Shingles vaccination
The practice is participating in the national shingles immunisation programme. 90% of all adults in the UK have had chickenpox. After chickenpox, the virus stays inside your body and can recur as shingles later in life. Even those people who had a mild case of chickenpox as a child, or didn't have any obvious symptoms may still be at risk of developing shingles. Although not everyone develops shingles as we get older our immune system weakens which increases the risk of getting shingles. Unfortunately shingles in older people tends to be more severe than in younger people. This is why the Department of Health has introduced a recommendation that shingles vaccine should be offered to people aged 70 years. They have also introduced a catch-up programme which initially targets people aged 79 years of age. You can find more details about the national programme if you click here . The practice is writing to people who were 70 or 79 on the 1st September to invite them to ring and mak