Wye Valley NHS Trust

The Trust offers video consultations to some of our patients, as appropriate. The decision to offer this type of appointment will be made by a medical professional depending on your individual care needs. Video consultations are easy to use and are often more convenient for our patients. The Trust uses the MS Teams Bookings application for video consultations, which is a secure web-based platform for patients with pre-arranged video consultation appointments. The patient will receive a link either by email or text to join the MS Teams meeting and by clicking on the provided link on their mobile device or…

What will happen during my induction of labour? Your midwife will ask to take your observations (blood pressure, temperature, pulse, oxygen levels, breathing rate) The midwife will then ask to monitor your baby’s heartrate continuously for around 30 minutes on a CTG monitor Your midwife will then ask for your consent to carry out a vaginal examination to assess your cervix The midwife will then insert the prostaglandin (Propess) high in your vagina Your baby’s heart rate will then be monitored for another 30 minutes to check baby hasn’t immediately been affected To help encourage tightenings, it is important to…

Back to Rapid Cardiology The two carotid arteries are the main vessels that supply blood to the brain. They originate from the main arteries of the body (the aorta and brachiocephalic artery) in the chest and travel up through the neck and into the skull. Atherosclerosis of the right or left carotid artery is the most common cause of a stroke. A carotid duplex scan is a technique to take a picture of these arteries using sound waves (ultrasound). A sound-wave transducer is placed gently on the neck. The walls and interior of the artery are visualised and the velocity…

You should take a lateral flow test if you have COVID-19 symptoms, even if your symptoms are mild. If you develop COVID-19 symptoms, please follow the guidelines on the NHS 111 website and temporarily stop taking your Rheumatology medication (see table below), EXCEPT for steroids (Prednisolone), Hydroxychloroquine and Sulfasalazine,until you are fully recovered. This advice applies for any infection. You may be eligible to receive anti-viral medication against COVID-19 If your test is positive, you must report your result athttps://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result  or by calling 119. Your local health board will contact you to arrange a telephone appointment with a healthcare professional who will decide whether…

We advertise all of our nursing vacancies on our website. To apply for our posts you need to submit an online application via our Trust website or NHS jobs. Please ensure you read the advert text fully as this may include an assessment date you will be required to attend, if shortlisted. Interview Your interview panel will comprise of senior members of staff from your preferred area and human resources. This will last between 30 to 45 minutes and you will be asked competency based questions which aim to allow you to demonstrate your skills and abilities. If you are offered…

If you have forgotten or were not able to take your Biologic drug at the right time, take it as soon as you remember. Your next dose of biologic will need to be taken with the usual time gap between injections for your type of biologic. This will mean that the day of the week you normally take your drug will change. For example, if you take weekly Etanercept, and inject on Tuesdays. You might forget to take your weekly injection on a Tuesday, but then remember on Wednesday and take it then; you would then need to change your…

After your baby is born your midwife will ask whether you would like your baby to have a Vitamin K supplement. It is known that newborn babies have about 30% to 60% of the vitamin K an adult would have stored in their liver. It isn’t known why this is or if there is a reason for this. However, a very small amount of babies are born very deficient in Vitamin K and go on to develop Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB). VKDB can cause bleeding from the nose, umbilicus, mouth or into the brain which can in turn cause…

The risks associated with induction of labour

What you choose to put in your body really affects how you feel and how healthy you are. Eating the right sort of foods in the right amount is one of the most important things you can do for your overall health. Eating unhealthily can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes. These conditions can increase the risk of heart and circulatory problems. There are lots of resources available to support you to understand a healthy approach to food and how to get into good eating habits that will help look after your heart health.…

When you have diabetes, you’re more at risk of heart and circulatory disease. And poor circulation makes other diabetes complications worse-like problems with your eyes and feet. That’s why it’s even more important to take good care of your heart when you have diabetes. If you have high blood sugar levels for a period of time, even slightly high, your arteries can start to get damaged, and make them more likely to develop fatty deposits (atheroma). If atheroma builds up in your coronary arteries, this can lead to a heart attack. To help protect yourself, get your HbA1c, blood pressure…