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The new community testing centre is located at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) – the site where Gloucestershire piloted its first rapid testing facility using LFDs, at the end of last year. RAU will be one of two centres in the county set up to help prevent people unknowingly spreading the virus.

LFDs are designed for people not showing any symptoms (asymptomatic). The LFD test, which should be taken twice a week, only takes a few minutes and results are known within 30 mins, which means anyone who tests positive, can take action quickly to help protect others. For more information on LFD testing visit the county council’s dedicated page here.

The county’s first neighbourhood testing facility opened in January at the Friendship Café in Gloucester. Plans for a third community testing site to open in March in the Forest of Dean are in progress and details, including the new location, will be published shortly.

The centre at the RAU will operate 8.00am – 6.00pm Tuesday to Friday and 10.00am – 4.00pm Saturday, closed on Sunday and Monday. You must book an appointment – you will not be tested if you turn up without one.  

People who display one or more of the main three symptoms of Covid:

• a high temperature,
• a new and continuous cough or 
• loss or change in sense of taste and smell

should continue to isolate immediately and book a test at Hempsted Meadows PCR testing facility, the new walk in site in Cheltenham, or at one of the county’s mobile units, using the national testing portal.

Local people and staff in the top four priority groups have now been offered a vaccination and over 160,000 people have received their first dose so far.

The top priority groups include:

• the over 70s,
• residents in older people’s care homes,
• the clinically extremely vulnerable (very high risk patients) and
• frontline health and care workers.

Whilst GP led services in the county are carrying out the bulk of community vaccinations at pace, and surgeries are already contacting the over 65s and people with underlying health conditions, additional community vaccination services have also been established in recent weeks.

Residents in the over 65s group can choose to use the national booking website or phone 119 to book an appointment at one of two pharmacy locations in the county – Boots in Gloucester and Badham's Pharmacy in Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham.

Unpaid carers are now included in the Category 6 priority group for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

Category 6 includes those who are in receipt of a carer's allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill.

Those who fall within this category should notify their GP practice and ask to be added to its carer register.

Gloucestershire Carers Hub can help carers provide evidence of their caring status if required. 

Email carers@peopleplus.co.uk or call 0300 111 9000 if you need more information.

The NHS England and NHS Improvement Learning Disability and Autism Programme is inviting family carers to take part in a workshop. Attending the workshop will help you to be able to identify when the person you care for is becoming more unwell (deteriorating health) and how to tell a health professional about that. The workshop is free and only for parents with children over the age of 16.

RESTORE2™ mini is an award winning tool specifically designed for carers to help you to identify soft signs that someone you care for may be unwell and what you should do next. This version of Restore2min™ has been specially adapted for people caring for those with a learning disability.

We are inviting family carers to take part in this important one off 90 minute training session which will help you to identify soft signs of deterioration and then seek the right help at the right time.

What you’ll learn

• how to identify soft signs of deterioration
• how to use a simple communication tool (SBARD) to communicate effectively with health care professionals so you can get the help you need at the right time

How long is the training? The training takes about 90 minutes

When is the training? We are offering the training every working day from Tuesday 23rd February to Friday 31^st March 2021 at different times in the day. There are over 30 sessions for you to choose from. The link below will direct you to the NHS England and NHS Improvement events page where you will be able to select your preferred day and time. There are limited places for each training slot, so please register early to make sure you get the date and time you want. 

You can register here.

The Government has published a new White Paper that sets out proposals for once in a generation reforms to the Mental Health Act. 

These reforms are designed to empower individuals to have more control over their treatment and take action to address the disproportionate detention of people from Black and minority ethnic groups. 

This legislation represents important progress towards the Government’s commitment to introduce the biggest changes to the Mental Health Act for 40 years, and helping to end the stigma of mental illness once and for all.

Alongside the publication of the White Paper, the Government has launched a formal consultation which will run until 21 April 2021; they want to hear your responses to the proposed changes to the Mental Health Act, both on the broad approach and the details.

• Read the Mental Health White Paper
• Have your say in the consultation

Lydney Dial a Ride

Lydney Dial-a-Ride is still operating for essential journeys and that will include those attending their vaccination appointments.

Due to the pandemic it is a reduced service that we offer and spaces are limited. However we do have a small team of dedicated drivers, along with our fleet of wheelchair accessible minibuses and we are operating from 9m until 4pm Monday to Friday.

All passengers have to join as members to our organisation but the information can be taken over the telephone and will only take a few minutes. It is a door to door service that we offer and all of our drivers have undertaken training as well as being fully DBS checked. If you do know of someone who could use our service, please contact us on 01594 843809.

Gloucestershire Hospitals has launched a new ‘Virtual’ Patient Advice and Liaison Service. The new service enables patients, relatives and visitors the opportunity to have virtual face-to-face confidential meetings with an experienced PALS advisor using the Attend Anywhere platform. The service aims to support patients, relatives and colleagues by listening, discussing their experiences and helping to resolve concerns.

The PALS team is available from 8.30am to 4.30pm on weekdays and offers people a range of ways to contact them, including telephone, email and letter, as well as the new video calling service. The team can help support patients and relatives by answering health-related questions, providing impartial information on a range of issues relating to hospital services, listening to suggestions for service improvements, offering advice about the NHS and related support groups and explaining the Trust complaints procedure.

If someone chooses to speak to a member of the team via video call, they complete the feedback form on the PALS section of the website, providing details of what they wish to discuss. The team will then contact them to schedule an appointment. Once this is set up, patients simply enter the virtual ‘waiting rooms’ on their smartphone, tablet or PC. The system is free and secure and it is easy to access the video call clinics by clicking here.

Should you require any further information on the new service, contact here.