Page 6 - Oundle Life February 2025

OUNDLE SURGERY
A fond farewell to Brenda Wardiell This month, we’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to one of
our wonderful
nurses, Brenda
Wardiell, who has
retired after 24
incredible years at the Oundle Practice. Brenda has been a cornerstone of our team, using her vast experience to mentor and support newer members of the nursing staff. She took great pride in building strong relationships with patients, especially those she saw regularly,
and her dedication to their care has been truly inspiring.
Over the years, Brenda has witnessed the practice evolve and has forged lasting friendships with her colleagues. While she
February: the month of love and heart health
doesn’t have specific retirement plans yet, Brenda looks forward to spending more time with her grandchildren and supporting her mother until her husband retires. We wish Brenda all the best in this new chapter of her life – she will be greatly missed!
Fond farewell
Oundle Practice Open Day
We’re excited to invite you to our Oundle Practice Open Day on Saturday, 8th March 2025, from 10am to 1pm. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet members of our team, including GPs, nurses, social prescribers, and first-contact practitioners and more.
You’ll also have the chance to get set up with an account on Anima, our online consultation portal, which makes it easier than ever to contact a GP. We hope to see you there!
February is synonymous with love, making it a perfect time to focus on cardiac health. At Oundle Practice, we often use a tool called QRISK
to calculate the 10-year risk of heart attack or stroke. This tool helps
us recommend lifestyle changes or medications like statins to reduce these risks.
QRISK evaluates several factors that influence cardiovascular health, such as age, gender, ethnicity, high blood pressure,
cholesterol levels, body mass index (BMI), smoking,
alcohol consumption, and medical conditions like
diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney disease. While some factors, like age, can’t be changed, many can be improved with healthier choices.
Current guidelines suggest that just 20 minutes of exercise daily can significantly improve heart health. Activities like brisk walking, swimming, cycling, or running are all great options. Additionally, reducing alcohol intake, quitting smoking, and managing your blood pressure are vital steps towards a healthier heart. If you’d like to monitor your blood pressure, you can purchase a home monitor or use the machine available in our practice’s waiting room.
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