Welcome to our Newsletter Winter 2015 THE BROOKE SURGERY Welcome to our Patient Newsletter. Your comments will be greatly received ISSUE 2 DATE Nov/Dec Thank you On the 22 nd September 15 we moved to Emis Web (clinical system) following a long struggle with the Vision software making work more cumbersome. We are aware that this move created further pressures in the system and would like to thank you all for your patience during this time. Christmas and New Year Opening Hours Tuesday 22 nd December Normal Hours including late evening surgery Wednesday 23 rd December - Normal opening hours Thursday 24 th December - 8am 4pm Friday 25 th December - Closed Monday 28 th December Closed Tuesday 29 th December Normal Hours including late evening surgery Wednesday 30 th December Normal opening hours Thursday 31 st December 8am-4pm Friday 1 st January 2016 Closed Monday 4 th January Normal opening hours COMMUNITY PHARMACY SERVICE TO TREAT MINOR AILMENTS If you are suffering from one of the following: cough, sore throat, head lice, headache, hay fever, conjunctivitis, athletes foot, thread worm, blocked nose, thrush or temperature (fever), you don t need to see the doctor. Pharmacies can give advice and treatment. Advice is always free and if you don t pay for your prescriptions then treatment will also be free. Our Mission To provide safe effective patient care to have a cohesive team with good morale and mutual respect. To help patients take more responsibility to care for themselves and promote wellness! pg. 1
Stay Well This Winter The Brooke Surgery is supporting the 2015 Stay Well This Winter campaign. On 15 October a flu vaccination campaign will run across England, encouraging parents of children aged 2-4 and in school years 1 and 2, pregnant women, people aged 65 and over and those with long-term conditions to take up the offer of the free flu vaccine. These groups are at particular risk of flu and vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect against flu and stay well this winter. Flu is a highly infectious disease with symptoms that come on very suddenly; it can lead to hospitalisation, permanent disability or even death. Those who are eligible for the free vaccination, should get it now. It s free because you need it. The flu vaccination programme, is part of the Stay Well This Winter campaign, a wider joint initiative from NHS England and Public Health England, to help the public, and in particular those with long-term conditions and those over 65 prepare for winter and ward off common winter illnesses so they do not require a visit to the hospital. Winter can be challenging on the health of these groups but there a number of things which can help prepare against the cold weather. Protect against flu by getting the flu vaccination, those over 65 and with long-term health conditions can receive this free from their GP or pharmacist. It is important to keep warm in winter both inside and outdoors, so if possible keep homes at least 18 C (65 F) and at the first sign of illness, seek immediate advice and help from your pharmacist. Take prescribed medicines as directed and pick up any prescription medicines before Christmas Eve. Adverts will appear on TV, radio, out of home and in the press, reaching 20.7 million people in England. The campaign will be supported by PR and digital activity. If you do need help over the holiday period when your GP surgery or pharmacy is closed, call NHS 111 or visit www.nhs.uk who can direct you to a local service that is open. The Stay Well This Winter campaign can help you and your family prepare for winter. Visit http://www.nhs.uk/staywell/for more information. Follow us on Twitter @brookesurgery Come and join us on Twitter, with all the up to date notifications for the surgery We post information about the practice and other third party sites which we feel may be of some interest to you. 2
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons and despite reminders, some babies miss their scheduled vaccinations increasing the risk of illness, so please take this opportunity on behalf of your child; we really want to help. I hasten to add that this affects a very small number of babies but we would like to see this reduced to zero. Our nurse team would like to spend more time with parents and babies but the obvious outcome is that we would see less babies... and there are lots of them to be seen! If we could ask parents to remove their child s outer clothing before being called through by the nurse, this would be a great help. Childhood Immunisations Just like parents, we take childhood immunisation very seriously at The Brooke Surgery and would like to ensure all our babies are afforded protection that in some Virtual Patient Participation Group Violent & Abusive Behaviour The Practice has a Zero Tolerance Policy which includes verbal, threatening, emotional or physical abuse towards its staff. Please be patient and adhere to this. Our Staff are here to help. The Patient Participation Group would really like to have the views of more patients and one way you can contribute without attending any meetings is to sign up for our virtual group. This is a group for patients who would like to give occasional comments and feedback without attending Patient Participation Group meetings. The group helps to ensure we are taking the views of a broad selection of patients into account. As a member of the Virtual Patient Participation Group we will send you emails or letters asking you for your opinion on a range of topics. You decide how often and when you would like to answer. Your contributions will help improve services for everyone s benefit. Your own particular perspective is important; we want to hear from you! The virtual group helps your GPs to provide an accessible and responsive service and you will be amongst the first to hear about news and updates. For further information please pick up a leaflet from the Surgery Reception. 3
Appointment reminder service We can now send you a text message to remind you of your appointment date and time. It is important to keep your contact details up to date if you wish to receive text reminders, don t forget to inform reception if you change your mobile number! Anyone who does not want to receive such reminders can opt out simply by informing reception. Minor Surgery & Joint Injections This enhanced service will now run on alternate Mondays every week to ensure we maintain a short wait time. You will be contacted from a member of the team to prevent failed appointments. Please remember failed appointments increase another patient s wait time. Thank you. Acute Prescriptions Please DO Not ask your pharmacist for an acute prescription as they will not be able to provide you with the medication. They have been asked by us ( see letter) to not issue acute prescriptions as the patient needs to request them with the Clinican. Up to Date Contact Details It is vital that patients inform us of any changes to their contact details immediately, even if this is just a change of mobile telephone number. There are many situations in which we have to make contact with patients for example: to inform them of changes to appointment times, to discuss referrals to hospital, to inform them of test results, to request that they make an appointment for a review etc. We have repeated instances of being unable to contact patients in these situations which is not only very time consuming but can also causes potentially dangerous delays to a patient s medical care (for example if we need to respond to an unexpectedly abnormal test result and cannot contact the patient). If any of your contact details change please fill in a change of details form. These are available from reception or can be printed from our website. It is also important to remember to inform any other health services such as hospitals, clinics etc. that you use of your new details. 4
Running Late A Word of Explanation... We can understand your frustration when doctors or nurses run late. It is sometimes difficult for medical staff to provide not only the best possible care but also to work strictly to time. We always put your individual medical care above the smooth running of our timetable. Do you really need to go to A&E? Please don t go to a hospital A&E department unless you have a critical or life threatening problem. So where should you go and who should you call? NHS 111 Service NHS Direct provides a telephone advice service. You should use the 111 service if: You need medical help fast but it s not a life threatening 999 emergency You think you need to go to A&E or need another NHS Out of Hours Service You don t know who to call, don t have a GP or need medical information or advice Missed Appointments in October 2015 GP and Nurse Practitioner 114 - Nurse and HCA 134 A total of 51.5 clinical hours wasted Please let us know if you no longer want / cannot attend your appointment The basic cost price of an A&E attendance is 138 per patient before treatment or investigations. Prescriptions Repeat prescriptions are available for any patient who is on long-term medication authorised by the doctor, and all repeat prescriptions will be available within 24 hours of correct ordering. Prescription handed in before 10am will be ready for collection after 2pm on the same day. Prescriptions after 10am will be ready for collection after 2pm the following working day. Repeat medication requests should be made using the tear off slip provided with your prescription or on line. Please only request repeat medications within a week of their due date. We will however try to accommodate one off requests. IF YOU HAVE A NOMINATED PHARMACY FOR ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTIONS, YOU MUST INFORM THAT PHARMACY IF YOU DECIDE TO MOVE AS YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS WILL AUTOMATICALLY GO THERE! Request your repeat prescriptions online Request your repeat prescriptions quickly online by logging into your account and simply ticking the appropriate boxes. You can review the progress of your repeat prescriptions and any message that the practice may have sent to you. Please note that medication requests cannot be made by telephone, though you can register with a chemist of your choice to arrange ordering and delivery. You will need to make an appointment to see the doctor for any medication other than that on your authorised repeat slip. Please make an appointment to see the doctor for a medication review when requested to do so. 5
DNA (did not attend) Policy Background There is great pressure on appointment availability. National policy is to encourage patients to expect to be seen within 48 hours, or on the same day for more urgent problems. Aim As a practice we would like to reduce the rate of DNAs, by the use of education, a certain amount of pressure, and by considering the removal of those who persistently waste our time. Objectives To free up appointments for those who genuinely need them To reduce the waste of clinical time To reduce the pressure on all staff in being able to offer prompt appointments Policy A list of frequent non-attenders will be produced monthly and reviewed by the partners to identify any patients who should be excluded from the general policy, for reasons such as clinical memory problems. If a patient has missed 2 consecutive appointments, or 3 in a year, they will recieve a letter from the practice. One further DNA within 6 months of the first warning letter will result in a letter which will warn them of the risk of removal if no change is made. One further DNA will trigger a letter requiring attendance at an appointment with a named person to discuss their attendance record. Failure to make and keep this appointment within 14 days results in their name being put on the list of likely removals. In any event, one further DNA within 6 months will put their name on the removal list. Patient who are liable to be removed will be discussed at a practice meeting and one of the Parters will have the final dicision and authorise the removal from the practice list. What we do to try and help If we have a patients mobile telephone number, we do try and remind them of their appoinment via text. This is why it is important to let us know if you have changed your mobile telephone number. If a patient DNA's an appointment after they have received a text, we will text them again to respectfully remind them to cancel their appointments if they are unable to attend. Booking a telephone consultation on-line 80% of our consultations are released at midnight so instead of trying to get through on our very busy phone lines, why don t you register for on line bookings. Pick up a form from reception. 6
Plan to Meet GMS / PMS 2015-16 Contractual Requirement for Patient Online Service This practice plans to offer the facility for patients to view online, export or print detailed coded information held in their own records from 1 st April 2016. These dates are subject to the necessary NHS GP systems and software being available to the practice. This practice currently offers the facility for patients: to book, view, amend, cancel and print appointments online to order online, view and print a list of their repeat prescriptions for drugs, medicines or appliances to view online, export or print summary information from their record, relating to medications, allergies, adverse reactions and any other items agreed between the practice and individual patient We will publicise and promote our online services to our practice s patients through the practice website, practice waiting room leaflets, posters and the Virtual Patient Participation Group by End of February 2016. WE ARE A COLLECTION POINT FOR MISSION CHRISTMAS Please spare a extra Christmas present for a child who is living in poverty! Bring it into the surgery un wrapped and we will put it under our tree until the Mission Elves come to collect it, or put a donation in our bucket. Thank you advance for your generosity. Music
We want to be responsive to your needs.. We have received your views throughout the year and have used your feedback to improve the way we provide our services. Here are a few things you asked for :- 1. Mixed appointment system! We now not only offer telephone consultations but our doctors offer a mix of same day face to face, telephone consultations and prebookable appointments, catering for everybody s individual needs. 2. I am unable to get through the front doors and feel that I will have to move surgeries! We now have automated doors to enter and exit the building and have widened one of the doors in the surgery so wheelchair/pushchair access is better. 3. I am unable to cancel my appointment if I can t make it because the phone lines are busy! We now remind patients of their appointment time and that gives you the option to cancel the appointment by text if you can t attend. 4. I need to book an appointment with a Doctor in advance! More prebookable appointments have been made available on our appointment system. 5. I can t understand the message on your telephone system! A clearer message was recorded in November to make it easier for you to be directed to the correct out of hours service. 6. Can t find anything I need on your website! We listened to your comments and updates and improved our website for easier access to information which can be translated into different languages. 7. I can t breast feed my baby in the surgery! We appreciated that reception may not have been private enough from breastfeeding mums and we now offer a private room to assist our mothers when babies are hungry! 8. I rang 55 times this morning and couldn t get through on the phones for an appointment! We are aware how frustrating this is due to patient demand when possibly 1400 calls hit our system in the morning so we have released 80% of the appointments on line from Midnight each day to assist patients who do wish to use the internet to book an appointment. This has then freed up some availability for patients who just prefer the phone, as a way to get an appointment. 8