Autumn may have started with a blaze of sunshine but hopes of lingering summer weather have now been well and truly dashed by the arrival of storms and heavy rain. It’s a stark reminder of the longer nights, dwindling temperatures and gradual descent into frost and slush that we will have to endure before summer once again peeps over the horizon.
The arrival of Autumn also heralds the start of this year’s flu jab campaign. According to Public Health England, only 52% of those with an underlying illness took up the free jab offer last year (2013) and PHE are keen to increase that percentage as much as possible this winter.
So the call has gone out for young children, the elderly and those with underlying conditions to take up the challenge and get protected. Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer said “I would urge those who are offered the free flu vaccination to visit their GP early in the flu season. I also urge all health care workers to make sure they are vaccinated to protect themselves, their patients and their families.”
When we think of the flu jab we naturally tend to think of it in terms of prevention of the flu itself but there are a number of other consequences of flu which put a strain on our health services. One of the more common of these is the need for some form of osteopath or chiropractic treatment as muscles or ligaments become strained thanks to the effects of coughing. When we cough or sneeze we put a tremendous percussive force on our bodies and this can lead to back and other injuries.
The effect of this is that not only do health practitioners need to stay healthy themselves to continue to treat their normal patients, they also have extra calls on their time to treat these flu-related injuries. And really these couldn’t come at a worse time. One good bout of overnight frost and icy pavements add to slips and falls whilst icy roads lead to crashes. These too put a strain on our health services with physiotherapists and other health practitioners having to cope with the aftermath of broken bones and strains.
Of course, if we all took up the flu-jab challenge then our health service would be far better off but as that is an ‘ideal world’ scenario it means that once again our health services may be stretched this winter. Anything which can help to mitigate that pressure is therefore welcome and that is why numbers of health practices are adopting ways of working which will reduce the strain on their own resources. Areas such as electronic filing of records, appointment reminders and the use of virtual assistant services to answer calls and book appointments can all help to smooth out administration time and therefore add to the time available for treatment.
As Public Health England says “Each winter hundreds of thousands of people see their GP and tens of thousands are hospitalised because of flu.” That puts a huge strain on resources so it’s no wonder that they are campaigning for as many people as possible to be vaccinated this year.