Summervale Surgery will be holding its first flu clinic on Saturday 26th September. If you would like to book in for this please call our reception team on tel: 01460 52354.l85054.sms@nhs.net

Summervale Surgery's Dispensary and waiting room doors reopened on Monday 17 August. Please ensure a face mask is worn at all times when in the building and social distancing is adhered to. The Dispensary will be operating a one in one out policy.

Is your child starting primary school in September? NHS calls on South West parents to check children’s vaccinations are up to date.

As schools reopen in September, parents and carers are being urged to check their children have had all their pre-school vaccinations to protect them from serious diseases and help prevent outbreaks. While the majority of parents in the South West do ensure their child is fully vaccinated, some children starting school are either missing key doses or have not been vaccinated at all. 

Early childhood vaccinations are vitally important as they help to build immunity, protecting against a host of serious diseases such as some strains of meningitis, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough.

Successful vaccination programmes have helped to make such diseases much rarer, but they are still in circulation and if vaccination levels fall, the likelihood of an outbreak is increased.

Achieving at least 90% coverage in the local population is the minimum target to prevent infections spreading. Vaccine uptake in the South West is generally high but levels of the pre-school dose fall slightly short at 89.4% equating to approximately one in eleven children missing out on the vital booster to protect against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio.

It is particularly important that a child is up to date with their vaccinations before they start school, as this is when they come into contact with many more potential sources of infection.  

GP Surgeries and clinics have introduced a range of safety measures and have come up with some innovative ways to protect those attending appointments and all scheduled vaccinations should go ahead as normal.