The river levels of the Thame and Thames are extremely high at the moment, and flood warnings have been issued.
If you think that your property is in real danger of flooding –
Ring the OCC Emergency Response number: 01865 323765
They do respond quickly, and can deliver sandbags etc.
Covid vaccinations for residents of Dorchester and some other local areas are being done at Clifton Hampden Village Hall, not at the surgery. The Village Hall is a short distance beyond the traffic lights on the right hand side of the A415 in the Abingdon direction. The Vaccination Centre is well signposted. The pedestrian entrance is from the car-park side, not from the road side.
Fond of reading and bored of lockdown? Why not join one of the play reading evenings hosted by DADS?
We meet nearly every Monday evening at 7.30 pm via Zoom. Since last April, we have read nearly 40 different plays and radio and TV scripts. Everyone is welcome and there is no fee and you don’t have to be a DADS member. You can find details of what we will be reading next on our Facebook page. @DorchesterAmDramSocietyDADS or the DADS website www.dads.org.uk.
The following is an update from the County Council:
Seven local vaccination services, led by a GP-led Primary Care Network (PCN), will begin to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations next week. The service for Dorchester will be delivered at Clifton Hamden Village Hall for patients registered with Clifton Hampden Surgery, Berinsfield Health Centre, Marcham Road Health Centre and Long Furlong Medical Practice.
Those invited will be patients aged 80 and over. This is in line with the recommendation from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) with the top two cohorts being the first priority for the vaccine:
It is going to take some time to deliver the vaccine to all in the top two priority groups and GP practices are working through their patient lists as fast as the deliveries allow.
Patients are being asked to wait until they are contacted by their GP practice.
The news last week that the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved nationally is exciting and we have had confirmation that deliveries will be received this week in Oxfordshire, increasing the number of patients that can be invited for vaccination.
Dosage interval
There is updated guidance from the JCVI and the four UK Chief Medical Officers on the dose interval for the second dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. It now recommends the second dose of the vaccine should now be scheduled for after three weeks but before 12 weeks after the first dose.
This means that most of those that have already received their first dose and have their second dose scheduled will now be contacted to rearrange their appointment for their second dose, allowing more first vaccinations to be booked over the coming weeks.
Berinsfield Health Centre have confirmed:
‘I am pleased to let you know that we have started to contact patients to book their covid injections in, our clinics will start on Thursday 7th Jan and they will be done at Clifton Hampden Village Hall. We are inviting patients by age, so older patients first then working down our list.’
The latest data shows that the covid-19 virus is spreading much faster than expected in our area. In the seven days to 23rd December, cases across the whole of Oxfordshire have increased by 86 per cent with rises seen across all districts. Among the over 60s, cases have more than doubled in the space of a week. Hospital admissions are rising rapidly as a result. The increased spread is being attributed to a new variant of COVID-19, which is passed on far more easily.
As a result, we are now under Tier 4 restrictions.
The official rules about what we can and can’t do can be found here: Local restrictions – What you need to know
Briefly, if you live in Tier 4 you must not leave or be outside of your home or garden except where you have a ‘reasonable excuse’. A reasonable excuse includes:
Work (if it cannot be done from home)
Shopping for essentials
Child care and education
Exercise
You can only meet one other person from another household outdoors.
You can continue to receive informal care at home from your support bubble.
There are a number of potentially vulnerable people in Dorchester, by virtue of age, potential isolation or underlying health issues. Our local community has always been welcoming, supportive and neighbourly. It is particularly important, now that we are back to close to lockdown, that we look out for each other, check that people are OK, and that everyone gets help and support if they need it.
The Village Support Group, the Dorchester Volunteers is still available and ready. Whether it’s with prescriptions, a friendly chat, shopping, help with technical issues and making online connections, dog walking, bins, we are here for you.
Just email: anne.morrowandrew@gmail.com – or phone 01865 340007
The SODC South Oxfordshire Community Hub will be open for calls between Christmas and New Year from 9-5 on Tuesday 29 December to Thursday 31 December – the number on these days for anybody who needs support is 01235 422600.
The light at the end of the tunnel! Covid Vaccinations
A number of local GP practices, including Berinsfield and Clifton Hampden, are working together to deliver the coronavirus vaccination at Clifton Hamden Village Hall from the beginning of January. People will be notified about when to come in for the jab.