PNA report shows East Sussex’s pharmaceutical needs are satisfactory

Essential pharmaceutical services in each local authority across East Sussex are satisfactory, according to the latest Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) report.

The report, which did not identify gaps in essential pharmacy services in the county, was conducted using detailed travel time analyses and local surveys of pharmacy providers and dispensaries.

The report informs NHS England’s decisions about opening new pharmacies and commissioning of pharmaceutical services, including the development and improvement of pharmaceutical services in East Sussex.

The PNA report was approved by East Sussex County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board on 29 September.

A number of recommendations were made by the Board following the approval of the PNA report, including:

Improving choice in the evenings and weekends could be achieved by commissioning an extended hours service from existing providers, particularly in Lewes, Rother and Wealden council areas
Better access to necessary services in evenings and at weekends could also be enabled by improvements in public transport in rural East Sussex
Current plans for housing developments in the county would not require a new pharmacy

Trends in the number of pharmacies have shown a gradual reduction at national and regional level since the last report in 2017.

The public consultation indicated that the purpose of the PNA report is well understood and is sufficient in informing the NHS about market entry decisions and commissioning future services.

Listen to the latest NHS Sussex News podcasts

A series of podcasts by NHS Sussex are available by searching for ‘NHS Sussex News’ and freely subscribing or following it so you never miss the latest episode.

The NHS Sussex News podcast is available on all major podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Deezer. You can also hear the latest episode on your Alexa smart-speaker by saying: “Alexa, enable NHS Sussex News” and then in the future “Alexa, play NHS Sussex News”.

Recent podcasts include an interview with Bert Williams MBE who is President and co-founder of Brighton & Hove Black History Month.

Bert celebrates the contribution of ethnically diverse communities to our society – including within health and care services – as NHS Sussex celebrated and supported Black History Month in October.

There is also a chat with Sussex GP Ragu Rajan who explains about some of the things we can all do to help reduce the pressure on the NHS this winter, including using the 111 service or seeing your local pharmacist for advice and guidance.

Even more reasons to love your local library

We all know about libraries, but how well do you really know your local library?

East Sussex County Council has 17 libraries in East Sussex. You might think of a calm, warm and relaxing environment packed with fascinating, educational, and inspiring books – and you’d be right – but there’s so much more going on behind those doors.

Did you know the library can help you meet new people, or that it supports adults learning to read or who’d like to grow their IT skills, or that the library can even come to you? All for free! Of course, you can always still pop in and just relax, soak up the atmosphere or meet a friend.

Here’s some of the brilliant things on offer from local libraries across East Sussex.

Continue reading →

Improving health and care services for LGBTQ+ people in East Sussex

One of our top priorities in East Sussex is to reduce health inequalities, and to help people stay healthy and well for as long as possible. To help us do this we need to understand the health needs and experiences of different groups of people within our community.

Over the last year East Sussex County Council has been working closely with a range of partners to understand local lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer + (LGBTQ+) people’s experiences of health, accessing services, and how COVID-19 has impacted them. Continue reading →

How are you feeling?

Have you taken a moment recently to stop and check in on how you’re feeling? In the distraction of daily life, it can be easy to miss some of the signs our minds and bodies give us to slow down and take care of ourselves, or when things aren’t quite right.

Sometimes at mild levels the symptoms of anxiety and depression can be hard to spot, do any of these sound familiar?

You find it hard to stop worrying
You feel nervous, on edge or more irritable
You’ve been feeling down or hopeless
You’ve lost interest or pleasure in doing things

You might notice some physical symptoms too. These can be things like not enough or very light sleep, feeling hot, sweating, or feeling on edge.

If these sound like you, it might be time to seek some help. Tackling issues at an earlier stage means quicker access to treatment and can help stop things from getting worse. Continue reading →

Easier access to telephone GP appointments for d/Deaf people

Deaf people across East Sussex are set to benefit from a new Video Relay Service (VRS), which has gone live in all GP practices and offers telephone consultations to British Sign Language (BSL) users.

The new, improved service will see GP practices being able to offer the consultations with support from Signlive, a free to download App that connects the caller to a fully qualified interpreter before connecting to the recipient. Continue reading →

Evening and weekend GP appointments

Did you know that weekend, evening and bank holiday appointments with a GP, practice nurse or other health professional are available across East Sussex?

In addition to the previously available appointments, you can book in to be seen from 6:30pm to 8pm on weekdays with appointments also available on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. Continue reading →