The NHS in Devon is preparing for the start of the holiday season, as the first of many visitors start to arrive for the Easter weekend.
Visitors and local people are being encouraged to make best use of health services, especially as the Easter bank holiday weekend is a four-day break (18 – 21 April 2025).
The message is that urgent and emergency health care will be there for you, but please choose the right service for your needs.
Ahead of the Easter weekend, the advice is to:
Make sure you have ordered and collected any repeat medicines ,
Scientists at the University of Exeter have found a new way of interpreting standard blood tests to help GPs spot cancer warning signs – and the test is now being integrated in an NHS trust.
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (RDUH) is the first Trust to apply a new algorithm to routine blood analysis. It will mean they can detect differences in raised blood platelet levels in a more tailored way, and flag any concerns to GPs to investigate.
When a patient has a blood test at a GP practice, they’re processed through a hospital-based laboratory. In...
Emergency, urgent and critical care will be prioritised by the NHS this week as strike action by junior doctors across England will see major disruption of services, with thousands of patients facing postponements to routine care.
Industrial action by junior doctors part of the BMA and the HCSA began today (Monday 13 March) at all trusts in England for 72 hours – the longest continuous period of strike action in recent months.
During this time, the NHS will prioritise resources to protect emergency and critical care, maternity care and where possible prioritise patients...
Patients across Devon are being reminded that most GP practices will be closed over the festive and New Year period and that if they need medical advice to make use of alternative services such as 111.
Most GP practices will close at the end of the day on Friday 24 December and will re-open again on Wednesday 29 December until Friday 31 December. They will then be closed again from Saturday 1 January until Monday 3 January due the New Year bank holiday.
The NHS in Devon is asking people to do what they can to prevent themselves becoming unwell and to choose the right NHS...
Following the Government’s call to accelerate the Covid-19 booster vaccination programme, Devon’s GP practices have, at very short notice, reallocated much of their workforce to delivering Covid-19 vaccines over the next two weeks.
This means that GP practices will focus on urgent clinical need and vaccines, and some non-urgent appointments may be postponed until the New Year.
The Prime Minister, together with the NHS, has launched an urgent national appeal calling for people to get jabbed. It comes as the UK Chief Medical Officers have increased the UK Covid Alert Level...
During June, NHS doctors from Pinhoe and Broadclyst Medical Practice have opted to leave their cars at home in favour of using Co Bike e-bikes for home visits and travel between practices.
Dr Emily Hay, GP registrar and Dr Harry Edwards, GP, together with eight other doctors from the surgery, are keen to look at alternative, carbon neutral ways to travel. With home visits on the rise and journeys often short, the practical and sustainable solution is to travel by bike.
The GPs therefore approached Co Bikes about conducting a trial with surgery staff. Because the bikes...
NHS organisations across Devon are sharing their resources and expertise to manage the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, prepare for winter and keep essential services running.
As COVID-19 infections rise, health and social care partners are preparing for an increase in patients with the virus at hospitals in coming months.
The most recently published data show 517 confirmed cases in Devon with hospital admissions increasing.
Devon’s four main hospitals* will work closely as a network to manage resources in the most effective way to deliver a range of services...
People in Devon are being reassured they will still get a face-to-face appointment at their local practice if their GP thinks they need one, and that they should only go to hospital A&E departments in an emergency.
With the danger of COVID-19 still very much present in Devon, GP practices have measures in place to protect patients and staff by reducing unnecessary contact and travel. They are reminding local people to follow these simple six steps when contacting their surgery:
If you need to seek advice from your GP practice, contact them online via their
Research is being placed at the heart of GP training in the South West giving four recently qualified GPs and one GP who is still in training the opportunity to offer the Covid-19 research to their patients.
The PRINCIPLE Trial is a nationwide study into Covid-19 which is being delivered in the community. The study aims to enable researchers to rapidly evaluate different treatments of Covid-19 symptoms in older people and hopefully improve outcomes.
Of the 36 number of GP practices that are offering this study to patients, five are being led by GPs who are newly...
On 2nd March GPShunts, the UK’s premiere GPS Interactive Adventure Game is coming to Exeter!
Bring together your line up of super sleuths and put your skills to the test against Time, Terrain & Trivia in this thrilling city-based smartphone challenge. You will not be alone however as we are throwing the competition wide open to all challengers! Your dream team will be competing directly against other rival teams to uncover the clues and score as many points as possible before the timer runs out…
Don your fancy dress, sharpen up your wits and ready your nerves of steel!...
