HEALTH and social care professionals across the system in Oxfordshire are building on their experience of working together during previous winters to deliver services.

Staff from the county's hospitals, GP practice, social services, community health services, ambulance services, mental health services, and the voluntary sector are working together to provide safe, effective and sustainable care for people during this winter.

Winter is a high-pressure season with the colder temperatures and harsher weather conditions leading to increased demands on GPs and Emergency Departments as flu season begins.

READ MORE: Charities team up to help people in cost-of-living crisis 

This, paired with the ongoing impact of covid-19, means that health and social care staff working as 'Team Oxfordshire' is especially important.

Sam Foster, chief nursing officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We all know that winter is the busiest season for health services, although pressures are now felt year-round.

“After another busy year, the winter team's priority is to ensure that people who need medical treatment are able to access services to get the care they need.

"We continue to focus on our Home First approach, and we're also working hard with our health and social care colleagues to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.

READ MORE: 'Our wonderful NHS saved the life of my two-year-old boy'

“We are continuing to increase the capacity to assess people in their own home, as well as delivering assessment and treatments - this keeps people safely at home, promotes independence, and helps us admit people to hospital only when they genuinely need acute care.”

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.