NHS Somerset top in South West for care home COVID-19 vaccinations this season

Women getting her flu vaccination

Somerset is leading the region on the percentage of care home residents vaccinated against COVID-19 this winter. Over 90% of care home residents in Somerset have received their COVID-19 jab.  The winter vaccine roll-out began on the 11 September 2023 and 128,000 COVID-19 vaccinations and 164,000 flu vaccinations have been given in Somerset to date.…

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NHS Patients To Be Offered The Chance To Travel For Treatment

Photograph of an adult sat on a bed, in pyjamas, being helped by another person crouched on the floor putting slippers on

Hundreds of thousands of NHS patients who have been waiting the longest for treatment will be offered the opportunity to travel to a different hospital, if it means they could be seen sooner.  From today, any patient who has been waiting longer than 40 weeks and does not have an appointment within the next eight…

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Somerset Community Foundation awards over £150,000 to help local community groups survive cost-of-living crisis

Photograph of a group of people sat round a table with glasses of squash enjoying an activity

Somerset Community Foundation, in partnership with Somerset Council and NHS Somerset, recently awarded over £150,000 in grants to 44 local community groups in the latest round of Cost-of-Living grants this summer. The grants will help groups across the county cope with rising energy bills and offer more support to people in Somerset who are struggling…

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EMED group to provide non-emergency patient transport in Somerset

Photograph of an ambulance worker inside the ambulance

This is a patient transport service for non-urgent, planned journeys . NHS Somerset has successfully concluded a procurement exercise, awarding a 5-year contract to EMED Patient Care for the non-emergency patient transport service to go live on 1 October 2023. EMED, which is an independent sector provider of Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS), has an…

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National industrial action update

Picture of a clinical worker using the photocopier in a clinical environment

The NHS in Somerset is working hard to keep services running and people safe during periods of planned industrial action. The next planned industrial action is from junior doctors and consultants, with strikes planned from 7am Monday 2 October until 7am on Thursday 5 October 2023. Industrial action updates from Somerset NHS Foundations Trust can…

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