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP30 9UP.
Please follow the signage on site and adhere to instructions given by marshals who will be carrying out checks and giving directions. Please stop for the marshals if they request you to do so. It would be very helpful if patients could arrive and depart in the direction of the flyover towards the A1088, which will help with traffic flow.
Please ensure that you bring your invitation letter/ tear off slip as proof of eligibility for the vaccination and adhere to the time slot stated on your letter.
Face coverings will need to be worn when receiving your vaccination.
*PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND THIS CLINIC IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 68 AND HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN INVITATION*
Please note that if you have recently received your COVID-19 Vaccination within the past 7 days from Saturdays date, then unfortunately you will be unable to have your Flu Vaccination on Saturday.
We look forward to seeing you all then.

COVID-19 Treatment Study

 

Woolpit Health Centre Flu Clinics 2021

Patients aged 68 and over

We will be holding a Drive Through Flu Vaccination Clinic on Saturday 18th September at Woolpit Business Park. Patients within this cohort will be receiving their letter invitation via post.

Patients aged 18 – 64 who are within the ‘at risk group’ – Appointments ONLY

Patients within this cohort are invited to attend our Flu Clinics here at the Health Centre on the following dates:

Tuesday 14th September 14.00 – 17.30

Tuesday 21st September 14.00 – 17.30

Wednesday 22nd September 08.00 – 12.00

Patients aged 18 – 64 who are within the ‘at risk group’ include:

  • Diabetes
  • Chronic heart, kidney or liver disease
  • Weakened immune system
  • Severe asthma or chronic respiratory disease
  • Transplant patient
  • Coeliac disease or sickle cell disease
  •  Cochlear implants
  •  Spleen removal/splenic dysfunction
  • All pregnant women
  • Main carers, or in receipt of carers allowance
  • BMI over 40 (16 yrs+)
  • Learning disabilities
  • High-risk category for developing complication from COVID-19 infection
  • Chronic neurological disease (such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, stroke and transient ischaemic attacks, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, MS)

Children aged 2 – 3 years old – Appointments ONLY

Patients within this cohort are invited to attend our Flu Clinics here at the Health Centre on the following dates:

Monday 20th September 15.00 – 18.00

Thursday 20th September 14.00 – 18.00

Monday 27th September 14.00 – 18.00

Thursday 30th September 14.00 – 18.00

We are currently experiencing a high call volume therefore we ask for appointments to be booked online via patient access where possible.

Please note that availability of appointments will be on a first come, first served basis.

COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people aged 12 to 17 years: 4 August 2021

You may have seen the news that the NHS is going to vaccinate children and young people in specific groups, following advice from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation).

The groups that are eligible for the vaccination are:
  • 17-year-olds that are within 3 months of turning 18;
  • 12-15-year olds‘at risk’ with the underlying health conditions specified below:

Severe neuro-disabilities

Down’s Syndrome

Underlying conditions resulting in immunosuppression,

Those with profound and multiple learning disabilities, severe learning disabilities or who are on the learning disability register

Children and young people aged 12 years and over who are household contacts of persons (adults or children) who are immunosuppressed should be offered two doses of Pfizer-BNT162b2 vaccine on the understanding that the main benefits from vaccination are related to the potential for indirect protection of their household contact who is immunosuppressed. The offer of vaccination may help to alleviate stress and anxiety experienced by the children and young people living in these difficult circumstances. This advice is provided recognising that persons who are immunosuppressed are at higher risk of serious disease from COVID-19 and may not generate a full immune response to vaccination themselves.

If your child aged 12 to 15 and is in one of the eligible groups, we will contact you by early September to invite you to book appointments for them for the vaccination.

Face Coverings withing Healthcare Settings – July 2021

The government announced that legal restrictions requiring the public to wear face coverings indoors will be eased from 19 July along with rules concerning social distancing and the number of people you can meet indoors.

Health and care leaders say while restrictions are being eased in some public places, strict infection control measures need to be followed in healthcare settings.

This will reduce the risk of vulnerable people from becoming infected and help prevent Covid-19 outbreaks that could result in the temporary closure of a surgery.

As such patients and visitors to GP practices across Suffolk and north east Essex will be required to wear face coverings.  Any patient who fails to observe these protocols will be asked to do so.

Treating all patients, especially those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, in a clinically safe environment is our top priority and we will do everything we can to ensure this happens.

It will remain a legal requirement for people to self-isolate if they test positive or are told to do so by NHS Test and Trace.  Please therefore stay away from the practice if you do test positive for Covid.

Outpatient Phlebotomy Service West Suffolk Hospital

 

Did you know, you can now collect your free Lateral Flow Test kits at the Woolpit Health Centre Pharmacy?
About 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 do not have symptoms but can still infect others.
Getting tested regularly is the only way to know if you have the virus. If people test positive and self-isolate, it helps stop the virus spreading.
The test for people without symptoms of COVID-19 is called a rapid lateral flow test.
This usually involves rubbing a long cotton bud (swab) over your tonsils (or where they would have been) and inside your nose.
The test can give you a result in 30 minutes. If your result is positive, you must book a PCR swab test to confirm the diagnosis by visiting https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling NHS 119. You must also isolate as a household until your results are available.
Lateral flow tests are not recommend for people who have COVID-19 symptoms (new onset of a cough, fever, loss of smell or taste) and a PCR swab test will need to be requested instead.
Please speak to a member of our Pharmacy Team to request your Lateral Flow Test kit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terracycle Medicine Packet Recycling Programme

You can now recycle your empty medicine blister packets at Woolpit Health Centre Pharmacy. Simply bring your empty blisters to the pharmacy and we will recycle them for you. Please note that this is not a replacement for the Disposal of unwanted medicines service, and this only applies to EMPTY blisters. By sending off these packets for recycling, we will gain Terra Points which can be redeemed into financial donations for a chosen charity or school. More information can be found here https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/medicine-packet-uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information from the National Primary Care Covid-19 Vaccination Programme – AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and blood clots

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said the available evidence does not suggest that blood clots in veins (venous thromboembolism) are caused by the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. This follows a detailed review of report cases as well as data from hospital admissions and GP records. This has been confirmed by the Government’s independent advisory group, the Commission on Human Medicines, whose expert scientists and clinicians have also reviewed the available data.

A further detailed review into five UK reports of a very rare and specific type of blood clot in the cerebral veins (sinus vein thrombosis) occurring together with lowered platelets (thrombocytopenia) is ongoing. This has been reported in fewer than 1 in a million people vaccinated so far in the UK and can also occur naturally – a causal association with the vaccine has not been established.

The MHRA’s advice remains that the benefits of being vaccinated continue to outweigh any risks and that the public should continue to get their vaccine when invited to do so.

The European Medicines Agency has concluded their review and stated that the benefits of vaccination still outweigh the risks despite a possible link to rare cerebral blood clots with low blood platelets. A review into whether the vaccine could be the cause of this rare type of cerebral blood clot alongside low blood platelets is ongoing and the EMA, working alongside the MHRA, will continue to investigate this.

Information for patients and the public

  • Thrombotic events in veins are common in the general population and have not previously been associated with vaccination.
  • From the millions of people already vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, there is no evidence of an increased incidence of blood clots in veins (DVT) higher than that seen in the general population.
  • There are no confirmed issues related to any batch of vaccine used across Europe, or the rest of the world. Additional testing has, and is, being conducted by AstraZeneca and independently by European health authorities and none of these re-tests have shown cause for concern.
  • The MHRA is advising, as a precautionary measure, that anyone vaccinated who develops a headache that lasts for more than 4 days after vaccination or if they develop any bruising beyond the site of vaccination after a few days, should seek medical attention.
  • Mild flu-like symptoms remain one of the most common side effects of any COVID-19 vaccine, including headache, chills and fever. These generally appear within a few hours and resolve within a day or two, and not everyone gets them.

 

 Goodbye Dr Martin

We sadly say goodbye to Dr Martin who left the Health Centre on the 9th February 2021. She has been a fantastic addition to our team and we wish her the very best for the future.

Welcome Dr Hopkins-Jones

Dr Hopkins-Jones joined the Health Centre in February 2021 and will be holding surgeries on Mondays and Wednesdays.

COVID Vaccine Scam Alert

Sadly, we have been made aware of numerous different scams relating to COVID vaccinations.

The COVID vaccine will always be available free of charge and the NHS will never ask you to share your bank details to confirm your identity or ask you to pay for a vaccine.
We kindly ask that you make your elderly or vulnerable friends and family aware of this.