From managing the rise in the cost of living to juggling relationships, stress caused by modern life can have a negative impact on our health and wellbeing.

That’s why we’re encouraging you to look after yourself and manage your worries in a healthy way during Stress Awareness Month this April.

While there’s no single definition of stress, the most common causes are physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension – which can have a harmful impact on physical and mental health in the long term.

Our Every Mind Matters webpage gives you some simple steps to helping you manage those forms of stress, including:

• Connect with others: spend quality time with friends or family
• Live a healthy life: being active, enjoying the outdoors and having a balanced diet can all help to boost our mood
• Do something for yourself: find the time to do enjoyable activities for ourselves
• Get support: talk about your worries with family, friends or NHS recommended services such as Health in Mind

Learn more about the extra help you can receive with your mental health and wellbeing, including how to self refer to therapy and online treatment programmes.

Did you know that around 1 in 100 people in the UK are diagnosed with Autism? Did you also know there are many services in East Sussex that help to make our county friendlier to people who are on the autistic spectrum?

One of those services is Spectrum, which helps young people with autism to access clubs and leisure activities.

World Autism Acceptance Week, which finishes on 2 April, raises awareness of Autism, which can make it difficult for people in these areas:

• Social communication.
• Social interaction, including reading emotions and facial expressions
• Social imagination

East Sussex Local Offer gives more information on autism. If you think you, or someone you know, has autism you can find out how to get diagnosed on the NHS website

Two campaigns will run during March that give you advice and guidance on lessening the risk of strokes and bowel cancer.

The first campaign reminds residents how to spot the signs of a stroke and the need to take action quickly with the relaunch of the Act F.A.S.T. stroke campaign.

The Act F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) acronym provides a way of identifying the most common signs of a stroke.

• Face: has the person’s face fallen on one side? Can they smile?
• Arms: can they raise both arms and keep them there?
• Speech: is their speech slurred?
• Time: even if you’re not sure call 999

The campaign urges people to call 999 immediately if they notice any single one of the signs of a stroke in themselves, a loved one, a friend or a stranger.

The primary audience for the campaign is the 50+ age group as they are more likely to experience a stroke, but it also gives advice on how to identify if somebody you know is showing one of the stroke signs.

Other signs to be aware of are:

• Sudden loss of vision or blurred vision in one or both eyes
• Sudden weakness or numbness on one side of the body
• Sudden memory loss or confusion
• Sudden dizziness, unsteadiness or a sudden fall, especially with any of the other signs

The campaign was relaunched on 13 February by NHS England, in association with the Stroke Association.

Bowel Cancer campaign

The second campaign encourages residents to complete and return the NHS bowel cancer screening home test kit – especially those from lower socio-economic and ethnic minority groups who are less likely to complete the test.

NHS England’s ‘Bowel Cancer Screening’ campaign aims to raise awareness of the testing kit’s ability to detect signs of cancer while also addressing the main barriers preventing people from completing the test.

The campaign is targeting people aged 56 to 74 to align with the age of eligibility for being sent a home test kit.

Early diagnosis is vital, as detecting bowel cancer at the earliest stage makes you up to nine times more likely to be successfully treated.

The campaign runs until 31 March 2023 and is supported by Cancer Research UK.

Plans to increase access to primary care services, reduce waiting lists and improve 999 response times have been set out in NHS Sussex’s latest five-year strategy.

The ‘Improving Lives Together’ strategy sets out the operational and strategic priorities for improving health and care services in Sussex.

The operational priorities are:

• Increasing access to and reducing variability in primary care services
• Improving response times to 999 calls and reducing A&E waiting times
• Reducing diagnostic and planned operation or procedure care waiting lists
• Accelerating patient flow through the system and discharge from hospitals

Improving Lives Together

The strategy was launched as increasing pressure is being placed on the service from a growing and ageing population, the need to reduce the waiting lists for planned operations and procedures, and staff shortages.

Longer term, the strategy will focus on:

• Building integrated community teams and local partnerships across Brighton & Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex to allow services and organisations to work in a joined-up way to better meet the needs of each local community
• Growing and supporting Sussex’s health and care workforce – to attract more people to work in health and care, as well as supporting and developing the skills or careers of our existing staff
• Improving the use of digital technology and information – to help join up our services and enable people to access advice or care more easily

Cost of living concerns are affecting us all, and so the County Council is asking for your support in helping us create simpler ways for you to access advice about managing money.

By completing a short survey, you will help the County Council and NHS Sussex make sure the welfare benefits and debt advice services meet your needs.

The survey asks people in East Sussex about how much they know about the financial help that’s available.

Complete the survey by 17 March to enter a prize draw to win a £50 Love2Shop voucher. You don’t need to have previously accessed welfare benefits or debt advice to participate.

If you are having money worries, our Cost of Living Support webpage gives you advice and guidance on a range of topics to help ease your financial concerns.

Accessing diagnostic tests has become a little easier for patients in East Sussex with the opening of a one-stop Community Diagnostic Centre in Bexhill.

The state-of-the-art centre will be open five days a week and offer a range of diagnostic and outpatient treatments that would normally be carried out in hospital.

Diagnostics services include x-rays, echo-electrocardiogram (ECGs), ultrasound, lung function and phlebotomy, as well as MRI and CT scans on a rotating basis.

Outpatient care at the centre will include ECGs, fitting of wearable blood pressure monitors and consultant appointments.

The centre will help reduce waiting times, which is a key priority in NHS Sussex’s latest ‘Improving Lives Together’ strategy that sets out its health and care ambitions for the next five years.

Art in its many forms – from TV to opera – has a way of uplifting all of us, and it’s because of this the County Council is developing a plan to use creativity to promote health and wellbeing in East Sussex.

The three-year strategic plan aims to improve quality of life and healthy-life expectancy for East Sussex residents.

The goal is to use art and creativity to reduce people’s loneliness and social isolation while developing their skills and social cohesion.

The plan to support health and wellbeing through arts and creativity will be for everybody, whether you think you’re creative or not.

A meeting to kick-start the ‘Creating Healthier Lives – Arts in Public Health’ plan was held at the Towner, Eastbourne on 17 February. The event is one of a series of activities to seek feedback for the plan.

The meeting was led by the East Sussex Public Health team, Nick Ewbank Associates, Towner Eastbourne and Coastal Creative Consulting.

A programme to speed up hospital discharge times will be trialled in the county as health and care partners across Sussex work together to free up beds and ease pressures on the service.

A new data tool to help services manage performance, give operational oversight and manage demand will be trialled by Sussex Health and Care Integrated Care System.

Sussex is one of six national areas to join the ‘Discharge Frontrunner’ programme, which will look at long-term solutions to discharging patients from hospital in a safe and timely way while still providing patients with continuity of care.

Up to £200 million of funding is being made available country-wide to buy short-term care placements. This will allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the community where they will receive the care they need to recover before returning to their homes.

You can learn more about what steps are being taken to speed up hospital discharge, and avoid admissions in the first place.

We’ll keep you updated on the trials in future newsletters, so make sure you read your copy each month.

The cold snap may have passed us – for the moment – but February’s wintry weather means you should still be thinking of how to safeguard your own health and wellbeing.

Keeping warm over the winter can help prevent colds, flu and more serious health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia and depression.

Firstly, if you are eligible NHS Sussex is urging you to get the flu vaccine.

You are also asked to treat winter and seasonal viruses in the warmth and comfort of your own homes and try to avoid visiting hospitals or vulnerable relatives if However, we appreciate that keeping your home warm is getting harder, so for help and advice on staying warm this winter visit our Cost of Living page.

And please look out for friends and family who may be vulnerable to the cold, ensure they have access to warm food and drinks, can heat their homes adequately and have any prescription medicines they need.

Tips for staying well during low temperatures include:

• Don’t delay treating minor winter ailments like colds or sore throats. People can visit their local pharmacist for advice and treatment.
• Try to maintain indoor temperatures to at least 18°C, particularly if you’re not mobile, have a long-term illness or are 65 or over.
• Wear shoes with good grip when outside to avoid slips and falls on slippery or icy surfaces.

And don’t forget, you can sign up for free Cold Alerts to make sure you’re prepared for any cold snaps during February.

The essential message to take action and book a cervical screening was given out throughout January as part of Cervical Cancer Awareness month.

The NHS is urging anyone eligible for cervical screening to book a potentially life-saving appointment at their local clinic.

Around 2,700 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in England each year, but the NHS screening programme helps save around 5,000 lives each year.

The health service wants to eradicate the cancer through a combination of vaccination and early identification.

Screening checks are made to detect high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), which is found in more than 99% of all cervical cancers and which may cause abnormal cells to develop in the cervix. These abnormal cells can, over time, turn into cancer if left untreated.