Lambourn Surgery Patient Participation Group Newsletter, July 2021

Breast Cancer Screening

The mobile Breast Cancer Screening Unit was at the surgery recently. Unfortunately, it appears that over 25% of those with an invitation did not take up the offer this time. The surgery will write again to each person who is eligible and did not attend, but in the meantime, the importance of attending any cancer screening you are offered cannot be stressed enough.

The unit was last at the surgery in 2018 and then only just over 7% did not take up the offer. After the follow up letter from the surgery, some did then attend for screening and a further 2 cancers which would have gone undetected were diagnosed. The surgery are unsure as to why the uptake has been so low this time, potentially due to uncertainty over COVID safe procedures, but please be assured the Breast Screening team are working to the same infection control protocols as the rest of the NHS.

IT IS NOT TOO LATE: If you received an invitation and did not attend, you can still book by calling 0118 322 8282 and you will be screened at the West Berks Community Hospital.

Breast Cancer when diagnosed early has one of the best success rates in terms of treatment, so it really is worthwhile taking up the offer, and could just save your life.

Use The Right Medical Service

Demand for services at the surgery is still extremely high (about 150% of pre pandemic levels) and this is now compounded by the backlog in secondary care which has meant patients are waiting longer for specialist treatment or operations, which in turn means they are in pain for longer and need more support. Mental health problems are also at an all-time high. It is therefore important that we all try to use the correct service for our medical problem. The NHS have produced an infographic that gives some guidance how to choose the right care for your condition.

Patient Data Opt Out

You may have read in the national press about how NHS digital is gathering anonymised patient data from GPs for use in research. The NHS are giving individual patients the opportunity to opt out of this process. Unfortunately, they seem to have placed the burden of the administrative task of this exercise with the GP practices which they could well do without. It is a matter for individual choice and full information may be found on the surgery website …. Or on request from surgery reception. Requests for opt out must be with the surgery by August …

Where To Get More Information

The PPG are very aware that nearly all information produced by the NHS these days is online and the difficulty of obtaining “offline” information has been exacerbated by the infection control measures at surgeries. We are looking at this and hope to have some news on this matter in the coming months. In the meantime, the online resources are pretty comprehensive and this page on the Lambourn Surgery website can steer you to further information

www.lambournsurgery.co.uk/digitalpractice/advice-and-help

including further information on Breast cancer Screening and Mental Health Care resources. If you do not have access to online services at least be aware that they exist and ask a friend, family member or PPG member to help out or ask at the surgery.

You can contact the PPG via email; ppgchairpersonlambourn@gmail.com or in writing via the surgery office (Bockhampton Road, Lambourn, RG17 8PS) addressed to the Chair of the PPG.

Alan Breadmore, Chair, Lambourn Surgery PPG