Practice News
First of all we would like to thank you all for your support with the flu clinics this year, overall the response has been fantastic, we are aware that some of you are still waiting for an appointment (including the 50-64 year olds) and we will be in touch as soon as we get more vaccines in stock. There has been a greater than usual up- take of the flu vaccine this year and supplies are short, however we continue to try to find more supplies.
We are still offering telephone appointments as the first point of contact and following that, should the doctor or Nurse think that it is important for them to see you face to face, they will invite you in to the Surgery.
All appointments at the surgery require patients to wear a face covering.
We appreciate that some of the changes associated with COVID have brought frustrations with them and whilst most people have been very flexible we would ask that you remember that our staff are here to help you and that they are doing their very best, they do not deserve to experience rudeness in any shape or form.
If you think that you have COVID (coronavirus) symptoms please use NHS 111 online services, please do not come to the surgery.
Symptoms to look out for include a new cough, a temperature above 37.8C, a change in taste or smell.
Special points of interest:
- We are open
- You can still see a GP
- You can still have a clinic appointment
- Medications can be collected from the Hatch at HH and the counter at HBO
GP News
We continue to offer the highest levels of care to our patients; in September we received 6537 telephone calls and made 5530 outgoing calls.
In the same period we offered 5482 appointments with 562 DNAs (10%) - these were mostly flu clinic non attendances. If you are not able to keep your appointment please do let us know so that we can offer it to another patient.
As we prepare for the winter cold and sniffle season, we would ask that you check your symptoms with a pharmacist before asking for a GP appointment, we predict that there will be an unprecedented demand on appointments this winter and are asking you all to help us to help you by considering alternatives before asking for an appointment.
Obviously, if you experience any of the symptoms listed above please go to the NHS 111 webpage and follow their instructions.
Despite what you may have read on social media we are not able to book COVID tests for you. You will need to go onto the NHS website (google ‘book a covid test’) and follow the instructions.
If you are offered an appointment at a place that is far away, this is because that is all that there is on offer, due to capacity issues at the labs.
Repeat Prescriptions
We continue to offer repeat prescriptions via a telephone service but we will be phasing this out for all but the most vulnerable patients before the end of the year due to Audit and safety concerns. In order to prepare for this we would ask that you download the NHS App or register for online services, both of which will enable you to order on line rather than wait in a phone queue.