Category: Health

Patients in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are invited to share their recent experiences of healthcare provided by local GP practices in a survey that launched on 22 January.

Most of us will spend the majority of our lives enjoying great health and happiness. Nonetheless, it is also prudent to plan for unknown or unexpected circumstances.

Defibrillators are devices that carry an electrical charge which can be used safely to correct potentially fatal heart rhythms. We see easily portable ones around our communities these days for example in old Telephone Boxes. They are checked and kept ready charged, often by appointees from our parish councils. Most potentially fatal heart rhythms are caused by Coronary Thromboses often called Heart attacks. To use Defibrillators successfully a knowledge of Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation [CPR] is essential.

Not long ago I was sitting outside a café with my wife enjoying a coffee. Nearby was a young mum with her little boy, who was about four or five years old. He was playing a game of rushing up to his mother with a menu and asking her what she’d like to order. She’d examine the menu, pick something, and the boy would run to the building next door, pause and then run back and hand mum the pretend item. Then the whole cycle would start again. The child was totally engrossed in his game and, to her credit, his mother joined in patiently.

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a joyous Christmas and you’re feeling refreshed.

Juliet Burgess-Ray, from East Midlands Army Responders, gave a very helpful, hands-on defibrillator training session in Church Langton on 9 October. Local residents attended and were shown how to access the defibrillator, what equipment is inside and how to use it. The session also included using a dummy to practice CPR. All agreed it was a very useful two hours and should be offered more widely. Especially as it is applicable for all types of defibrillator.

Children and young people aged 11 to 25 living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, are being encouraged to have a say on their experience of health services. As the local NHS launches its biggest ever engagement with young people.

’New year, new me.' We hear this a lot but is it really true? Why wait until the New Year to start a fitness routine? Why do people get more motivated to invest in their health and fitness just because it’s January -- the truth -- they don’t!

The word fact has links with manufacture, factory and artefact – things that are made by people. There are many aspects to this idea. The most obvious is that facts change as new discoveries are made: look in an old science book to see how many facts are now out of date. I have an old and treasured copy of ‘The Observer’s Book of Astronomy’, written and signed by Patrick Moore, which confidently asserts that Jupiter has 12 moons. As of writing, 95 moons have been discovered – a fact that may well soon become obsolete.

The nights draw in, the cold weather nips at our noses, and the twinkling lights of Christmas sparkle into the darkness. It is winter, and it is beautiful.