Have your flu jab! I do - and your NHS needs you to get this protection: if you are entitled to the free flu jab then please get it!

I need the flu jab because I had my spleen kicked to bits in a racing fall at Stratford 10 years ago - I liked the horse so much that I tried to catch it as it fell on top of me at the second last fence at Stratford races; the combination of the fall and the horse landing on me crushed my left side, broke over ten ribs, displaced some vertebrae, gave me a pneumothorax (Rib through the lung) and perforated my spleen; this damaged and perforated spleen was then taken out by a great surgeon called Mr. Mike Stellakis, at Warwick General Hospital, leaving me with a scar down my tummy, and the loss of a key element of the body's protective system. As a result I am immuno compromised. Without the operation I would have died. I did keep racing as a jockey, after a long recovery, and even raced again at Stratford, but I owe a massive debt to the NHS.

The loss of my spleen puts me in a group that includes pensioners, the pregnant, and other at risk groups who need the flu jab. It is a scandal that some people who are entitled to a free flu jab are failing to take up the jab, which could save their life.

Please make sure you ask your elderly relatives, or those like me who are in an at risk group, to get the jab. Some people will die or get very sick this winter because of the lack of this and it is totally wrong, and totally avoidable. The jab is free and available at all GPs. Not only is this a potential tragedy, but if people get sick through failing to have the flu jab they can occupy much needed hospital beds, with everything that this entails for both the hospital and the wider community.

3 years ago I had my jab done in less than 3 minutes by Sarah at the Haltwhistle GP Clinic. It does not hurt [much!] and will save your life!! Please make sure you check your parents, elderly relatives and neighbours have done the same thing.

Got my Flu Jab yesterday - over 30% of our population are failing to get the protection they need

I need the flu jab because I had my spleen kicked to bits in a racing fall at Stratford nearly 10 years ago - I liked the horse so much that I tried to catch it as it fell on top of me at the second last fence at Stratford races; it crushed my left side, gave me a pneumothorax and perforated my spleen; this was then taken out by a great surgeon called Mike Stellakis, at Warwick General Hospital. As a result I am immuno compromised. Without the operation I would have died.

The loss of my spleen puts me in a group that includes pensioners, the pregnant and other at risk groups. It is a scandal that some people who are entitled to a free flu jab are failing to take up the jab, which could save their life.

Please make sure you ask your elderly relatives or those like me who are in an at risk group to get the jab. Some people will die or get very sick this winter because of the lack of this and it is totally wrong, and totally avoidable. The jab is free and available at all GPs. Not only is this a potential tragedy, but if people get sick through failing to have the flu jab they can occupy much needed hospital beds with everything that this entails for both the hospital and the wider community.

Last year I had my jab done in less than 3 minutes by Sarah at the Haltwhistle GP Clinic. It does not hurt [much!] and will save your life!! Please make sure you check your parents, relatives and neighbours have done the same thing.

The Weekend Read: Hospitals, A&E and the NHS

I was granted just 4 minutes by the Speaker to address this important topic, shortly before Christmas; I set out my thoughts on local hospital healthcare provision in short form:

Meeting the wonderful Elsie at Hexham Hospital

As a jockey, I spent far too much time in A and E departments after coming off race horses.

Once, I wandered into hospital with a broken collarbone and four bones sticking out of my shoulder. On another occasion, I spent a long time with a cut kidney and lost a spleen at Warwick hospital—I thank Dr Mike Stellakis, and his team, for saving my life that night. Also, two years ago, I collapsed in the House and spent a night in St Thomas’ with a young but capable bunch of A and E doctors. I thank them all and put on the record this Christmas the huge effort made by all our public sector staff, particularly in the NHS.

In Northumberland, we feel that we are leading the way in health care provision. Begun under the previous Government, that has continued under this one. Haltwhistle is a small cottage hospital that in the olden days would have been shut, but which now is being rebuilt as an integrated NHS and local authority facility. It is the first of its kind in the country; it is utterly transformative and it is exactly what the NHS and the local authority should be doing with old buildings, although I urge the trust to resolve the contracts that are not yet resolved. When I visited it last week, however, I saw that it was a truly innovative building and that it would be a great addition.

Hexham A and E is also a fantastic building. This November, I worked there as a hospital porter, and I thank Barry, the head porter, who has worked there 31 years, for keeping me in line and ensuring I did not put anything in the wrong place. Then there is Cramlington, an innovative, pre-Keogh assessment health care centre being built for the north-east. It is a perfect example of where we should be going: a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, consultant-led facility. As an A and E specialist care facility, it is exactly what Keogh is talking about. Interestingly, it was planned under the previous Government and is being brought forward under this one. It is exactly the direction we should be heading in.

I shall deal briefly with another issue. Northumbria has outstanding health care, but sadly North Cumbria is having some difficulties, and I urge the Secretary of State to expedite the merger of Northumbria and North Cumbria NHS trusts as soon as possible.

I turn now to ways we can keep our constituents and patients out of A and E. I have no spleen—it was kicked out of me by a three-mile chaser at Stratford—so every year I need the flu jab. Consequently, like pensioners, some young children and vulnerable adults, I went to get my flu jab last month at Haltwhistle GP centre. I thank Sarah Speed—it was not painful and took only five minutes. Tragically, however, at least 10% to 20% of the population do not take up the flu jab and are therefore likely to end up in A and E over the winter or possibly die. As constituency MPs, we must ram home their failure to take up the opportunity to deal with their own health care.

Finally, I turn to the hospice and dementia care systems in Northumberland. In the Charlotte Straker hospice and Tynedale Hospice at Home, we have two outstanding hospices, both of which I have assisted and one of which I have fundraised for. Both do a great job keeping people out of hospital. I should also mention the Age UK programme dealing with elderly people in my constituency. It is making a huge difference and ensuring that everyone becomes a dementia friend. Only through such actions will we bring about real change in our health care system.

Get your flu jab! Don't risk your life for the lack of a 3 minute appointment

Last month I went to the Haltwhistle GP Clinic and met the staff and GPs there, spending an afternoon seeing the great work they do and the pressures they are under. It was well worth the time with Dr Mark Baker and the team; they look after the 5800 patients in their practice area which is based in Haltwhistle, but also extends from Low Row in the west to Haydon Bridge, and to Slaggyford in the south. Their surgery has recently been renovated. I sat in, and watched Mark perform a couple of minor surgery appointments in the clinic; I do not believe I have a future as a GP's assistant! Whilst there I also got my flu jab; I need the jab because I had my spleen perforated in a racing fall at Stratford nearly 10 years ago - I liked the horse so much that I tried to catch it as it fell on top of me at the second last fence at Stratford races; it hurt, and my spleen was taken out by a great surgeon called Mike Stellakis, at Warwick General Hospital. As a result I am immuno compromised.

The clinic is welcoming and professional and a far cry from the old leaking building or the portakabins they endured for 5 months during the rebuild. Mark made the strong point that medical recruitment is becoming increasingly difficult, with a real difficulty in filling rural medical vacancies.
I have taken this up with the DOH, alonmg with the point that Mark made that concerning retraining; the problem is that where a GP has not worked for two or more years, they must spend six months in compulsory retraining before they are permitted to rejoin the Performers’ List, and pass an exam costing £700 before they will be considered for retraining, and funding for posts is variable. This - according to Mark - has the effect of deterring any doctor who has worked abroad from returning, and is a large obstacle for women GPs returning from maternity leave.

Overall I was deeply impressed by the professionalism, extent of services and the quality of care in this GPs practice that was clearly very motivated by the importance to their local community of a strong Primary Care Service.

One final point: it is a scandal that some people who are entitled to a free flu jab are failing to take up the jab, which could save their life. Please make sure you ask your elderly relatives or those like me who are in an at risk group to get the jab. Some people will die or get very sick this winter because of the lack of this and it is totally wrong, and totally avoidable. The jab is free and available at all GPs. Not only is this a potential tragedy, but if people get sick through failing to have the flu jab they can occupy much needed hospital beds with everything that this entails for both the hospital and the wider community.
I had my jab done in less than 3 minutes by Sarah. It does not hurt [much!] and will save your life!! Please make sure you check your parents, relatives and neighbours have done the same thing.