Upcoming events in Southam

WHAT TO DO WITH YOURSELVES ON ANOTHER BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN SOUTHAM? READ ON TO FIND OUT!

Citizen’s advice is on at The Grange Hall every Friday morning, find out more on their website https://www.casouthwarwickshire.org.uk/southam/

Saturday sees the return of the annual Napton Dog, Horse and Pony Show, kicking off at 9am, visit their Facebook page to find out more!

Also on Saturday morning is the Dallas Burston Polo Club Park Run, also kicking off at 9am. It is completely free to participate but you much register beforehand, visit their ParkRun website for more information

On Monday, it is Family Fun Day at the recreation grounds in Southam, starting at 12pm! There will be free rides, lots of stalls and a fancy dress competition!

There is also some good stuff on next week too! Children’s Fun Day in Hunningham on Friday 2nd June from 1:30pm

Napton opens up its gardens again on Sunday 4th June from 2pm!

After the weekend’s fun, why not try out a FREE pilates taster session with Diane at The Grange Hall?

Mental Health Awareness Week Giveaway, in partnership with Everest Fitness

We have partnered with the wonderful, local business Everest Fitness, to offer the giveaway of a 3 month FREE full gym membership. We are doing this to help promote conversation about how we can all do things to help improve our mental wellness.

“At Everest fitness, we have two beautiful air-conditioned studios with excellent ventilation. Our main studio offers over 40 weekly classes such as BodyPump, BodyCombat and BodyBalance, with Yoga, Pilates, Glo Dance, Step, Aerobics, Meditation and more. Our second studio is a designated spin room with 18 indoor cycles. We have a fabulous range of classes from beginner to ultimate spin and virtual spin.
We believe exercise is for everyone and should be fun!

Enjoy a good workout with friends for a social and fun experience - including spin classes, sessions for teenagers who want to add to their core fitness, building muscle tone and strength, and low impact exercise for the older population who want to maintain/improve their muscular strength, stability and flexibility.

We now offer many of the classes as an online option - this is where you can join in our classes at home. This option is perfect for dark winter evenings, working from home, childcare issues and many more benefits.”

How to Enter

You can enter via Facebook and/or Instagram

Facebook

• Step 1: Like our page, St Wulfstan Surgery

• Step 2: Share our post

• Step 3: Comment on the post with your top tip for dealing with anxiety or improving your wellness!

Instagram

• Step 1: Follow our page, @stwulfstan

• Step 2: Share the post to your story

• Step 3: Comment on the post with your top tip for dealing with anxiety or improving your wellness!

Do this on both social platforms and get TWO entries!

Entries close ONE WEEK today on Friday 26th May 11pm and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 30th May, after the bank holiday, so get liking and sharing!

GOOD LUCK!!

Mental Health Awareness Week

the theme for this year’s mental health awareness week is anxiety!

We all experience anxiety from time to time, but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem.

Lots of things can make us feel anxious; upcoming exams, relationships, starting a new job (or losing one) and big life events to name just a few. We can also experience feelings of anxiety when it comes to things like money, and not being able to meet our basic needs - like heating our homes and buying food.

Did you know, anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems we can experience. According to the Mental Health Foundation:

“In a recent mental health survey we carried out around stress, anxiety and hopelessness over personal finances, a quarter of adults said they felt so anxious that it stopped them from doing the things they want to do some or all of the time. Six in ten adults feel this way, at least some of the time. On a positive note, anxiety can be made easier to manage.”

If we don’t know how to cope with our feelings of anxiety, they can get out of control and stop us from doing the things we want or need to do. The more often we feel anxious, and the longer we feel it for, the more of a problem it can become. Dealing with anxiety can be hard, but here are some tips to help try to manage those messy, scary feelings:

1. Focus on your breathing - the 4-7-8 breathing technique can help you control anxious thoughts, close your mouth and breathe in through your nose, counting to 4 in your head, hold your breath and count for 7, then breathe out through your mouth, making a whoosh sound while counting to 8. Repeat for 4 cycles.

2. Get moving - exercise is a good way of dealing with anxiety. Go for a run or a swim, but it doesn’t have to be vigorous; try some gentle stretches or yoga - anything that requires a little bit of concentration to take your mind away from your thoughts.

3. Keep a diary - It is important not to ignore your worries. Try keeping a record of what’s happening in your life and how it is affecting you, this might help you figure out what is triggering your anxiety. Having a designated ‘worry time’ where you write down all your anxious thoughts can help you manage your thoughts too.

4. Challenge your thoughts - anxiety can lead us to overthink things massively - this is called ‘rumination’ and is not helpful. If you catch yourself ruminating - write down the thought, and then try to write down something to challenge it. Is what you’re thinking realistic? Challenging your thoughts can stop you from being overwhelmed by them.

5. Get support for money worries - money worries are a common cause for anxiety. If you’re worried about not being able to pay your bills, or feel like you are drowning in debt, seek help! Make sure you are claiming all the government supports you are entitled to, and visit your local Citizens Advice Centre to get all the help possible.

6. Spend time in nature - we know this has a positive effect on our mental health, it can help us to feel calmer and less stressed. If you can go for a walk in the woods or meadows for an hour or longer, you can really immerse yourself in nature. Don’t worry if you are too busy for this - tending some flowers on your windowsill can still give you your nature fix!

7. Connect with people and talk about how you feel - anxiety can feel very lonely. Talking to people about it can help! Spend time with friends or meet people through local activities - sometimes just saying what is worrying you out loud to somebody can take away it’s power over you.

8. Try to get some quality sleep or rest - this can be hard when your head is full of worries, but there are things that can help. If your thoughts keep you awake, write them down in your diary, if this doesn’t help, get us and have a drink (nothing with caffeine) and wait until you feel more tired to try to go back to bed.

9. Try to eat a healthy diet - anxiety can make you want to reach to the snack cupboard or for an alcoholic beverage, while these things are okay in moderation - it is important that we don’t turn to unhealthy food and drink as a way to cope. this will only make things worse in the long term. It’s equally important that we don’t turn to smoking or recreational drug use.

10. Contact your GP - if you’ve tried all of the above, and your anxiety is still through the roof, you can contact us and we can offer you support and point you in the direction of expert care, for example: - SilverCloud is an online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programme which allows you to complete therapy in your own time and at your own pace. It offers secure and immediate access to a range of mental health and wellbeing programmes which you work through, using your computer, tablet, or mobile phone. There is a SilverCloud module called Space From Anxiety, that the GP may refer you to.

Remember, you are not alone! Every one of us has felt anxiety at some point or another, and help is always available!

Happy International Nurses Day!

Rachel Hughes, one of our nursing team

International Nurses Day is upon us, and who better to shed some light on what it’s like to be a nurse, than one of our own! Rachel explains:

I joined the Nursing Team at St Wulfstan back in September, coming from a mixed background of acute and community nursing; during my Nurse training there was this view that to work in practice nursing you had to a) be nearing retirement, b) want an easy life, and c) have no problem losing clinical skills… Well, I’m constantly learning, it’s definitely not easy, and unless there are some dramatic changes, I’m probably a few decades off retirement... So what do we do every day?!

Quite often, your Nurse or Health Care Assistant will be the first medical person you speak to in years – you might come in for an NHS health check after 5 years of trying desperately to avoid coming to the Doctor, and we’ll give you an MOT, along with some diet and lifestyle advice… And then you’ll mention that one issue that’s been niggling at you just a little bit, but you don’t want to talk to the doctor because you’ve never had a day off sick in your life… We’ll do our best to point you in the right direction, whether it’s reminding you to get your eyes checked regularly, asking you to book in for a nursing appointment, or recommending you speak to one of our GPs.

Maybe you’re anxious about coming in for a smear because, well- it’s a smear! Your nurse may well be the one to reassure you that it’s totally normal – we are almost all women, after all, and we know, it’s not the nicest experience of your life - but we’ll also tell you why that screening programme is so SO important, and offer to get you booked in. And when you’re there, we will probably acknowledge the awkwardness, put you at ease, and make you feel as comfortable as possible… And we may even make you laugh while we’re at it. But while we’re doing that we’re also listening to see if you’re having any symptoms that are out of the ordinary, looking at your medications to see if your pill could be causing you to have some irregular bleeding, and checking that everything looks healthy ‘down there’ – and on that note, I promise, we really don’t mind if you haven’t ‘prepared’.

I’ve always loved that nurses have this reputation of being lovely and friendly, but we also have a lot of knowledge, and have to do a lot of training to be allowed to sit in front of you and give you medical advice. From knowing how to give you an injection, to being able to treat an infected wound, or helping you manage a chronic disease to give you the best quality of life possible. There is a lot going on behind the scenes in order to make sure we can look after our patients properly, support our Doctors where needed, and refer to other teams when necessary, too.

We can’t make everything better, but we’ll do our absolute best to find someone who can!

So, Happy International Nurses Day – we’re pretty proud to be Nurses, really!"

Exciting New Services @ St Wulfstan!

At St Wulfstan Surgery we are passionate about delivering our patients the best possible levels of care and service. We are proud to have been rated by our patients as one of the best Surgeries in England (well number 68 to be exact!). But we want to keep improving and evolving. As such we are really excited to share some service improvements which we hope you will benefit from. Some of these are given below and we hope to release more details in the coming weeks.

New GP's

We are really pleased to be recruiting 2 excellent new additional GP’s in August, stay tuned for details!

New Clinical Pharmacist Support

We will be welcoming Mina and Lucinda as our regular practice Pharmacists from next week. They are great at helping with any medication problems or queries you may have and are often better placed than GP’s to answer any questions about medication. When booking an appointment our Receptionists may advise an appointment is better suited to a Pharmacist than a GP. You will also be able to book Pharmacist appointments online.

Improved booking system

If you are invited via text message for a regular annual blood test, asthma review or diabetes review you may notice your invitation will now let you book an appointment directly via the text message. We will be rolling this feature out over the next month or so which will hopefully make booking appointments even easier.

Duty Social Prescribing Link Worker

Through our collaboration with Warwickshire East Primary Care Network, our patients will now have access to a Duty Social Prescribing Link Worker. They are able to speak to patients on the same day with any problems around care at home, financial concerns, social problems, loneliness and can even help with employment issues. These appointments can be booked via our Reception Team and will be starting next month.

We also have a few other exciting additional services becoming available over the next month or so stay tuned! Feel free to register your email below to stay up to date with our weekly newsletter.

There is no better time than now to get those bike's out of storage!

Thinking about getting your bike out of storage? Or maybe you want to get into cycling for the first time - either way - Warwickshire County Council has lots of reasons why there is no better time than the present to get on two wheels!

As we move into the warmer Spring and Summer months, with more hours of daylights and those sub-zero temperatures fading into the past, the Council is encouraging residents to dust off their bikes and explore the benefits of an active and eco-friendly travel lifestyle. Perks of cycling include reducing vehicle costs for fuel and maintenance, improving physical and mental wellbeing, and benefiting the environment!

Did you know, it’s often the journeys of 5 miles or less that have the greatest negative impact on the environment and our finances? Turns out these are also the easiest to replace with a cycling alternative, whether it be the school pick up, the commute to work, or popping into town for shopping and socialising.

Not appealing to you yet? Well how about this! Throughout May, Warwickshire County Council is supporting Love to Ride’s Bike Month Challenge, which aims to get businesses, communities and individuals to take up cycling for work, health and leisure. Getting involved is easy, with just 4 simple steps:

1. Download the Love to Ride app and register - it’s completely free!

2. Ride you bike for at least 10 minutes - even a ride around the park counts!

3. Log your ride online or do it automatically by connecting to an app

4. Spread the bike love by encouraging others to join

Do these 4 simple steps, and you could be in with a chance of winning great prizes, including cash!

Mark Ryder, Strategic Director for Communities at Warwickshire County Council, said:

“The benefits of active travel, particularly travelling by bike, are huge, both for the individual and for our wider environment.

For many of us, it might seem difficult to know where to start, as travelling by car has become so engrained in our daily lives. However, we are committed to supporting residents to realise that they can start their active travel adventure by switching just one car journey every week to an active alternative such as cycling, and we hope that the improving weather, longer days and the Bike Month Challenge with Love to Ride will offer residents a fun and engaging way to get into cycling and encourage their friends, family and colleagues to do the same.”

Start your cycling adventure today by clicking the button below. Now if you don’t mind, I’m off to get my bike out of the shed!

Congratulations Tanya on completing The London Marathon

A massive, massive congratulations to our very own Tanya for completing The London Marathon on Sunday for her chosen charity Muscular Dystrophy UK!

Sunday 23rd April marked the big day for 50,000 people who had been training for the London Marathon, 1 of those 50,000 included our very own Tanya Unit, Assistant Operation’s Manager here at St Wulfstan Surgery.

Tanya chose to raise money for charity Muscular Dystrophy UK, a charity very close to the hearts of the St Wulfstan family, having heard about the charity from friend and colleague, Julie Davies, who’s son, Rhys, lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Tanya quoted:

“Their family is inspiring, they are so positive.  

It has been a roller-coaster of emotions. I have met some amazing people on this journey. It really has shown the generosity of people.”

Tanya had been hard at work training for the London Marathon, and her dedication has paid off. In addition to completing a gruelling 24-hour bikeathon, she also organised a successful charity race night and auction, raising an impressive £7000 and counting.

Tanya completed the London Marathon in an amazing 5 hours 17 minutes, pushing through mental and physical barriers she didn’t even know existed! To top it off, she turned up at work 9am Monday morning!

Well done Tanya, we are all so proud of you!

You can still donate to Tanya’s JustGiving page, it’s not too late!

🤧 It's Hay Fever Season Again! 🤧

The sunshine has arrived - hooray! But for those of us with hay fever it can be bittersweet.

Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen and the symptoms occur or worsen in the Spring and Summer when pollen counts are higher. This can result in sneezing, coughing, a runny or blocked nose, itchy or watery eyes and an itchy throat.

We often get calls about hay fever at this time of year, but recent changes mean that most treatments for hay fever can now be purchased over the counter at your local pharmacy, meaning your pharmacist is often best placed to help.

The treatment of hay fever normally consists of antihistamine tablets, antihistamine eye drops and steroid nasal sprays. If required you can use a combination.

Anti-histamine tablets/syrup

There are several different types available from your pharmacy. If you try one which doesn’t help, then it is worth trying an alternative, unfortunately this often involves some degree of trial and error. Some anti-histamine’s such as Piriton (chlorphenamine maleate) can make you feel drowsy, so there are non-drowsy preparations available, such as cetirizine.

If, despite trying different anti-histamines, your symptoms persist then consider adding in eye drops, or a nasal steroid spray, or both.

Anti-histamine Eye Drops

These can be purchased from the pharmacy and work well where itchy and runny eyes are more problematic. The drug is called sodium cromoglicate.

Nasal Steroid Spray

These can work very effectively helping control your symptoms of hay fever and can be used in conjunction with the above treatments. Nasal steroid sprays can take days or weeks to reach their fullest effect so they are worth persevering with.

What Next?

If the above treatments, when used in combination, have failed to solve the problem, and you have given them a reasonable period of time to work, then please give us a call to discuss further.

Do you know how to examine your breasts?

Do you know how to examine your breasts? Really? In this article we aim to show you what to look for, where to feel, how to feel, and what cancer might feel like.

Breast cancer usually can’t be prevented, but by checking your breasts, you could help to detect it earlier.

Adults of all ages are encouraged to perform breast self-exams at least once a month, doing this regularly can help you familiarise with how your breasts look and feel, so you can alert your GP if there are any changes. So, how do you check them, properly? Dr Liz O’Riordan, consultant breast surgeon, helps us explain…

1. Get topless in front of the mirror and look at yourself. If you have heavy breasts, lift them up so you can see underneath them. Turn to the side, and then the other side. When doing this, you are looking for lumps that you can see sticking through the surface of the skin. You are looking to see whether the nipple has been pulled in, and you are looking to see if there is a little puckering of the skin (see video for details).

2. The next thing you do is put your hands above your head, and then you put your hands on your hips and push in, tensing the chest muscles, doing both of these things can show you a lump or a tethering that you wouldn’t otherwise see.

3. The next step is to feel. The best way to examine your breasts is lying flat, at about 30 degrees e.g. lying down in bed with your head propped on a couple of pillows. This lifts a heavy breast onto the chest wall, if you have particularly large breasts that tend to flop to the side, you can roll your body towards the midline to lift your breast tissue up and onto the chest wall, making it much easier to feel if there is anything there.

4. When feeling your breasts, you should use the undersurface of your fingers. Keeping your fingers flat, you bend them at the knuckles, and what you’re trying to do is to squish your breast tissue against your ribcage underneath. A lot of women, especially around their time of the month can have very lumpy breasts, it can feel like a mixture of sweetcorn and jelly and it’s completely normal. Usually, this lumpiness would occur on each breast. If there is a lump there, you will be able to squish the breast tissue all the way to the ribcage each size, but you will feel the lump and you won’t be able to push down as flat - this is the kind of lump you should tell your GP about.

5. Think of your breasts like a teardrop, it doesn’t matter how you do it, but press quite firmly all over the breast until you get to the nipple, then press firmly on the nipple too. The final place to look is underneath your armpit, because you can get enlarged lymph nodes there. If you are slim, you may feel them normally, and they are about the size of a split pea or a lentil. Cancerous lymph nodes are bigger and firmer, like a marble or a boiled sweet. The trick is to relax your armpit, rest your hand on your opposite shoulder. With your other hand, try to squish the tissue and the fat of your armpit against your ribcage, get really high above the hairline and squish up there to see if you can feel any hard lumps beneath your fingers, and then do the other side.

If you have watched this video, examined your breasts and are concerned about a lump, contact us - it’s what we are here for!

April is Stress Awareness Month!

how often do you find yourself in a situation where your to-do list seems endless, deadlines are fast approaching and the stress is building faster than you can get things done? Yes, us too!

But what is stress really, and how does it affect us?

We all think of stress as a bad thing, but this isn’t entirely true - if we didn’t feel stress, humankind would not have survived. For example, our ancestors, the cavemen, used the onset of stress to be alerted to a potential danger - like a sabre-toothed tiger.

Primarily, stress is a physical response. When stressed, our bodies think they are under attack and switch to ‘fight or flight’ mode, releasing a complex combination of hormones and chemicals like adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine to prepare our bodies for physical action. This causes a few reactions, blood is diverted to muscles we may be about to need, and unnecessary bodily functions such as digestion are shut down, no one needs digestion to fight a tiger, right?

The release of these hormones would mean the caveman gained a rush of energy, which prepared him to fight (or run away from) the tiger. That heart-pounding, fast breathing sensation and a boost of energy is the adrenaline - it enables us to focus our attention so we can respond quickly to the situation.

Nowadays, the fight or flight instinct can still help us to survive dangerous situations, but they are more likely to make us react quickly and slam on the brakes to a person running out in front of our car than to help us fight a tiger!

Now the thing about stress, it doesn’t simply wait in the wings until we need it, it is very common for us to feel stress in inappropriate situations. When blood flow is only going to the most important muscles needed to run or fight, brain function is minimised. This leads to the inability to ‘think straight’ - which can hinder us enormously in both our work and home lives. Being in a state of stress for a long time can be detrimental to our health. Having elevated cortisol levels in our bodies for extended periods of time can increase our sugar and blood pressure levels, and decrease libido.

So what happens in ‘fight’ and flight’ modes?

• FIGHT - The most aggressive reaction to stress - you may feel agitated and aggressive towards others, can be a helpful reaction to ward of predators, but in unnecessary situations it can negatively affect relationships and ruin reputations

• FLIGHT - When you try to avoid your stressors, removing yourself from the situation instead of tackling it head on (fight).This can save your life if you find yourself in dangerous surroundings, however in day to day life this can lead to stressful situations escalating - in turn making things even more stressful as the stress builds up and up until you are forced to face it

• FREEZE - Have you heard the phrase “deer in the headlights”? This is the least known mode that stress can cause. For some, becoming stressed sets the stage for ‘dysregulation'. The energy mobilised by the perceived threat gets ‘locked’ into the nervous system and you freeze, like a deer in the headlights! This response sometimes reveals itself when you breathe - holding your breath and/or shallow breathing are forms of freeze, the occasional deep sigh is the nervous system catching up on oxygen intake.

The bridge analogy for stress

Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person believes that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilise.

“Here at The Stress Management Society we use a bridge analogy to approach the topic of stress.

When a bridge is carrying too much weight, it will eventually collapse. It is possible to see the warning signs before this happens, the bridge would bow, buckle and creak.

The same principle can be applied to human beings, with excessive demands and challenges placed on our bridges. There may be early warning signs. However stress can creep up on some of us, resulting in an unexpected breakdown.”

The ‘bridge collapse’ in a person can take many forms:

• Mental and emotional breakdown

• Taking one’s own life

• Serious health conditions such as:

  - Cardiovascular disease (the heart is the first organ in the body to experience stress. The number 1 killer on the planet today is heart disease - it’s no coincidence that as we live under higher and higher levels of stress, heart disease is on the rise also.

  - Stress has a profound impact on how our bodies function, Health experts are yet to officially prove that stress causes cancer, yet there is little doubt that stress makes our bodies more hospitable to cancer

  - Stress can cause a rise in blood pressure - the main cause of haemorrhagic stroke is high blood pressure, which can weaken the arteries in the brain and make them prone to split or rupture

10 step stress solution:

It’s clear that simply choosing to not be stressed is not an option, so what can we do to try and reduce our own stress levels?

1. Prioritise your health - this can be so hard, life is busy and most people have lots to juggle with home and work life, but it’s vital to remember to leave time for yourself

2. Get a good nights sleep - see our previous article on World Sleep Day

3. Practice deep breathing - The following technique can be done anywhere and at almost any time. It is a simple technique with huge benefits.

   1. Sit or stand in a comfortable, relaxed position with your spine erect.

   2. Inhale slowly through your nose to the count of 5. Imagine a ball or balloon in your belly inflating

   3. Hold the breathe in the ball or balloon in your belly for 5-10 seconds.

   4. Count slowly to 8 as you exhale.

   5. Repeat this several times.

   TOP TIP – As you breathe, let your abdomen expand outward, rather than raising your shoulders. This is am ore relaxed, natural way to breathe and helps your lungs fill themselves more fully with fresh air.

4. Stay hydrated - aim to drink 2 litres of water each day

5. Eat for wellbeing - eat a balanced diet with lots of protein, fruits and vegetables

6. Get moving to combat stress - your body is expecting some kind of physical activity when it is feeling stressed. One way to take control of stress is to give your body what is was anticipating - exercise

7. Adopt a positive mindset - being in control of your thoughts increases your ability to find solutions to challenging situations and deal with stress more effectively

8. Master your time - to become more efficient at time management and planning your time, it is important to get better at estimating the amount of time things will take, like exercise, the more you do this, the easier it will get

9. Don’t be a slave to tech - did you know that on average a person checks their phone 150 times a day and receives 364 emails each week? Kind of scary when you think about it.

10. Learn to say no - this will save you taking on too much, trying to cram too many activities into too little time and constantly rushing from one thing to another.

COVID Spring Booster Vaccination Campaign Update

At St Wulfstan Surgery we will be offering our patients the opportunity to have their COVID Spring vaccination with us at the surgery.

The Spring booster is being offered to the following patients:

• people aged 75 years and over

• those in care homes

• those aged 5 years and over with a weakened immune system

It can be given at least 3 months after your last COVID vaccination.

We are currently working on our clinic dates but expect vaccinations to commence within the next 1-2 weeks. Patients will be invited for their vaccination by text message, so please expect to hear from us very soon if you are eligible.

For more details please visit the NHS.net website

We look forward to seeing our eligible patients soon!

Bank Holiday Opening Hours & Happy Easter!

At St Wulfstan Surgery we wish you all a Happy Easter!

We will close for the Bank Holiday weekend at 6 pm on Thursday 6th April and will re-open at 8:30 am on Tuesday 11th April

Service will still be provided by calling 111 or 999 in the case of a medical emergency.

Asda Pharmacy is open from 9 am to 6pm on Friday 7th April and Monday 10th April 2022.  They are closed on Sunday.  You can find them at: Asda store, Chesterton Drive, Leamington Spa, CV31 1YD (01926 459010).

We're Recruiting - Administrative Assistant Wanted

Come and join an INCREDIBLE TEAM!

At St Wulfstan Surgery we are looking for a new Full Time Admin Assistant to join our lovely team.

For more information or to apply please visit our advert on Indeed.

Applications close Friday 7th April

Bowel Cancer Screening Kit Awareness Campaign

The bowel cancer screening kit can save your life!

Just one tiny sample detects signs of cancer before you notice anything wrong.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. Yet the latest data shows that almost one third of people who were sent an NHS bowel cancer screening kit in England last year did not go on to complete it. Early diagnosis is vital, as detecting bowel cancer at the earliest stage makes you up to 9 times more likely to be successfully treated.

Anyone aged between 56 and 74 is eligible for a bowel cancer screening kit, and this is how it works:

1. A home test kit, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT test for short) that will be sent to your address,

2. You collect a small sample of poo on a small plastic stick and put it into the sample bottle and send it back to the lab for testing (there are instructions with the kit)

3. The lab will test the poo sample for tiny amounts of blood.

4. Your test result should be posted to you within 2 weeks of sending off your kit.

Your test results, explained

There are two types of result:

1. No further tests needed
   This result means no blood was found in your poo sample, or only a tiny amount was found. You do not need to do anything at this time and you will be invited to do another screening test in 2 years (if you are still under 75 by then)
   This is not a guarantee that you don’t have bowel cancer, see your GP if you get symptoms, even if you have already done a kit. Around 98 in 100 people do not need further tests.

2. Further tests needed
   This result means blood was found in your poo sample, you do not necessarily have bowel cancer (the blood could be a result of something like piles) but you’ll be offered an appointment to talk about having a test called a colonoscopy to look for the cause of the bleeding. A colonoscopy is where a thin tube with a camera inside is passed into your bottom to look for the signs of bowel cancer.

   Read a leaflet about the colonoscopy test on GOV.UK
   

Blood in your poo can be a sign of polyps or bowel cancer. Polyps are growths in the bowel. They are not cancer, but they may turn into cancer over time.

If the FIT test finds anything unusual, you might be asked to go to the hospital to have further tests to either confirm or rule out cancer.

The main symptoms of bowel cancer are:

• Changes in your poo, such as having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you

• Needing to poo more or less often that usual for you

• Blood in your poo, which may look red or black

• Bleeding from your bottom

• Often feeling like you need to poo, even if you’ve just been to the toilet

• Tummy pain

• Bloating

• Losing weight without trying

• Feeling very tired for no reason

Always see your GP if you have symptoms of bowel cancer at any age, even if you have recently completed an NHS bowel cancer screening test - do not wait to have a screening test.

How do you get a home test kit?

Everyone aged 60-74 years who is registered with a GP and lives in England with automatically get sent a bowel screening kit every 2 years.

The programme is expanding so that everyone aged 50-59 years will be eligible for screening, this has been happening gradually since April 2021, starting with 56 year olds. The programme has also started to include 58 year olds, so you may get a test before you turn 60.

If you’re 75+ you can ask for a kit every 2 years by calling the free bowel cancer screening helpline on

• 0800 707 6060

If you’re sent a kit, put it by the loo. Don’t put if off!

Living Longer Better Conference!

While Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire’s population of older people continues to grow, the COVID-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have and still are making health inequalities worse and increasing pressure on health and social care systems.

Did you know, inactivity costs our health system £1.6billion each year? Simple physical, cognitive and emotional activity can help reduce this problem and increase people’s health span.

Our Integrated Local Care Board (ICB) wants to shake things up and help get people moving later in life, so, together with Think Active and Age UK Coventry & Warwickshire they bring you the ‘Living Longer, Better’ Conference.

This event aims to bring together key partners, stakeholders and audience representatives to commit to improving systems, recommending and prescribing activity and changing our attitudes to ageing.

With high-profile speakers to inspire, inform, and discuss opportunities and challenges for supporting Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire’s ageing population to move more, don’t miss this chance to connect, share and explore conversations with other delegates.

The event will run from 10:00am to 3:30pm (with lunch included) on Wednesday 29th March, at the Radcliffe Conference Centre at the University of Warwick. Keynote speaker Sir Muir Gray, leading expert on healthy, active ageing has already been confirmed! You can book onto the conference here:

Do you know somebody who doesn’t have social media that this might apply to? Let them know about this wonderful service happening this week!