Welcome to the latest of our weekly newsletters. We regard it as a priority that all patients at our Adlington, Buckshaw, Croston, Eaves Lane Chorley and Lostock Hall surgeries are kept fully informed of news and developments relevant to them. We hope these updates continue to prove useful.
The ‘Act Fast’ stroke Awareness Campaign
You may have heard of NHS England’s latest ‘Act Fast’ campaign which aims to increase awareness of the signs of a stroke and encourage people to dial 999 at the first sign.
A stroke strikes every five minutes in the UK, there are around 38,000 stroke-related deaths every year and it’s a leading cause of disability.
The campaign encourages people to ‘Act Fast’ at any sign of a stroke as every minute is vital, to give patients quicker access to specialist treatment that could save their life and reduce the long-term effects of a stroke such as a disability.
The campaign explains that the first sign of a stroke, like struggling to smile, not being able to raise your arm or slurring when you speak, might not seem serious.
Stroke symptoms can be less dramatic, painful or obvious than might be expected.
But even if doesn’t seem like much, at the first sign of a stroke call 999.
We are backing the ‘Act Fast’ campaign so please see our social media channels for more details or the posters in our surgeries.
NHS Health Checks
We are continuing to offer free NHS health checks for any patients over 40 registered at all sites across the group.
We would urge you to book one of these checks, particularly if you have not seen a GP or other Clinician for some time as it may be that it will pick up an undetected issue for which early treatment would be beneficial.
You will need to have a blood test before the main appointment so if you wish to proceed, please call your surgery and our reception team will be pleased to book you in for the blood test and a follow up appointment for your health check with the practice nurse.
Temporary Surgery Closure
Please could all patients be advised that essential training which is being delivered to NHS staff nationwide is taking place on Tuesday, November 26 and on this date all our surgery sites will close at 12.30pm and all phone lines will also close from this time.
During this period, please call 111 or if the issue is an emergency please call 999.
Our normal enhanced service will operate from 6.30pm that day and phone lines at all our sites reopen at 8am the following day, Wednesday, November 27, with doors open 8.30am as normal. We thank you in anticipation of your understanding.
A Day Late!
Apologies but due to logistical reasons, the newsletter has bene published a day later than the usual day, which is Thursday. Back to normal next week!