Key Health Advice

Child Immunisation

One of the most important things that a parent can do for their child is to make sure that they have all their routine childhood vaccinations. It’s the most effective way of keeping them protected against infectious diseases.

Ideally, kids should have their jabs at the right age to protect them as early as possible and minimise the risk of infection.

Vaccination Checklist

Here’s a checklist of the vaccines that are routinely offered to everyone in the UK for free on the NHS, and the age at which you should ideally have them.

2 months:

Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib, a bacterial infection that can cause severe pneumonia or meningitis in young children) given as a 5-in-1 single jab known as DTaP/IPV/Hib
Pneumococcal infection
Meningitis B
Rotavirus

3 months:

5-in-1, second dose (DTaP/IPV/Hib)
Meningitis C
Rotavirus

4 months:

5-in-1, third dose (DTaP/IPV/Hib)
Pneumococcal infection, second dose
Meningitis B, second dose

Between 12 and 13 months:

Meningitis B, third dose
Hib, fourth dose (Hib/MenC given as a single jab)
MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), given as a single jab
Pneumococcal infection, third dose

3 years and 4 months, or soon after:

MMR second jab
Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio (DtaP/IPV), given as a 4-in-1 pre-school booster

Around 12-13 years girls only:

Cervical cancer (HPV) vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer: three jabs given within six months

Around 14 years:

Diphtheria, tetanus and polio booster (Td/IPV), given as a single jab
MenACWY

Vaccines For Risk Groups

People who fall into certain risk groups may be offered extra vaccines. These include vaccinations against diseases such as hepatitis B, tuberculosis (TB), seasonal flu and chickenpox. See the NHS Choices pages on vaccines for adults to find out whether you should have one.

Stop Smoking

Get Fit For Free

Birth To Five

Mental Health

Contraception

Contraception is free for most people in the UK. With 15 methods to choose from, you’ll find one that suits you.

Contraceptive methods allow you to choose when and if you want to have a baby, but they don’t protect you from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Condoms help to protect against STIs and pregnancy, so whatever other method of contraception you’re using to prevent pregnancy, use condoms as well to protect your and your partner’s health.

Where to get it

Contraceptive services are free and confidential, including to people under 16 as long as they are mature enough to understand the information and decisions involved. There are strict guidelines to for care professionals who work with people under 16.

You can get contraception free from:

most GP surgeries (talk to your GP or practice nurse),
community contraceptive clinics,
some genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics,
sexual health clinics (these offer contraceptive and STI testing services), and
some young people’s services (call 0800 567123).

Find sexual health services.

Many of these places also offer information, testing and treatment for STIs. If you’ve been exposed to the risk of pregnancy, you’re also at risk of catching an STI.

Before you make an appointment, make sure you’re as informed as possible about the contraceptive options available. People’s choice of contraception may vary over time, depending on their lifestyle and circumstances.

Contraception and menopause

Women who have sex with men and don’t want to get pregnant need to keep on using contraception until they haven’t had a period for more than 12 months (menopause).

This is because periods can become irregular before they stop entirely, and pregnancy can still occur during this time. Find out more about menopause.

The methods of contraception

There are lots of methods to choose from, so don’t be put off if the first thing you use isn’t quite right for you; you can try another. You can read about each of the different methods of contraception by visiting these pages:

There are two permanent methods of contraception:

To find your nearest contraception clinic you can use the NHS Choices service search. Enter your postcode, click ‘search’, then click ‘contraception’.

You can also look in the phone book under ‘sexual health’, or use the fpa clinic finder.

You can find out more about each type of contraception by contacting:

CASH on 0300 303 8565.
Brook Advisory Service (for under-21s) on 0800 988 2209.

In addition to your chosen method of contraception, you need to use condoms to prevent STIs. Always buy condoms that have the CE mark on the packet. This means that they’ve been tested to the high European safety standards. Condoms that don’t have the CE mark won’t meet these standards, so don’t use them.

Winter Health – Beat The Blues

Winter depression (seasonal affective disorder or SAD) is thought to affect up to one in 15 Brits every year between September and April. Many more of us (about 17%) get a milder form of the condition, known as the winter blues.

Key symptoms

According to Sue Pavlovich of the Seasonal Affective Disorder Association (SADA), these 10 tips could help. “Everyone’s affected differently by SAD so what works for one person won’t for another. But there’s usually something that will help, so don’t give up if the first remedy you try doesn’t work. Just keep trying,” she says.

1. Keep active

Research has shown that a daily one-hour walk, in the middle of the day, could be as helpful as light treatment for coping with the winter blues. Read more about walking to get fit.

2. Get outside

Go outdoors in natural daylight as much as possible, especially at midday and on bright days. Inside your home, choose pale colours that reflect light from outside, and sit near windows whenever you can.

3. Keep warm

Being cold makes you more depressed. It’s also been shown that staying warm can reduce the winter blues by half. Keep warm with hot drinks and hot food. Wear warm clothes and shoes and aim to keep your home between 18C and 21C (or 64F and 70F degrees). For further information on what you can do, including applying for grants to keep your home warm, read our article on keeping warm and well.

Severe symptoms

If your symptoms are so bad that you can’t live a normal life, see your GP for medical help.

4. Eat healthily

A healthy diet will boost your mood, give you more energy and stop you putting on weight ove r winter. Balance your craving for carbohydrates, such as pasta and potatoes, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.

“Some people tell us that taking extra vitamin D helps,” adds Pavlovich. Good food sources of vita min D include oily fish and eggs.

Summer Health

Barbecue Food Safety

It’s important to cook food thoroughly at a barbecue to avoid food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually mild, and most people get better within a week. But sometimes it can be more severe, even deadly, so it’s important to take the risks seriously. Children, older people and those with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to food poisoning.

The two main risk factors to cooking on the barbecue are:

undercooked meat
spreading germs from raw meat onto food that’s ready to eat

This is because raw or undercooked meat can contain germs that cause food poisoning, such as salmonella, E.coli and campylobacter. However, it’s easy to kill these germs by cooking meat until it is piping hot throughout.

When you’re cooking any kind of meat on a barbecue, such as poultry (chicken or turkey), pork, steak, burgers or sausages, make sure:

The coals are glowing red with a powdery grey surface before you start cooking, as this means that they’re hot enough.
Frozen meat is properly thawed before you cook it.
You turn the meat regularly and move it around the barbecue to cook it evenly.

Remember that meat is safe to eat only when:

It is piping hot in the centre.
There is no pink meat visible.
Any juices are clear.

Hay Fever – Allergy UK helpline: 01322 619898

Hay fever affects around 20% of people in the UK. Lindsey McManus of Allergy UK offers some tips on avoiding the causes and reducing your symptoms.

“The main triggers of hay fever are tree and grass pollen,” says Lindsey. “The pollen count is always higher when it’s a nice, bright, sunny day.”

Top Tips:

If grass makes you sneeze, get someone else to mow your lawn. If you react to grass and you spend time on the lawn, you’ll get symptoms.
Create a barrier by smearing Vaseline inside your nostrils.
Don’t sit outside between 4pm and 7pm or in the early morning, as the pollen count is highest at these times.
Don’t sleep or drive with the windows open, as this will allow pollen to come in.
Damp dust regularly.
Wash your hair. Pollen is sticky and may be in your hair.
Vacuum. Pollen can live in carpet for up to three months.
Talk to your GP or pharmacist about any treatment you’re taking for hay fever as it might be worth trying a new treatment. The same antihistamine [anti-allergy treatment] doesn’t always work for someone year after year. Try something different, such as a nasal spray or a new antihistamine.

Sun Safety

It’s important to protect your and your children’s skin in the sun to avoid sunburn and heat exhaustion.

Click here for NHS Choices Questions and Answers

Stings

Knowing how to treat an insect sting and how to recognise when it needs medical attention will help you do the right thing if you or your child are stung.

Insects such as wasps and bees sting as a defence mechanism (when they feel in danger) by injecting poisonous venom into the skin. For most people, stings are painful but harmless. But some people can have an immediate allergic reaction to being stung, which can be very dangerous.

Click here to read more about stings

More Summer Health at NHS Choices