Following a surge of serious flu cases among the under-fives in the North West, the Chief Nurse at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has urged parents and guardians of young children take up the offer of the flu jab this winter, amid rising flu hospitalisations. Nathan Askew has urged parents to help “keep us all safe […]

The North West’s Medical Director, Dr Michael Gregory, has today called on people to look out for frail and elderly relatives, friends and neighbours over Christmas and New Year. Many older people spend the Christmas period alone – and some will then deteriorate and end up requiring a hospital admission over the festive period. In […]

NHS vaccination teams have visited all 1,750 care homes in the North West to offer life-saving COVID-19 boosters and flu jabs ahead of the festive period. Every care home in the region has been visited by NHS staff ensuring residents have maximum protection from winter viruses and allowing them to spend time with families and […]

People across the North West are being urged to continue to use the NHS 111 online service (www.111.nhs.uk), for urgent health problems that do not need an emergency response. It comes as latest data shows that more and more people are using the NHS 111 service to get advice.  Between March 2020 and September 2022, […]

Secondary school flu vaccination has started in the North West this month, with school vaccination teams already taking the vaccine out to pupils to ensure they have the best protection this winter. The NHS is once again offering the flu vaccine, which is usually given to children as a nasal spray, to secondary school aged […]

The NHS North West’s Chief Pharmacist is reminding people not to leave it too late to order repeat prescriptions ahead of the Christmas break. Every bank holiday the NHS 111 phone service sees huge increases in people contacting it about repeat prescriptions – and over the Jubilee Bank Holiday earlier this year saw calls rising […]

The NHS in the North West is celebrating a double milestone after delivering its two-millionth autumn dose of the COVID-19 vaccine two years after the vaccination programme launched. It’s the latest in a long series of milestones achieved since the vaccination programme launched on 8 December 2020. Back then, Doreen McKeown from Lancashire and Ted […]

With winter fast approaching, the NHS in the North West is urging parents of young children to take steps to ward off serious illnesses over the coming months. The latest figures show that between October 2021 and September 2022 there has been an 15% increase in the number of emergency hospital admissions for children compared […]

The NHS in the North West is urging parents and guardians of young children to protect them from flu ahead of winter.   A surge in serious flu cases and hospitalisations in the under-fives has prompted the NHS to remind parents and guardians to bring their children forward for a free flu vaccination, as soon […]

Thousands more staff are working in new roles in General Practice, so family doctors’ time can be freed up to see even more patients. Since 2020, more than 2,000 clinical and non-clinical roles have been recruited to practices in the region to offer more support in dealing with patients clinical and care needs and to […]