Unpaid carers invited for vaccination Unpaid carers are now being invited to receive their first COVID-19 vaccination, providing they: Are eligible for a carer’s allowance Are identified as a primary carer by their GP Are receiving support following a carer’s assessment by their local council or from a local carer’s organisation Are the sole or primary carer who provides close personal care or face to face support for an elderly or disabled person who is clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 Carers will be contacted in phases, starting with those carers already known to health and social care services. All eligible unpaid carers will be contacted by the NHS when it’s their turn to receive the vaccine and will be given information about how they should book their appointment. This will either be at a vaccination site in their local community supported by their GP practice, or at a large vaccination centre.   In some cases where caring responsibilities are shared, an additional person can be classed as a primary carer and receive a vaccination.   Every possible effort will be made to vaccinate eligible carers at the same time as the people they care for, such as when they accompany them for a vaccination.   If you are an unpaid carer and you are unsure if you are eligible, contact your local council or local carers organisation and they will advise you if you are able to receive your COVID-19 vaccine.   Vaccines are the way out of this pandemic. By getting vaccinated unpaid carers can help protect themselves from becoming seriously ill from COVID-19, so they can continue to be there for their family, friends, and the people they care for.   For more information visit www.nhs.uk/covidvaccine. Government guidance on how unpaid carers in England, who care for a person vulnerable to COVID-19, can get vaccinated can be found here: Coronavirus » COVID-19 standard operating procedure – COVID-19 vaccine deployment programme: unpaid carers (JCVI priority cohort 6) (england.nhs.uk)

Type 2 Diabetes. Are you at risk?
National Diabetes Prevention Week (16 to the 22 April 2018)

Somerset GP Practices, hospitals and community health services have teamed up with Diabetes UK to help encourage the public to find out if they could at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Take the Type 2 diabetes risk survey?

By completing Diabetes UK’s new five-minute online Diabetes Risk Survey (https://riskscore.diabetes.org.uk/start) local people could be taking the first steps to preventing what is rapidly becoming a major cause of preventable sight loss, kidney failure, heart attack and stroke.

Those most at risk may already have a family history of the disease; they may be overweight, or have a poor diet (high in sugar, fat and salt) and take little or no physical exercise.

What next?

If you complete the survey and believe you are at risk, then talk to your GP Practice Nurse about what advice and support is available. Somerset is pilot area for testing new smartphone technology which can help people reduce their risk by helping them to make changes to their diet and lifestyle. You may be eligible to be part of the pilot scheme.

What is the impact of Type 2 diabetes on Somerset?

In Somerset there are already over 30,000 people are living with the disease of which 90% will be living with Type 2 diabetes. Those at risk may have no obvious signs that they have the condition but public health experts already estimated there could be as many as 10,000 people in Somerset who are undiagnosed.

Last year Somerset Clinical Commission Group spent over £8 million on prescription medicines for people with diabetes and a further £6 million on hospital treatments.
The cost accounts for some 10% of Somerset CCG’s £724 million annual budget.

Each year, between 2,000 and 2,500 people are newly diagnosed with diabetes.

If people take no action to reduce their risk of developing Type II Diabetes is estimated that 53,000 people in Somerset could have the disease by 2030.

If you want to know more about Type 2 diabetes and how to reduce your risk of the condition you can also visit the Diabetes UK website at: www.diabetes.org.uk.