News For You – July Newsletter
Get Ready For Summer
Make sure you know where to go for medical help during the school summer holidays.
The school break can be a busy time for the NHS and it’s important to choose the right service for you and your children if you are ill or injured.
If you or your children are not well, get advice from your pharmacist at the first sign of feeling ill – don’t wait for it to get more serious. Use our map to find your nearest pharmacy.
You can visit an urgent treatment centre if you have a suspected broken bone or fracture, a sprain or a strain, minor cut, burn or scald. Find your nearest centre on our website.
If the weather is hot, stay in the shade, especially between 11am and 3pm, wear sunscreen with a minimum sun protection factor (SPF) of 30, a hat and light clothes.
Find more information on local services at www.StopThinkChoose.co.uk
Extra Mental Health Support Now Available
Mental Health Matters has launched additional safe havens in Kent and Medway, improving access to mental health support for adults in crisis.
Safe havens are funded by NHS Kent and Medway to offer walk-in emotional, social, and practical mental health support, seven-days-a-week, with no need for an appointment.
Community-based safe havens are now available 6pm to 11pm in seven towns (Canterbury, Dartford, Gillingham, Folkestone, Maidstone, Ramsgate and Tunbridge Wells) with a further two 24/7 safe havens in Medway and Thanet.
Information about locations and opening hours.
Help Shape the Future of Community Healthcare
Share your views about community health services and help shape our plans to improve services.
Thousands of specialist healthcare professionals work across communities in Kent and Medway every day helping people to stay well.
NHS Kent and Medway wants to make sure people are cared for in the right place, at the right time and by the right person.
Listening events have been taking place in July to give people the opportunity to talk to us. The final events will be held online via Zoom on the following dates:
- Monday, 22 July from 6pm to 8pm (for adult services)
- Tuesday, 23 July from 9.30am to 11.30am (for children’s services)
Visit Have Your Say for more information and to give your views in a survey.
NHS App – Have Your Say
NHS Kent and Medway wants to learn what you think about the NHS App and how you use it.
Your feedback will help us make the NHS App better. If you are aged over 16 and registered with a GP in Kent and Medway, please complete our short survey.
Some NHS App statistics for Kent and Medway:
- More than 53 per cent of patients are registered for the NHS App.
- There are 977,000 users, logging in 30million times.
- Between April and June this year, 7,000 more patients signed up to the app and ordering repeat prescriptions remains the most popular activity on it.
The survey is open until Tuesday, 27 August.
Volunteer for the NHS
NHS England has launched an NHS volunteering website. It allows people to find and apply for health-related volunteering opportunities in their area. This single ‘front door’ to volunteering across healthcare makes it easier for people to learn about volunteering, give their time and enjoy the benefits volunteering provides.
It’s free and easy to use, designed to high accessibility standards and shaped by extensive user research. Applying for roles takes only a few minutes.
News in Brief
Health Checks Return to Dockside
The health and wellbeing bus is back in Chatham for the summer. The double-decker bus will be at Dockside Outlet shopping centre from 10am to 4pm every Friday until 30 August.
The clinical team onboard can offer health checks, including body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure readings. They can also signpost to other health services. No appointment is needed.
NHS Wheelchairs
NHS Kent and Medway has awarded a new contract to provide NHS wheelchairs to Ross Care.
The service was previously provided by Ross Care and there will be no change to locations or contact details. This means people who meet the criteria for an NHS wheelchair and need a new one, or one repaired, will continue to be referred to Ross Care.
NHS Kent & Meadway Integrated Care Board annual report
We have published our annual report for 2023 to 2024.
It contains details of our work during the past financial year, including reports on performance, environmental matters, engaging people and communities and our annual accounts.
Special School reviews by Kent County Council
Kent County Council is asking for views as part of its review of state-funded special schools. People can respond until Wednesday, 31 July.
Meadway Local Plan
Medway Council has launched a consultation into its new local plan. It will replace the 2003 Medway Local Plan and guides development and use of land in the area until 2041, addressing needs of the local population.
Anyone can comment during the consultation, which runs until Sunday, 8 September. You can read more on the council’s website.
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