The North and East Devon Breast Screening Service has launched a new expandable mobile breast screening unit which will provide breast screening to eligible people in North and East Devon. Breast screening can be lifesaving, yet data from 2023/24 shows that over a quarter of eligible people in Devon are not up to date with […]

Just over half a million patients have received help from high street pharmacies for minor illnesses, as the NHS brings care closer to people’s homes. Since January 2024, 220,000 people have received help without booking an appointment at their local pharmacy for seven common conditions including sore throat, earache or shingles. In the same period, […]

Data published on 8 May shows that 47.9% of eligible people in the South West have now received their COVID-19 vaccination as part of the Spring vaccination programme.   The Spring COVID-19 vaccination programme commenced on 1 April and the NHS in the South West has already delivered almost half a million vaccinations. However, over 52% […]

An NHS worker hopes by sharing his own blood pressure readings it will add up to more people aged 40-plus checking to see if their blood pressure reading is high, and when it is taking the steps to reduce their risk of premature death. For Jim Gammans, a Community Engagement Officer, it’s about ‘talk the […]

This International Nurses’ Day, I want to extend my deepest thanks to our nurses – not only across the South West, but throughout the country – for their unwavering commitment to care, compassion, and clinical excellence. Every day, nurses across our region support patients and their families through some of the most important moments of […]

Kitty Odell from Bristol was fit and healthy when she received her third bowel cancer screening home test as part of the routine screening offer provided by the NHS to people in the South West who are aged 50 to 74. Without any concerning symptoms, Kitty left the test on the side for several weeks […]

The NHS national booking service has opened today (Tuesday 25 March) for eligible people to book their COVID-19 spring vaccinations. NHS teams have been working to make it as easy as possible for people to get jabbed close to home. This includes 482 community pharmacies across the South West, who will be providing the vaccination […]

We are pleased to announce that Dr Trevor Smith has been appointed as NHS England’s new Regional Medical Director for the South West. A prominent Gastroenterologist and international expert on clinical nutrition and intestinal failure, Dr Smith has held a number of leadership roles, including serving as President of the British Association for Parenteral and […]

Around 100 frontline NHS staff from across the South West will be joined by NHS England directors in Taunton today (4th March 2025) to discuss what they want to see from the government’s 10 Year Health Plan. It is the last in a series of events where frontline NHS staff across the breadth of the […]

The NHS in England has launched its first ever awareness campaign to highlight the benefits of breast cancer screening. The campaign comes as annual data shows that 27% of eligible women in the South West are not up to date with their regular mammograms and over one in ten (12%) of those eligible have never […]