Health & Wellbeing

Last Saturday, 26th February, was a national day of action for the National Health Service, organised under the slogan SOS NHS. In Palmers Green, members of local campaign Defend Enfield NHS (DeNHS) gathered at the Triangle to inform passers-by about the urgent need to provide more money for the NHS and to campaign against changes which will allow private companies, including big US health corporations, to join the boards of the new Integrated Care Systems that will be determining who is eligible for which treatments.

Saturday 26th February is the SOS NHS National Day of Action. Campaigners will be at Palmers Green Triangle between 11am and 1pm telling the public about the various threats to our National Health Service and urging people to sign a petition to the chancellor of the exchequer asking for emergency funding.

Researchers from @UCL_SRM want to hear from people aged 18+ living in London who have had a remote appointment with a GP practice about a mental health concern or a hospital cardiology department about a heart condition.

This Friday is Great Mental Health Day in London. Watch these three short videos to find out more (the third one is the most inspirational!)

North Central London CCG, the body that pays for NHS services in our area, has announced the withdrawal of the extended access to free patient transport services that was set up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic for people who were shielding.

Public health experts are sounding the alarm that the current Health and Care Bill is likely to be the nail in the coffin for our public health service. They are warning that the Bill will pave the way for the English NHS to be replaced by the profit-driven American system, in which private health providers are incentivised to cut and deny care to increase profits.

To find out how people have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions, Healthwatch Enfield are running a short survey. They want to hear from people who have an experience of keeping in touch with friends or relatives on hospital wards over the last few months - whether their experience is good or bad

In this most recent YouTube update, Professor Tim Spector from the Zoe Covid Symptom Study gives a very downbeat assessment of the current status of the pandemic and anti-Covid measures in England. The title he has assigned to this episode - 'Freedom fails as COVID cases surge amidst new variant' - presumably reflects what he thinks, but doesn't say overtly, about the effect of declaring 'Freedom Day' and the subsequent 'complacency' leading to abandonment of masking and social distancing by a significant proportion of the population.

'With winter rapidly approaching and the potential for more social mixing over half-term, it's important Londoners step up their action to prevent catching and spreading Covid.'

Healthwatch Enfield is collaborating with sister organisations in four other north London boroughs to survey people's experiences of Long COVID with the aim of supporting the development of services and systems that will help those with the condition manage their symptoms.