Join Abby and our News Nuggets as they discover what's important in their local area and learn about all things health and the NHS!
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm Abbey and welcome to News Nuggets. This week we'll be learning about health and
00:26the NHS. So let's meet this week's News Nuggets.
00:30Hi everyone. We're here with this week's News Nuggets at St Peter's Church of England Primary
00:38School in Aylesford. Introduce yourselves. Hello, I'm Lorenzo. Hello, I'm Phoebe.
00:44The News Nuggets gave us a tour of Coronation Gardens and since we're talking about health
00:48in this episode, we did some exercise on the trim trail.
00:52It's your favourite one to go on. No! Me neither!
00:55They have an area dedicated to building things with mud too.
00:59Lots of mud everywhere. One day I made a pot out of mud and water.
01:04We then ended the tour by meeting St Peter's Church of England Primary School's pets,
01:09Nala and Fletcher. Animals can actually be therapy for people because they make us calm
01:14when we're stressed. So why are Fletcher and Nala so important to your school?
01:19I think it's really nice having the dogs around. They make everyone feel so happy.
01:23Especially, I suppose, when you're feeling a bit sad of a day, can you spend some time
01:26with the dogs? Yeah.
01:28What about for your mental health too, Lorenzo? Well, sometimes it just makes people's day.
01:33When anyone's feeling sad, the dogs always make them feel better again.
01:38Well, it was lovely to meet you Fletcher and Nala.
01:40So let's talk about health because there are so many people who are really important in keeping
01:53us in tip-top shape. What is the NHS and how does it work?
01:57The National Health Service was created in 1948 so that people in the UK wouldn't have to pay
02:04to get help with their health. It's funded by tax. Tax is something grown-ups pay
02:09so we get public services. For example, if someone is in serious danger, we can call 999
02:16and an ambulance will come with a paramedic as soon as possible.
02:19There are also people in the government and our local council who make decisions about our health
02:25like banning disposable vapes, encouraging people to eat healthily and doing regular exercise,
02:30like a daily walk. We have something called social care too. This is for people who need
02:35extra support and care, like the elderly, disabled people or families who are struggling.
02:41There are also lots of different people that we can see when they're feeling unwell.
02:45A local doctor is called a general practitioner and grown-ups call them GPs.
02:50That's usually who we'll see first when we're feeling poorly and need some help.
02:55They work at a place called a surgery and not usually at a hospital.
02:59You might have seen a pharmacy with a big green cross on top of it.
03:03This is where pharmacists work. They know all about different medicines
03:07and how they can help us get well again. We don't need an appointment to see a pharmacist,
03:11we can just walk in. If we're very poorly and need to go to a hospital,
03:16we might see a hospital doctor. Unlike GPs, who know a little about everything,
03:22hospital doctors are experts in an illness or body part.
03:26You might have heard adults call hospital A&E. This is accident and emergency,
03:31where we go if we have to be seen straight away. You might also see a nurse in the hospital
03:36on a GP surgery. A nurse is another person who learns about the human body and they work with
03:41doctors. They check on us to make sure we're comfortable and are getting better.
03:45You can also see a GP or a counsellor about your mental health. When you talk to them,
03:51they can help find out how you're feeling so you feel your emotions in a healthier way.
03:57Dentists look after our teeth. Opticians look after your eyes.
04:01There are scientists who make cool discoveries and midwives who deliver babies.
04:07So now let's find out what it's actually like to be a doctor.
04:15I'm Dr. Julian Spinks. Welcome to Maystone Road Surgery. This is where I work.
04:19Can you please show us around? Of course, I'm very happy to do that.
04:23To start with, this is the waiting room. We're going to see Andrea who does something
04:28called phlebotomy. Phlebotomy, that's a funny word. Phlebotomy is actually taking a blood sample.
04:33Sometimes when people are ill, we need to do tests to find out what's wrong.
04:37We can get a lot of information from blood tests. It can tell GPs like Dr. Spinks if you
04:42have a disease. Andrea does a lot of these tests. Patients would come in here for a blood test.
04:48You should take an outfit, either of their arm, occasionally the back of their hands,
04:52to go off to the lab same day. Does it hurt?
04:56It used to hurt more than it does now. It only lasts a few seconds.
05:01This is my room. I know because it's got my name on it.
05:04How many people come to the doctors a day? You'd be very surprised how many. I normally see 30
05:11to 40 people per day. And if you look across Kent, there are a million appointments a month.
05:18That's a lot of people and probably a lot of time to wait.
05:21What are the waiting times like to get an appointment with a doctor like yourself?
05:25If you have something that is dangerous, then we'll see you very, very quickly.
05:30If it's something where it can wait, in this practice you'd wait up to two weeks.
05:34What does obesity mean? It's just when your weight is too high for your height.
05:40But we have to be careful about our sugar, don't we, and how much we eat of it.
05:44Yes, we have got to try and make sure that we have healthy eating.
05:49So how does poverty affect health in our communities?
05:52We know there's a direct link between the more poverty you have, the poorer you are,
05:58the more likely you are to have ill health, and in fact, you live less long.
06:03So you could donate to charities, so then you could give the money to them to buy
06:07more food for themselves. You're absolutely right.
06:10We have things like food banks, which are places where people can go and get food
06:14when they can't afford to buy it from the shops.
06:16And what about our mental health as well? Because it's not just about our physical health.
06:21Mental health, which is things where people are unhappy, or they're very anxious,
06:25or they have conditions that really are affecting their mind rather than their body,
06:30they are getting more common in children. And we do know that
06:33during the coronavirus epidemic, it made the problem worse.
06:36We missed a lot of time at school, and we had to do it on computers and all that stuff.
06:44Julian, you've been a GP now for 40 years.
06:47How's that changed over that time, and are there enough people doing your job?
06:52It is a problem now that we cannot get enough people to be general practitioners to be GPs like
06:58me. And that is one of the reasons why you have to wait more to get an appointment.
07:03I think it would be lovely to become a doctor because you can help people.
07:10So, let's go back to St Peter's Church of England Primary School to quiz Dr Spinks
07:15and a pharmacist on how they're helping our community.
07:22This is our class.
07:24Hi!
07:26Today, we're joined by two very special guests. We have a doctor and someone in pharmacy too.
07:32Hi, News Nuggets. I'm Dr Julian Spinks. I'm a general practitioner, a GP.
07:37That's the type of doctor that your family might take you to. The first person you'll
07:41see if you've got a sore throat or an earache or a tummy ache or something like that.
07:46Hi, News Nuggets. I'm Dr Sukhi Bhamra. I'm a pharmacist and a lecturer at the University
07:51of Kent, which means I teach students who are willing to become pharmacists.
07:56What qualifications did you need to get to become a pharmacist?
07:59You have to do four years of a degree at university, and when you've done that,
08:04of a degree at university, and when you've done your degree,
08:07you have to do one year where you practice working in a pharmacy,
08:11and then you do one more big exam, and then you qualify to become a pharmacist.
08:15What do you need to do to qualify as a doctor?
08:18It starts right now. You have got to be working very hard at school,
08:22then you go to university, medical school. At least 10 years from starting at medical school
08:29until when you're a fully qualified doctor and you can start treating patients.
08:33Thank you!
08:35Now it's a chance for you two to ask our guests some questions.
08:39So, Lorenzo, do you want to go first?
08:41What's the difference between a pharmacist and a doctor?
08:45Well, actually, there's less of a difference than there used to be. Whereas before,
08:48perhaps if you had a sore throat or an earache, you'd have to come to me first
08:52and then go to the pharmacy, to the chemist to get the things.
08:55Now you can go to a pharmacist and they can do all of that themselves.
08:58How do we know when we should go to a pharmacist or a doctor?
09:01I think the best thing is to ring up and ask for advice.
09:03On your high streets, you can see a pharmacy,
09:05you can just walk in and speak to the pharmacist directly.
09:08What should I do if I get a cold?
09:10Colds are caused by these little tiny viruses and they make you feel ill for a few days.
09:15But normally you'll get better completely by yourself.
09:18The other thing you've got to do is to make sure you don't pass it on to other people.
09:21And the thing to remember is catch it, bin it, kill it.
09:25If you have to blow your nose, if you sneeze, put it into a paper handkerchief,
09:28put that paper handkerchief in the bin, wash your hands.
09:32How can we be healthy?
09:33So I would say the first part of being healthy is your diet and what you're eating.
09:37So plenty of fruit and vegetable, lots of water.
09:40I'd say also exercise.
09:41Also things like making sure that your parents bring you along to have vaccinations
09:46against nasty diseases and check-ups with the doctor.
09:50What is a vaccine? Are they important?
09:52Vaccines are very important and it's a way of teaching your body
09:56to recognise nasty bugs that can make you very ill.
10:04Wow, I learnt a lot there.
10:06So we contact our doctor when we feel unwell or need help with our mental health,
10:11but we can also go to our pharmacist if we need help too.
10:15Now we know more about the NHS and our health, what else has been happening?
10:20Pharmacists can now give you medicines that before only doctors could give you.
10:25They can now help fix your sore throats and earaches, as well as infected insect bites.
10:31It's part of a plan called Pharmacy First,
10:34to stop people waiting so long to see a doctor and for you to get help quicker.
10:39Children from Mordean Primary School have raised thousands of pounds
10:43to help their school pet Skippy the dog.
10:46The six-year-old Labrador injured two of his legs when playing ball on the school field.
10:51He still needs to have a second operation,
10:54so the school are trying to raise £7,000 to get Skippy skipping around the playground once again.
11:01We'll have more news next week, but first, let's round up what we've learnt today.
11:06We've learnt what a GP is and how lots of people can help us to stay healthy.
11:11We've also learnt that the NHS is funded by adults who pay tax,
11:16and we get a lot of healthcare for free, which isn't the case for a lot of other countries.
11:22And finally, we know that there are problems that we need to solve within our healthcare system,
11:27like waiting times and there not being enough people who work in the NHS.
11:32Well, that's it for now. Thank you to our News Nuggets.
11:36See you next time for another bite-sized bulletin.
11:52you