Public Health Information

St Mary’s Secret Garden is taking part in the City and Hackney Public Health Community Champions Programme. Find out more about the programme on the Hackney Volunteer Centre website: https://www.vchackney.org/phcc/

Flu and Covid vaccinations

The Covid-19 autumn booster is now available to people at high risk of serious disease and those most likely to benefit from vaccination. This includes:

residents in a care home for older adults
all adults aged 65 years and over
persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group
household contacts of those with a reduced immune system
frontline health and social care workers.

The NHS is contacting eligible people to come forward for their vaccines, and the national booking service is open to book Covid-19 vaccines. You can also book by calling 119.

The flu vaccine is also available to those eligible for the Covid-19 booster from GP surgeries and pharmacies that offer the vaccine. Find out more about who can get the vaccines and where to get them locally.

Translation Materials: A Turkish translation of the Covid-19 and Flu vaccine information leaflet is available here.

If you are invited to have a vaccination, please make sure you take up the offer and book your vaccination as soon as possible.

Coronavirus Testing
Covid-19 numbers are again on the rise, with new variants developing. If you have symptoms of Coronavirus or come into contact with someone else with Coronavirus take a test.

The most common symptoms of Coronavirus (Covid-19) can include:

a high temperature or shivering (chills) – a high temperature means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste
shortness of breath
feeling tired or exhausted
an aching body
a headache
a sore throat
a blocked or runny nose
loss of appetite
diarrhea

A small number of people are still eligible for free tests: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/covid-19-services/testing-for-covid-19/who-can-get-a-free-nhs-covid-19-rapid-lateral-flow-test/

Healthy Start Funding

The Healthy Start scheme gives families a pre-loaded debit card topped up with £4.25 per week for every child under the age of four and from week 10 of pregnancy. It’s open to families receiving Universal Credit and with a take-home pay of less than £408 a month, those receiving Child Tax Credit with an annual family income of £16,190 or less and anyone under 18 who is pregnant.

This amounts to more than £1,000 per child in total.

To apply for Healthy Start vouchers, head to the NHS Healthy Start website with your National Insurance number, benefit award letter, name, address and date of birth. If you’re pregnant, you’ll need to know your baby’s due date.

The scheme also offers free vitamins for mothers through pregnancy and breastfeeding and vitamin drops for babies and young children.

Barts Health NHS Trust is offering FREE dental care in partnership with Queen Mary University of London to train undergraduate and postgraduate dental students, dental hygienists and therapists under supervision of clinical tutors. Appointments will be approximately 2 hours to allow for student training.
You will likely require several appointments to complete your care.

Services Available:
Fillings
Tooth Extractions
Deep Cleaning
Dentures
Crowns or Caps
Root Canal Treatments

For more information and registration forms, click here: https://www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/student-dental-clinics.
If you are a City or Hackney resident you can find support via the Hackney Council website: https://find-support-services.hackney.gov.uk/