PETERCULTER MEDICAL PRACTICE

MY autumn article seems to go into automatic pilot, set on a course to discuss the annual influenza vaccination campaign! As in previous years, those recommended for injection are individuals

• over 65 years of age,

• those with significant heart or lung disease,

• kidney disease,

• diabetes and

• anyone who is on therapy which reduces the efficiency of the immune

system.

In addition, for these same groups of individuals, it is recommended that you receive a vaccine protecting against pneumococcal pneumonia, a particularly unpleasant version of this significant lung infection. This vaccination needs to he given only once in a lifetime, as, unlike the influenza virus, the bug which causes pneumococcal pneumonia exists as only one particular type.

The science behind the need for a new vaccine for influenza each year is that the influenza virus can change genetically ‘year on year and so the particular vaccine has to he manufactured according to the predicted type of influenza virus for that particular season. At the time of writing this article (late October) we have really not seen any particular definite cases of influenza, hut these have been occurring elsewhere in the region I believe. Our local vaccination campaign is well underway and has so far been well taken up by those members of the population who require it.

From a staffing point of view, we send our very good wishes for the future to Mrs Lizzie Thomas, who is retiring in November after many hard working years here as a Health Visitor. She has given valuable help to hundreds of children and their parents, and we wish her well with her various projects in her retirement.

The practice continues working hard for our “Practice Accreditation” approval inspection which takes place next April. This is an initiative which is being undertaken nationally in order to ensure that practices are working to a good standard of clinical care and it also assesses various organisational aspects of our practice work. We are confident of achieving this, but some hard work is required between now and then in order to achieve the various tasks required of us.

As FSAD (football—season affective disorder) hits the local football fans (for obvious reasons!), we are also beginning to see signs of PCF (pre Christmas fever) in spite of these two minor annual ailments, I wish you all the best for the winter and festive season.

© CulterNET 2008