FRIENDS OF BRADLEY STOKE SURGERY NEWSLETTER APRIL 2012

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1 FRIENDS OF BRADLEY STOKE SURGERY NEWSLETTER APRIL 2012 WELCOME A warm welcome to the eighth Newsletter from the Friends of Bradley Stoke Surgery. For those of you who are not aware of us we are a group of patients and staff who meet on a regular basis to discuss all aspects of Surgery matters and to provide feedback and comments. The Friends have organised many fund raising events and have raised large sums of money to purchase equipment which enables the Doctors and Nurses to provide first class medical care. We would welcome new members to our group. You don t have to be an expert on anything (but that might help), what really matters is your willingness to help patients, especially by fund raising. If you are interested in finding out more please contact Amanda Nel at the surgery. We are always pleased to receive your comments and feedback. IMPORTANT NEWS We are currently recruiting two more GPs. We hope to be able to make an announcement very soon. You may have noticed we are using the services of Locum GPs. With the national shortage of Locums we have not been able to maintain our normal number of clinics. Unfortunately, the situation has been compounded by the admission into hospital of one of our full-time GPs. We will try to resolve this situation through recruitment and the services of Locum GPs. Be assured the GPs at Bradley Stoke Surgery will continue to give the same high standard of care, during all appointments offered. We appreciate your understanding and patience and apologise in advance if you experience any delays obtaining an appointment. Please remember your local Pharmacist can help with many minor illnesses and ailments. NEW SURGERY OPENING TIMES If you have been a patient at the surgery for many years, you will remember we used to open at 9.00 am, then this was brought forward to 8.30 am but as from 2 nd April 2012, we have brought forward the opening time to 8.00 am in response to patient requests. We hope this will avoid a queue outside the surgery in the mornings. The telephone lines are operational from 8.30 am. We will remain open between 1.00 pm 2.00 pm Monday Thursday Friday Telephone lines 8.00 am 7.30 pm 8.00 am 6.30 pm 8.30 am 6.30 pm

2 ADVICE ON TREATING A VIRUS Dr Hannah Chapman says.. 2 Hopefully we ve put the worst of the winter behind us but unfortunately viruses can attack at any time! We see lots of patients with viral infections every day. We wish we had a magic cure, but unfortunately we don t! Most of the time, the chemist will be able to advise you just as well a doctor. I ve put together some virus facts to help us fight them off together! 1) Viruses can cause lots of illnesses but most commonly they cause a runny nose, cough, fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, sore throat, ear ache and sinusitis. 2) Most people think they need antibiotics for sinusitis, but actually most sinusitis is caused by viruses and commonly lasts for up to 3 weeks. Try paracetamol, decongestants and steam. 3) Viruses cannot be treated with antibiotics. Antibiotics treat bacterial infection not viral infections. 4) It s hard to know when you need to have your child checked by the doctor, so here is a guide: We would like to see children if:- they have a temperature over 38 degrees in 0-3 month olds lasting any duration they have a temperature over 39 degrees in 3-6 month olds lasting any duration they have a high temperature over 38 degrees in over 6 month olds for more than 5 days they are not feeding well they are passing less urine/less wet nappies than usual they have abnormal breathing. Abnormal breathing signs include: rapid or noisy breathing, their skin sucking in between their ribs as they breathe and flaring of the nostrils. 5) If your child has a fever but is still eating & drinking well and playing then it s a good sign they are well and don t necessarily need to see a doctor. Fever is best treated with a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen (check the pack for dosage instructions) and increasing their usual fluid intake. 6) Viruses frequently cause a mild rash (a viral rash ) in children. This is usually a pale pink, flat rash, which can occur all over the body. It blanches (goes white) if a glass is rolled over the top. If your child has this type of rash at the same time as a cold, and they are generally well in themselves, they don t necessarily need to see a doctor. It will usually fade in a few days. If they have a rash that doesn t blanch, however, seek immediate help/advice. 7) It s very common for children to develop a mild blanching rash and high temperature after their immunisations. This can be treated with Calpol and/or ibuprofen, and will normally settle in less than 48 hours. I hope this helps!

3 A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE PRACTICE NURSE Sister Helen Meacham gives an insight in to her average day at the Surgery:- 3 I arrive at 8.15 am every morning, although my appointments with patients don t start until 8.40 am. I turn on the PC, check the fridge temperatures and equipment and document this on the log charts. I quickly check my s to see if there are any requiring an urgent response or may be of significance to patients that are being seen that day. Morning clinics are busiest, especially Mondays and Fridays. The clinics are always full and inevitably extras are added on throughout the morning if an emergency, such as an urgent blood test, ECG or dressing is required. We are aware that some of our patients have fasted for pre-booked appointments and therefore effective time keeping is important and we try out best to keep to time. We are constantly checking on our colleagues clinics, especially if we get a cancellation at short notice, and then help each other out in these circumstances. Our coffee is sipped at the desk as time is of the essence and patients need to be seen on time. Chronic disease management, such as Asthma, COPD, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Travel Clinics and Cervical Cytology require slightly longer appointments compared to treatment room work which requires speed and decisiveness involving dressing of wounds, suture removal, ear syringing, urine testing, blood tests and childhood immunisations. The work is diverse, both challenging and demanding. We have a good team at the Surgery and we endeavour to provide a high standard of care to our patients. We work closely with other multi-disciplinary team members such as GP s, Health Visitors, Midwives and Community Nurses. The role of the Practice Nurse is to treat people as individuals, respect their dignity and to promote good health and well-being of the patients in our care. We invest our time and commitment to enhance our knowledge and skills by attending courses and specialist training days regularly. APPOINTMENTS When booking in to see the GP, you can always ask if a particular doctor is available and we will try our best to accommodate your request, but we cannot always offer you the time and date that you want either because the Doctor is not on duty that day or that all their appointments are already booked. If you need to see a clinician urgently, all our Doctors have the same access to your medical information and can assist you. Please note that it is one person for one appointment. If two members of your family need to be seen by a Doctor, you will need to book two appointments. On-line appointments are released daily to book one week or two weeks in advance with the aim of making regular review easier for patients. The surgery continually adjusts how many appointments are offered on-line to ensure a variety of options are available. In the future, it is hoped to release more on-line appointments in advance for regular reviews and therefore the Book on the Day appointments will be for emergencies only.

4 4 PATIENT FEEDBACK We are always pleased when patients take the trouble to give feedback on their experiences at the surgery and recently a parent of a child with Learning Difficulties felt compelled to write to the South Gloucestershire Learning Difficulties Service following her son s annual Learning Difficulties Health Check with Sister Helen Meacham:- I really wanted to feedback to you as a parent the great service that we receive from Helen and the surgery at Bradley Stoke as a whole. This is the third year that my son has had a check-up Helen is just so great with him, very calm and most all, listens to him. Although the appointment is about my son, she also makes time for me and how I am doing; do I have worries about myself etc. She has really gone over and above what I feel is needed from her and I am so very grateful for that, for myself but most importantly for him. She is lovely to talk to and I hope Helen gets as much from seeing us as we do from seeing her. I don t know how to have this recognised that they are doing a very good job at Bradley Stoke also our GP Dr Norman Douglas is exceptional I really do feel that we have the support we need as a family and that we are important and not just a statistic or number. SUGGESTION BOX Thank you to those patients who have taken the time to make use of the suggestion box in reception. Below are some examples of how we have been able to improve the patient experience at the surgery:- Suggestion:- Action taken:- Suggestion:- Action taken:- Suggestion:- Action taken:- Not enough on-line appointments available The number of on-line appointments for each GP will be increased with effect from May On line appointments will be available in the afternoons as these appointments are bookable in advance for routine review. Morning appointments are being prioritised for more urgent issues that need to be seen that day. Waiting room is too quiet. A TV will be installed soon. Provide a covered shelter for patients who queue in the mornings There should be no need for patients to queue as the surgery now opens at 8.00 am. Please keep your suggestions coming. We may not be able to respond in the way you would like but it is always good for us to receive feedback.

5 CONGRATULATIONS The Bradley Stoke Outstanding Women s Awards 2012 recently took place and we are delighted to report that Dr Elizabeth Todd won the Business Woman s Award. 5 This is the article that appeared in the Bradley Stoke Matters Magazine When house building commenced in Bradley Stoke Dr Todd set up her practice single headedly in a modular cabin in Woodlands Park in She was later joined by a nurse and eventually she and her growing team moved to Brook Way in Many more doctors, nurses and admin staff have joined her since, necessitating an extension to the site in Dr Todd has worked full time in this practice since its beginning. In addition to this, Dr Todd has done many things for all age groups within the community, providing space at the surgery to facilitate offices for the setting up of Holy Trinity School and the Community Association and was also a start-up Governor for Wheatfield Primary School. In the early days of Bradley Stoke, Dr Todd also set up The Immortals as a way of introducing some of the older people in the community to each other. The Immortals was a very lively, entertaining and sociable group of people who had meetings at the surgery and external social events. This group certainly meant a lot to the people who joined it. Dr Todd also served as a committed Councillor on the Bradley Stoke Town Council for many years and the Twinning Association with Champs Sur Marne near Paris would never have happened but for her tireless endeavours to secure funding and draw up a constitution. The judges commented:- Dr Todd has been a major player not only in providing the health provision (for the town) but also in building the community of Bradley Stoke over the last 25 years. CHANGE OF ADDRESS If you change your address or telephone number, please remember to put it in writing to the surgery either by completing a form at reception or via the website It is especially important if you are being referred to secondary care as appointment letters could be sent to an old address which could put your health at risk. Often our Doctors need to make contact and we cannot do so if we haven t got the correct phone number.

6 REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS Repeat prescriptions are for medication which the Doctor has agreed may be repeated without you being seen again. To request one you may: 6 prescriptionsbradleystoke@nhs.net Fax: Post: In person: Stamped addressed envelope needed if you require a reply by post Complete a form at the Surgery Please ensure you give your name, address, date of birth and the names of the specific medicines you require and the quantity. There are literally thousands of different medicines in varying formats and strengths. The surgery also have many patients with similar or the same names. Accuracy is essential for safety and to help us provide an efficient, prompt service to all our patients. Remember the pharmacy at the surgery is also there to help 7 days a week. Your prescription will no longer normally be available for collection from the surgery but from a pharmacy of your choice. Please arrange direct with the pharmacies. The pharmacy will collect your prescription from the surgery and you should then collect your medication from them. Please allow 2 WORKING DAYS from the time you request your prescription before collecting from the pharmacy. Please order in good time leading up to a Bank Holiday weekend to ensure the smooth running of the practice. Pharmacy Venue Opening Times Bradley Stoke Bradley Stoke Monday to Friday 7.00 am pm Pharmacy Surgery 8.00 am 8.00 pm Brook Way am 6.00 pm Tesco Pharmacy Willowbrook Centre Monday to 8.00 am 8.00 pm Boots Pharmacy Willowbrook Centre Monday to 8.00 am pm Lloyds Pharmacy Brook Way Monday to Friday 9.00 am 6.30 pm 9.00 am 5.30 pm Lloyds Pharmacy Brayden Avenue Monday to Friday 9.00 am 6.30 pm 9.00 am 1.00 pm Sainsburys Filton Monday to 8.00 am 8.00 pm Jhoots Patchway Monday to Friday 9.00 am 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm- 6 pm Boots The Mall The Mall Monday to Friday 8.30 am pm 8.30 am 8.00 pm am 5.00 pm Morrisons Pharmacy Cribbs Causeway Monday to 8.30 am 8.00 pm Asda Cribbs Causeway Monday to Friday 9.00 am pm 8.30 am pm

7 7 (are closed for pharmacists breaks) THE FRIENDS