There is a national campaign on the weekend of 22-23 November, where vaccination teams across the country - including here in west Suffolk - will be offering additional appointments. These are designed for people who might find it difficult to attend during the week. If you work full time or irregular shift patterns, I strongly encourage you to take up this opportunity. Our team will be offering additional clinics on Saturday, 22 November, and you can book your appointment by simply searching ‘NHS vaccination and booking services’ online.
Getting your jab also reduces the chance of you needing to come into hospital over the period of resident doctor strike action, which is taking place from 7am on Friday, 14 November, until 7am on Wednesday, 19 November. As we’ve always done, detailed planning has been completed to make sure we’re ready for the strikes so that we’re still providing the majority of appointments and procedures, while maintaining safe care.
If you haven’t heard from us in the lead-up to these strike days, please attend as planned. Don’t assume everything is being cancelled – missed appointments or procedures mean you wait longer and they disrupt the careful planning we’ve undertaken. If you can no longer make your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so someone else has the opportunity to start their treatment sooner.
During these strike days there are a few simple, but significant, things you can do to help us maintain safe care. If you have a minor illness or injury, such as a winter virus or a small cut, please contact your GP, call NHS 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk, or visit your pharmacist who can help with a wide range of treatments. Using these alternatives will reduce the number of patients in our A&E and means we can quickly treat those who need us the most.
On a lighter note, I am pleased to say we are developing our plans to expand the Newmarket Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) at the Newmarket Community Hospital. This will provide endoscopy and paediatric audiology services, as well as additional clinical education space for our staff. While not just a larger building than the existing CDC, this is a significant expansion of the services provided on this site, which means we can cut waiting times, offer more convenience, and it’s another way we are tackling health inequalities in this part of Suffolk.
We’re currently engaging on the proposed designs of the CDC expansion, and we want your views. An engagement event was held on Thursday, 6 November at the Newmarket Community Hospital, but if you couldn’t make it, please head to the newsroom on our website where you can find the detailed plans and a survey where you can give your thoughts on the designs. They survey closes on Thursday, 20 November 2025.
I’ll share more updates on this exciting project over the coming months. The existing CDC has helped us provide the diagnostic scans our patients and parents-to-be need - all in a modern, high quality facility using top-of-the-range equipment. It will have a hugely positive effect on our communities once completed.
Chief executive