1. Get Active

It’s the perfect time to get active. No matter how much you do, physical activity is good for your body and mind. Adults should aim to be active every day. Some is good – more is better still.

A daily brisk walk can give your body a boost, lift your mood and make everyday activities easier.

Boost your fitness with fun and practical ideas to help you get into shape, including Couch to 5K, Active 10 and the NHS Fitness Studio

2. Quit Smoking

Stopping smoking is one of the best things you will ever do for your health. So make this January your fresh start and join the thousands who are quitting. Check out the NHS better health website for advice, tools and tips. Including the free NHS Quit Smoking app!

3. Quit or Drink Less Alcohol

Cutting back on the booze can be a really effective way to improve your health, boost your energy, lose weight and save money.

Any reduction in the amount you drink every week will be beneficial – and with the right help, it’s easier than you think.

Use the NHS website to calculate your units, get tips on cutting down, track your drinking and download the free Drink Free Days app to manage your habits.

4. Eat more Fruit and Veg

Whether you’re cooking for a family or eating on the go, the NHS tips and recipes can help you get your 5 A Day

Evidence shows there are significant health benefits to getting at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. That’s 5 portions of fruit and veg in total, not 5 portions of each. A portion of fruit or vegetables is 80g.

5. Lose Weight

If you’re overweight, losing weight has many health benefits. Making small, simple changes to what and how much you are eating and drinking can really help you lose the pounds.

Get practical tips to lose excess weight, including getting started, healthy food swaps, and a 12-week weight loss plan by downloading the free NHS Weight Loss Plan app.

6. Have Fun!

List some fun things to do – not all resolutions have to be about self-discipline and self-improvement. One of the best things for your mental health is to unwind, have a laugh or feel fulfilled.

Whether you want to tick something off the bucket list or start that hobby you’ve always put off, have no shame or fear doing what your heart desires. Why not try booking a trip out of town with friends, a nostalgic visit to an arcade or amusement park, painting, joining a class or sports club. It can be simple and small, as long as you enjoy yourself!

7. Limit Screen Time

Many people depend on their phones and computers for work and entertainment. However, spending too much time on electronic devices — particularly on social media — has been linked to depression, anxiety, and loneliness in some studies.

Setting a resolution to cut back on the time you spend scrolling through social media, watching TV, or playing computer games may help boost your mood and enhance productivity.

8. Reduce Stress

Most people feel stressed sometimes and some people find stress helpful or even motivating. But if stress is affecting your life, there are things you can try that may help.

• Try talking about your feelings to a friend, family member or health professional. You could also contact Samaritans, call: 116 123 or email: [email protected] if you need someone to talk to
• Find out more about 10 stress busters – including getting started with exercise and setting aside time for yourself
• Use easy time-management techniques to help you take control
• Use calming breathing exercises
• Plan ahead for stressful days or events – planning long journeys or making a list of things to remember can really help
• Consider peer support, where people use their experiences to help each other. Find out more about peer support on the Mind website
• Listen to free mental wellbeing audio guides

9. Get Better Sleep

Good-quality sleep makes a big difference to how we feel, mentally and physically, so it’s important to get enough. Watch this video on simple tips for better sleep

Visit the NHS every-mind-matters website for more tips and advice.

10. Practice Self-Care

Taking time for yourself is not selfish. In fact, it’s imperative for optimal health and wellbeing. This is especially true for those in caretaker roles, such as parents and healthcare workers.

For people with busy schedules and limited time, making a resolution to engage in self-care may take some planning. However, it’s well worth the time investment.

Self-care doesn’t have to be elaborate or time consuming. It can simply mean taking a bath every week, attending your favourite weekly yoga class, preparing a healthy meal for yourself, going for a walk in nature, or getting an extra hour of sleep.

Here’s what you need to know about Group A Strep (GAS)

GAS is a common bacteria which causes a range of infections including scarlet fever. These infections are usually mild. Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS). It can also cause a rare, more serious infection called Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS). This occurs when GAS bacteria gets into parts of the where is causes serious disease, like the lungs or bloodstream.

Parents know their children best and should trust their judgement when they are poorly. Speak to your GP or call 111 if your child is poorly and getting worse. Always call 999 or go to A&E if your child: is having difficulty breathing – such as grunting noises or their tummy sucking under their ribs, there are pauses when your child breathes, child’s skin, tongue or lips are blue, is floppy and will not wake up or stay awake.

Cases of Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS) are rare. Some current cases are presenting with sepsis-like symptoms. Be aware of important sepsis symptoms: blue, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on darker skin, check for blueness on the lips, tongue or gums, under the nails or around the eyes, rash that doesn’t fade when you roll a glass over it, difficulty breathing, weak, high-pitched cry – not like their normal cry, not responding like normal, not interested in feeding or normal activities, being sleepier than normal or difficult to wake.

Get an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if:

• your child is unwell and is getting worse
• your child is feeding or eating much less than normal
• your child has fewer wet nappies than usual or is peeing less than usual, or shows other signs of dehydration
• your baby is under 3 months and has a temperature of 38C, or is 3 to 6 months and has a temperature of 39C or higher
• your child is very tired or irritable

It’s important to trust your instincts if your child is unwell. Get medical help if you think you need it.

Check symptoms on 111 online (for children aged 5 and over) or call 111 (for children under 5).

Immediate action required:Call 999 or go to A&E if:

• your child is having difficulty breathing – they may make grunting noises, or you may notice their tummy sucking under their ribs
• there are pauses when your child breathes
• your child’s skin, tongue or lips are blue or grey – on black or brown skin this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
• your child is floppy and will not wake up or stay awake

Here’s what you need to know about Scarlet Fever

Scarlet fever is a contagious infection that mostly affects young children. It’s easily treated with antibiotics.

The first signs of scarlet fever can be flu-like symptoms, including a high temperature, a sore throat and swollen neck glands (a large lump on the side of your neck).

A rash appears 12 to 48 hours later. It looks like small, raised bumps and starts on the chest and tummy, then spreads. The rash makes your skin feel rough, like sandpaper.

On white skin the rash looks pink or red. On brown and black skin it might be harder to see a change in colour, but you can still feel the rash and see the raised bumps.

A white coating also appears on the tongue. This peels, leaving the tongue red, swollen and covered in little bumps (called “strawberry tongue”).

The rash does not appear on the face, but the cheeks can look red. The redness may be harder to see on brown and black skin.

The symptoms are the same for children and adults, although scarlet fever is less common in adults.

See a GP if you or your child:

• have scarlet fever symptoms
• do not get better in a week (after seeing a GP)
• have scarlet fever and chickenpox at the same time
• are ill again, weeks after scarlet fever got better – this can be a sign of a complication, such as rheumatic fever
• are feeling unwell and have been in contact with someone who has scarlet fever

Scarlet fever is very easily spread. Check with a GP before you go in. They may suggest a phone consultation.

You can register with our practice via paper forms from our receptionists or through the NHS online registration website (see below).

Eligibility

To be eligible to register you must have a fixed or temporary address in the FY8 postcode. If you are moving to the area, please inform us of your confirmed move in date.

We never discriminate on the grounds of age, sex, medical condition, race, disability or social class, and if we are unable to register you we will always provide you with a reason in writing.

Catchment Area

Online Registration

We are using a new online service called Register with a GP surgery that makes it easy to register with this GP surgery.

Just fill in this quick online form to start the process. You do not need proof of address or immigration status, ID or an NHS number.

The service is designed and run by the NHS, so your personal information is safe. It cuts our administrative workload and makes it easier for you to register.

Paper Registration

If you would like to register via our paper registration forms. Please visit the practice and ask one of our receptionists for a registration form and please bring one form of photo ID and one proof of address.

Your GP Practice cannot assist you in booking a Covid-19 test and does not provide Covid-19 testing; this can only be done via the national online booking portal. Your GP Practice cannot advise you on whether or not your child or children are safe to return to school; this should be discussed with the school(s) concerned.

Please do not visit or make an appointment at your GP practice if you have any symptoms of Covid-19 (high temperature, new continuous cough, loss of taste and/or smell).

The Government is scaling up its testing capacity even further to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October, expanding its network of testing sites and laboratories, as well as investing in new testing technologies. Whilst this scaling up is happening, the service is currently very busy. We would ask anyone who tries to book a test and is unable to do so, or who is offered a location or time which is not convenient, to please wait a few hours and then try again.

Hubs have been set up in each district of Lancashire to help support the people who need it most during the COVID-19 outbreak.

People unable to work for more than seven days because of COVID-19 can obtain an isolation note through a new online service.

Isolation notes will provide employees with evidence for their employers that they have been advised to self-isolate due to COVID-19, either because they have symptoms or they live with someone who has symptoms, and so cannot work.

A free mental health resource for people living with depression and other conditions is now available across the whole of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre.

Big White Wall, which is available at www.bigwhitewall.com, provides a clinically safe and anonymous online community providing peer to peer support, personal assessments and self-help courses for those who need it.

And thanks to NHS Blackpool and NHS Fylde and Wyre Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), the service is now available to all people with a Fylde Coast postcode.

Dr Neil Hartley-Smith, a Blackpool GP and clinical adviser to the CCGs, said: “We are committed to supporting people living with mental health on the Fylde Coast by providing varied and high quality services for them to access.

“Big White Wall is a fantastic tool for people who are suffering as they can log in anonymously and express how they are feeling to a community of people who feel the same way.

“And for those who struggle to put how they feel into words, they can ‘draw a brick’ to express the difficulties they are facing, which many people find quite therapeutic and relieving.”

Big White Wall chief executive Henry Jones said: “Everyone has mental health and we believe everyone should be able to access support as and when they need it.

“We are delighted to form part of a joint strategy from NHS Fylde and Wyre and NHS Blackpool CCGs of delivering highly effective and easily accessible support for all Fylde Coast residents. We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to our community.”

The Big White Wall is constantly monitored by ‘wall guides’ who are on hand 24/7 and will intervene if members seem particularly low and at risk and provide personal support on a one-to-one basis.

Big White Wall also offers members the opportunity to take online tests to measure their anxiety or depression levels to set goals and track their progress.

Online courses with health professionals covering things like sleep problems, stopping smoking and anger management are also available.

For more information or to sign up to Big White Wall quickly, anonymously and free of charge, visit www.bigwhitewall.com

People living on the Fylde Coast have reported a ‘good’ experience of their GP surgery in an annual survey.

Of the 4,346 people who responded to the annual GP Patient Survey, about 85 per cent said they were happy with their practice, placing the area above the national average.

More than nine in 10 said they found the receptionist at their practice helpful, 82 per cent found their practice’s website easy to use and almost 90 per cent said healthcare professionals understood mental health needs where they existed.

The awareness of the availability of online services has also increased, more people have booked appointments, ordered repeat prescriptions and viewed their medical records via the internet.

However, 72 per cent of people said they hadn’t used any online services in the past 12 months, although this was an improvement on last year.

Dr Amanda Doyle OBE, chief clinical officer for NHS Fylde and Wyre and NHS Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), said: “People continue to report a generally high level of satisfaction with the family doctor services they have received in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre.

“This is testament to the hard work that goes on in surgeries all over the Fylde Coast, from all the practice teams.

“However there are areas where people have said they are not completely satisfied, such as how long it can take to receive care when GP practices are closed and support for people with long-term conditions, and we will work with our colleagues to make improvements.”

The GP Patient Survey reflects on people’s experience of healthcare services provided by GP surgeries, including access to GPs, making appointments, the quality of care received from GPs and practice nurses, ease of use of online services and satisfaction of out-of-hours NHS services.

The survey is run independently by Ipsos Mori and sent to more than a million people at random across the UK. On the Fylde Coast, 37 per cent of the 11,861 surveys sent out were returned.

Other key findings of the survey included more than seven in 10 said it was very or fairly easy to get through to someone at their GP surgery on the phone, 70 per cent also rated the overall experience of making an appointment as good and nine in 10 said their healthcare professional was good at listening to them.

NHS England has announced an exciting new way of working that will improve the way family doctor services work together – the first major service change to primary care in a generation.

All GP practices now work together with their neighbouring surgeries as part of ‘primary care networks’, allowing them to join forces to target their own unique priorities and provide better services in the community.

But for people living on the Fylde Coast, this is nothing new. Practices in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre have been working together for several years now with some real improvements to health and wellbeing already being seen as a result.

Dr Amanda Doyle OBE, chief clinical officer for NHS Blackpool and NHS Fylde and Wyre Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), said: “The national move towards primary care networks is a real endorsement of what we have been doing here for some years now.

“Practices are working together and involving their communities in meaningful discussions to really transform the way services are delivered at a local level.”

In Fleetwood, the primary care network has brought together general practice, community nursing, drug and alcohol and many other services to work in a more integrated way, which has helped improve health and wellbeing locally.

The town, which has a population of about 30,000, has significant health inequalities and traditionally poor health outcomes. The prevalence for all major long-term conditions is significantly above national averages and there are extremely high rates of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

Dr Mark Spencer, from the Mount View Practice, said: “Just five years ago we faced a severe GP recruitment and retention crisis with only eight GPs remaining from what would normally be at least 16 across the town. There was a genuine risk of collapse of general practice in Fleetwood.

“However through the three GP practices working together that situation has been completely turned around and there has also been significant integration across all primary care services, as well as genuine resident empowerment and a vibrant social prescribing pathway via Healthier Fleetwood.

“Developing a primary care network in Fleetwood has allowed us to move away from the traditional medical model of delivering care to one that is resident-led, socially driven and focused as much on wellness as it is on managing illness.”

The Blackpool Central West primary care network consists of four GP practices situated primarily just behind the promenade. The area has a high level of patients with complex health needs and a higher number of patients who regularly move around.

In order to improve care for some of those most complex patients, the practices joined forces to develop neighbourhood care teams consisting of community matrons, district nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, wellbeing workers, social workers and mental health specialists.

This allowed for regular multidisciplinary team meetings to decide the best way to look after some of the most complex patients and better monitoring of their long-term conditions, as well as timely referrals to other services when required.

The improvements have been clear for all to see, including local patients. Debra Scott is a member of the patient participation group (PPG) at Adelaide Street Family Practice. She said: “It’s great to hear about all the good work being done by our practice and the others in our area.

“Their joining forces and working together can only be a good thing for patients in Blackpool.”

For more information on primary care networks nationally, visit https://bit.ly/2KN4QRf

People relying on public transport to get to Blackpool Victoria Hospital can take advantage of a new directory, thanks to local volunteers.

The directory includes the routes and times of all bus services that go to the hospital and is available at all the GP surgeries in Lytham and Fleetwood, as well as libraries and community centres in those areas.

It was created to improve awareness of the many bus services which travel to the hospital, after concerns that a lack of understanding was causing people on the Fylde Coast to miss appointments at the hospital, in particular those referred for an initial cancer appointment.

The Patient Cancer Care Improvement (PCCI) Group, made up of people who have experienced Fylde Coast cancer services, came up with the idea for the directory and pulled together the initial content, before partnering with Blackpool Transport which provided up-to-date information and funded printing and design costs.

David Baxter, chair of the PCCI Group, said: “We were concerned at the alarming rate of initial cancer appointments being missed at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

“While there are a number of reasons people may miss these appointments, we felt there was something we could do to put public transport information in one easy place to make things as simple as possible.

“Obviously this directory can be used by anyone, not just those attending for cancer-related appointments, so this should be of great help to lots of people on the Fylde Coast. We are very grateful to Blackpool Transport for really getting behind this piece of work and providing some vital funding.”

Sally Shaw, director of people and stakeholders at Blackpool Transport, said: “When we were approached by the PCCI Group we felt that there was a significant need for us to assist in removing potential barriers and supporting those who travel with us to their hospital appointments.

“Simplifying and condensing the information that people needed to travel was our key focus within the guide, and we were hopeful that this would help those who may not be fully confident in their journeys.

“We are fully committed to our social responsibilities throughout the Fylde Coast and are very happy to have the opportunity to get involved in an effort to decrease the number of missed appointments.”