News and reports

The NHS offers support for people on low incomes to help with care costs. Healthwatch look at how easy it is to access this help and how it can be improved.

Following a ballot of its members, the British Medical Association confirmed that a period of GP collective action would start on the 1st August 2024. Collective action is not the same as industrial action but means that some GPs may stop or reduce certain work.

The NHS is asking the public to continue to come forward as usual for care.

This Blood Cancer Awareness Month, Blood Cancer UK are launching a landmark new report- Taking blood cancer out of the shadows: A plan to increase survival in the UK, that exposes how blood cancer survival in the UK is being overshadowed by other countries.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month aims to generate awareness and support for children suffering from cancer.
It happens every September across the world. Childhood Cancer Awareness Month started in 1990, and 2024 marks its 34th anniversary.

This year, the theme of Know Your Numbers Week is ‘You Have the Power.’ It is so important to 'Know Your Numbers' as nearly four million adults could be living with undiagnosed high blood pressure. High blood pressure has no obvious signs or symptoms. The only way to find out if you have the condition is to have a blood pressure check. Untreated high blood pressure is the major risk factor for strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. It is also a major risk factor for kidney disease and dementia.

Local mental health organisation, Mind Halton has sadly announced its closure. The charity is unable to accept any new referrals and the office closed on Friday 30 August.

The latest report from Healthwatch unpacks people's experiences of using Community Diagnostic Centres across England and lessons for expanding community-based care.

The NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside has started vaccinating people against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), for the first time in its history.

A new survey (YouGov) from leading gynaecological cancer charity, The Eve Appeal, for Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month shows that that only 4 in every 100 women regularly (at least once a month) check their vulva for symptoms of vulval cancer - compared to 37 in every 100 who have regularly (at least once a month) checked their breasts. 79% of women had never checked their vulva for changes or signs of cancer, and amongst those who have heard of vulval cancer before, almost half (48%) have never checked.

Vision problems often go undiagnosed. But many children won’t tell you something is wrong because they don’t know they have a problem. They don’t have anything to compare it to, they think everybody sees like they do.

Halton libraries are now consulting on the library service opening hours to provide a more consistent offer across the library sites. Information, along with data on local needs, will be used as the basis for a review by the council.

The latest report from Healthwatch unpacks people's experiences of using Community Diagnostic Centres across England and lessons for expanding community-based care.