Working Group Recommendations for Community Health Services include investing to keep St Peter’s Hospital, Maldon operational for five years while funding is assembled for a purpose-built new facility, ideally on the current site. This will maintain all existing outpatient, investigative and therapy services. The NHS cannot efficiently operate Inpatient Care in Maldon due to low utilisation. Stroke and Birthing Services will be consolidated as near as possible. Decisions will be made in the coming months.
Winter illnesses have peaked. In week 16:
- influenza (flu) activity decreased across most indicators and was at low activity levels
- COVID-19 activity showed a mixed picture across indicators and was circulating at baseline levels
- respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity showed a mixed picture across indicators and was circulating at baseline levels.
Norovirus activity remains high but has stabilised in the recent weeks. The total norovirus laboratory reports between weeks 10-13 of 2025 was more than double (149.3%) the 5-season average for the same period. There are still many new local cases each week. You can catch Norovirus twice. If you have Norovirus
- Stay home; don’t return to work or school until two days after the vomiting and diarrhoea have stopped
- Drink plenty
- Wash hands regularly with soap and water; disinfectants and alcohol hand-gels don’t work well against the virus
- If you’re concerned – eg if a child can’t keep fluids down or the illness doesn’t stop after a few days – seek medical advice.
Integrated Care Systems have to reduce budgets by 50% and will be rearranged to cover larger areas and populations. Mid & South Essex ICB will have to lose many staff to achieve this and must do so by October. It’s likely ‘our’ ICB will cover at least Greater Essex. This is part of the plan to improve NHS efficiency. Local community operations undertaken by Primary Care Networks and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, which are improving GP performances, seem to be unaffected.
The English GPs ‘strike’ has been settled.
English Community pharmacies are considering starting to work to rule unless a new NHS contract is agreed.
Spring Covid-19 vaccinations continue to be available from GPs, the NHS national booking system https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/vaccination-and-booking-services/book-covid-19-vaccination/ and local pharmacies.
A new UKHSA campaign has launched to keep antibiotics working and tackle antibiotic resistance.
- Don’t take antibiotics for colds and flu, which they don’t work for, and this remains one of the biggest misconceptions about taking antibiotics
- only take antibiotics when you have been prescribed them and taking them as directed by a healthcare professional
- don’t save antibiotics for future use.
World Health Organization Members have agreed a legally binding treaty designed to avoid the disorganisation and competition for resources seen during the Covid-19 outbreak.
A scheme to help GPs provide care and advice to patients without them joining long NHS hospital waiting lists is being expanded. English. GPs will work closely with specialists to access expert advice for patients with conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, menopause symptoms and ear infections. Lots more is happening which can’t be included here for lack of space. More Public Health news is on our website and in weekly e-newsletters. SWF Library provides online services and help with internet access.
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