Thought for the day...

It is the way we react to circumstances that determines our feeling:)

Coronavirus has not gone away....

Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives

Hands - > wash regularly

Face -> wear a mask

Space -> keep your distance

Face covering needed if entering surgery

If you are invited to attend a face to face consultation at the surgery or to collect your medication, you need to wear a face covering.  This does not need to be a mask but a covering made of cloth or other material (this can be homemade) and should cover the nose and mouth of the wearer.  The purpose of wearing a face covering is to prevent transmission from asymptomatic people to others who they may come into contact with.

Telephone system now 'Live'

Our new telephone system is now live.  This enables patients to get through to us quickly and easily.  There is a queuing system and you will be told where you are in the queue and even have the option to be called back (retaining your queue position) if you wish.  Thanks for your patience whilst we upgraded this system.

Flu Clinics

To ensure we keep everyone safe from COVID-19 our flu clinics will be run slightly differently this year.  Patients will need to book into specific timed slots and will only be seen at their scheduled time. Two dates have been arranged so far:

Saturday 3rd October for patients who are OVER 65 - 8.00 - 14.00. 

Saturday 17th October for patients UNDER 65 (who are in the at risk groups) - 8.00 - 14.00.   Please ring us between 11.00-13.00 only to book a timed slot in either of these clinics.

Subject to Government guidance, patients who are well and in the 50-64 age bracket will be offered the flu vaccination later in the year - likely to be November/December.

**We can now take card payments **

We are delighted to inform you we are now able to take debit and credit card payments which will save you having to obtain cash to pay for your prescriptions.

We need your mobile contact details

We now have available additional resources to enable us to liaise with our patients via text message which will be beneficial to both us as a Practice and our patients.  Please ensure we are aware of your up-to-date mobile no. to enable us to reap the benefits of this facility.  Anyone who has provided us with a mobile number will be opted in to receive text messages (unless you specifically ask us not to) many thanks.

Repeat Prescriptions delay

Due to unprecedented volumes of repeat prescriptions being required, we need your co-operation to enable us to support all our patients medication needs.  Whilst the Coronavirus situation remains in place, you will need to allow 5 working days for us to process your request.  We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause.  Where possible, please do not leave collection of your medication to Friday as the number of patients attending is causing social distancing issues.

You may collect your medication between 08.00 - 12 noon and 13.30 and 18.00. 

Thank you for your help and understanding during these difficult times.

Open Surgery Clinics will not return

During the COVID-19 pandemic we were forced to work differently - including moving to a totally telephone triage system.  We appreciate that this has been challenging with our telephone system but this has now been upgraded and moving forward the problems experienced will be eliminated.

The telephone triage system has enabled us to ensure we keep our patients and staff safe and well.  It has worked well as many medical issues have been able to be treated and dealt with quickly and easily and we intend therefore to continue with this method of appointment system.  Where we cannot identify what the problem is over the telephone or via video call, or we need to see patients, they will be invited into the surgery for a face to face appointment at a specified time.   

Please ensure you are available at the planned time to accept a callback from our clinicians.

If you have symptoms which may be Covid-19 related: a new persistent cough, loss or change in sense of smell or taste, an unexplained fever (temperature over 37.8), then please contact the NHS 111 Covid-19 Clinical Assessment Service by calling 111 or going online to NHS111 online.

If you are told that you are likely to have Covid-19, then please self-isolate at home for seven days and ensure that your household contacts also self-isolate for fourteen days.  If your symptoms worsen in this time please contact NHS 111 for further support and advice.

We thank you in advance of your co-operation during this period.

Patience required by our patients

Whilst the majority of our patients are understanding and supportive of our efforts during this difficult time, a no. are displaying behaviours which are less than helpful, which can distract us from carrying out our essential tasks to keep all our patients safe and well.

As National guidance is updated, we are having to review what we do and how we do it - and this will mean inconvenience to our patients, for which we apologise - but it is out of our hands.

Please bear with us during these challenging times and help us to help you.

Coronavirus information

The current advice to the public is 'Stay alert, Control the Virus and Save lives'.

The UK's Chief Medical Officer advises: Anyone with a new continuous cough OR fever OR loss of/change in smell or taste should self-isolate for 7 days or longer if they still have symptoms. The individual's household should also self-isolate for 14 days as per the current guidelines.

Only contact NHS 111 if your symptoms get worse.