Flu

Flu Clinics

The practice will invite you for a Flu vaccination between October and February each year if you are eligible. Patients that are eligible are also able to go to their local pharmacy and get the flu vaccination that way, including the pharmacy on site at Ritchie Street.
Housebound patients will be contacted separately by the practice.

General Information

Flu will often get better on it’s own, but it can make some people seriously ill. It’s important to get the flu vaccine if you’re advised to.

Check if you have flu

Flu symptoms come on very quickly and can include:

  • a sudden high temperature of 38C or above
  • an aching body
  • feeling tired or exhausted
  • a dry cough
  • a sore throat
  • a headache
  • difficulty sleeping
  • loss of appetite
  • diarrhoea or tummy pain
  • feeling sick and being sick

The symptoms are similar for children, but they can also get pain in their ear and appear less active.

Telling the difference between cold and flu

Cold and flu symptoms are similar, but flu tends to be more severe.

Flu

Appears quickly within a few hours

Affects more than just your nose and throat

Makes you feel exhausted and too unwell to carry on as normal

Cold

Appears gradually

Affects mainly your nose and throat

Makes you feel unwell, but you’re OK to carry on as normal (for example, go to work)

How to treat flu yourself

  • rest and sleep
  • keep warm
  • take paracetamol or ibuprofen to lower your temperature and treat aches and pains
  • drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration (your pee should be light yellow or clear)

A pharmacist can help with flu

A pharmacist can give treatment advice and recommend flu remedies.

Be careful not to use flu remedies if you’re taking paracetamol and ibuprofen tablets as it’s easy to take more than the recommended dose.

Information:

Call a pharmacy or contact them online before going in person. You can get medicines delivered or ask someone to collect them.

Find a pharmacy

Non-urgent advice: Get advice from 111 now if:

You’re worried about your baby’s or child’s symptoms

You’re 65 or over

You’re pregnant

You have a long-term medical condition – for example, diabetes or a heart, lung, kidney or neurological disease

You have a weakened immune system – for example, because of chemotherapy or HIV

Your symptoms do not improve after 7 days

111 will tell you what to do. They can arrange a phone call from a nurse or doctor if you need one.

Go to 111.nhs.uk or call 111.

Antibiotics

GPs do not recommend antibiotics for flu because they will not relieve your symptoms or speed up your recovery.

How to avoid spreading the flu

Flu is very infectious and easily spread to other people. You’re more likely to give it to others in the first 5 days.

Flu is spread by germs from coughs and sneezes, which can live on hands and surfaces for 24 hours.

To reduce the risk of spreading flu:

  • wash your hands often with warm water and soap
  • use tissues to trap germs when you cough or sneeze
  • bin used tissues as quickly as possible
  • try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have a high temperature or you do not feel well enough to do your normal activities.

How to get the flu vaccine

The flu vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine. It’s offered every year on the NHS to help protect people at risk of flu and its complications.

The best time to have the flu vaccine is in the autumn before flu starts spreading. But you can get the vaccine later.

The flu vaccine is given to people who:

  • are 50 and over (including those who’ll be 50 by 31 March 2022)
  • have certain health conditions
  • are pregnant
  • are in a long-stay residential care
  • receive a carer’s allowance, or are the main carer for an older or disabled person who may be at risk if you get sick
  • live with someone who is more likely to get infections (such as someone who has HIV, has had a transplant or is having certain treatments for cancer, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis)
  • frontline health or social care workers

You can have the NHS flu vaccine at:

  • your GP surgery
  • a pharmacy offering the service
  • your midwifery service if you’re pregnant
  • a hospital appointment

If you do not have your flu vaccine at your GP surgery, you do not have to tell the surgery. This will be done for you.

Find out more about the flu vaccine: