Greensands Medical Practice NEWSLETTER October 2013 / November 2013 Welcome to our latest newsletter Walk-in Flu Clinics THIS YEAR S WALK IN FLU CLINICS WILL BE HELD ON THE FOLLOWING DATES: POTTON COMMUNITY CENTRE TUESDAY 8 th OCTOBER 9.00-12.00 WEDNESDAY 9 th OCTOBER 16.00-18.00 THURSDAY 10 TH OCTOBER 14.00-16.00 TUESDAY 15 TH OCTOBER 9.00-12.00 WEDNESDAY 16 TH OCTOBER 16.00-18.00 WRESTLINGWORTH VILLAGE HALL MONDAY 14 th OCTOBER 14.00-16.00 GAMLINGAY ECO HUB, STOCKS LANE TUESDAY 8 th OCTOBER 16.00-18.00 THURSDAY 10 TH OCTOBER 9.00-12.00 THURSDAY 17 TH OCTOBER 9.00 12.00 You should have the seasonal flu vaccination if you are: Aged 65 years or over Pregnant Living in a residential or nursing home A carer of an older or disabled person Diagnosed with a chronic (long term) illness: o Long-term respiratory disease, such as severe Asthma, COPD or Bronchitis o Heart Disease, such as heart failure o Kidney Disease o Liver Disease o Neurological Disease, such as Stroke, TIA, Polio Syndrome o Diabetes o Weakened immune system due to conditions, such as HIV or AIDS, or treatments that suppress the immune system, such as chemotherapy A frontline health and social care worker (If you work in the private sector, discuss this with your employer)
Shingles Vaccination If you are aged 70 or 79 on the 1 st September 2013, you will also be offered a Shingles vaccination, as per the Department of Health recommendations. For further information please refer to the website www.shinglesaware.co.uk 25 Years in the Practice We are delighted to announce that Dr Taine celebrates her 25 th year working at the Practice in October. Congratulations! New Staff We are pleased to introduce Lorraine Spendlove who is our new Practice Nurse. Lorraine will join us on 14 th October and will work at our Potton and Gamlingay surgeries. I hope you will join us in welcoming Lorraine to the Practice. New Emergency Out of Hours Telephone Number Please note that the Emergency Out of Hours telephone number has changed to 0845 601 0244 Patient Participation Group The practice is actively seeking new members for our Patient Participation Group (PPG). The group consists of patients registered at the practice and practice staff. They meet on a regular basis and advise and support the practice on new initiatives. If you would like to become a member of the PPG, please contact our Practice Manager, Nicola Gauge on 01767 260340.
A&E Attendance It is estimated that almost half of all A&E attendances could have been treated by a GP, Local Pharmacist or basic First Aid. If a Patient attends Hospital this is a costly resource for the NHS, particularly attendance at the Accident and Emergency Department which potentially limits funds for other patients. We would therefore like to encourage Patients that before going to Accident and Emergency to talk to us first between the hours of 8.00am 6.30pm as this may prevent an unnecessary Hospital attendance as we can deal with a number of minor illnesses within the practice. Please contact us before going to A&E to see if we can help. In the event of an emergency call our emergency line: Potton Emergency Line: 01767 260229 Gamlingay Emergency Line: 01767 651546 If you have a non urgent enquiry please call our appointment line: Potton Appointment Line: 01767 260340 Gamlingay Appointment Line: 01767 651544 For all emergency calls between 6.30pm 8.00am Monday Friday and all day Saturday & Sunday contact our Out of Hours Provider on 0845 602 2475 or NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 who again may be able to prevent you attending Hospital. Minor Injury Service We are extremely fortunate that we are able to offer a Minor Injury Service to all of our patients in Potton and Gamlingay Surgeries. The following list gives guidance on the types of injuries and circumstances that lead to the use of our Minor Injury Service: 1. Lacerations capable of closure by simple techniques (stripping, gluing, suturing) 2. Bruises 3. Minor Dislocations 4. Foreign Bodies a. Non-penetrating superficial eye foreign bodies b. Accidently introduced foreign bodies external to ears and nose 5. Following recent injury of a severity not amenable to simple domestic first aid 6. Following recent injury where it is suspected stitches/steri-strips may be required 7. Following blows to the head where there has been no loss of consciousness 8. Recent eye injury 9. Partial thickness thermal burns or scalds involving broken skin a. Not over 1 inch diameter b. Not involving the hands, feet, face, neck, genital areas 10. Foreign bodies superficially embedded in tissues 11. Minor trauma to hands, limbs or feet
Minor Illness Nurses Our Minor Illness Nurses are available to help with acute problems and illnesses and can prescribe medication where appropriate. Appointments are available daily for the following: Flu-like symptoms Fever Headaches Coughs and Colds Earaches / Sore throats Stomach Pain Back Pain (Muscular) Hay Fever Skin Infections (Impetigo) Rashes Minor Accidents Cystitis Morning After Pill Gynaecology Clinic We are delighted to announce the return of the Gynaecology Clinic which will be held once a month in our Potton Surgery. A Consultant Gynaecologist from Bedford Hospital will attend for this clinic. Referrals to the clinic will be made via your GP directly. We are fortunate to have this additional service which will save our patients having to travel longer distances to been seen in hospital clinics. Coils and Contraceptive Implants Dr Jarvis is fully trained to fit coils and contraceptive implants. If you would like to have a coil or implant fitted please speak to a receptionist to make an appointment. Specimen drop offs We have a visit from the Bedford Hospital courier service every lunchtime to collect samples for analysis at the Hospital. We would greatly appreciate it if you could please drop off your samples before 11.00am. Unfortunately, we do not have any way of getting specimens to the Hospital after this time. Please ensure your full name and date of birth are printed clearly on every sample otherwise it may get rejected.
Patient Waiting Rooms As part of our ongoing internal redecoration we have added an additional patient waiting room at the rear of the Potton surgery. The Potton waiting rooms have been designated as FRONT WAITING ROOM & BACK WAITING ROOM and patients will be directed to the appropriate waiting room at the point of check-in. SMS Messages We are now able to send text messages to remind you of your appointments. If you are happy for us to contact you by text please ask a member of the reception team to add your mobile telephone number to your records. Please make sure that we have the correct contact information for you at all times. Please ensure that you let us know if you change your address and/or telephone numbers. It is really important that we have the correct information for you and your family. Website & Online Services We would like to take this opportunity to remind patients about our website www.greensands.org.uk The website contains up to date information on the Practice, our Doctors, Prescriptions, our Clinics and much more. It also provides a link to our online service SystmOnline which will allow you to book GP appointments and request repeat prescriptions online. If you would like to register to use the online service please speak to a member of our reception team. NHS Choices We conducted our annual Patient Survey throughout December 2012 and have displayed the results in our waiting rooms and on our website. Your feedback is always important to us and we thank you for taking the time to complete the questionnaire. We welcome your comments and suggestions throughout the year which can be left on the NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk alternatively you can leave your comments and suggestions in our suggestion boxes situated at each reception point. We would very much like to respond to any suggestions or comments personally; however anonymous entries are also very welcome.
Missed Appointments Unfortunately we have seen another disappointing number of missed appointments last month. There were 210 missed appointments in total, 133 at the Potton Surgery and 77 at the Gamlingay surgery. Please remember to call and cancel your appointment if you no longer need it so that it can be used for other patients. We also operate a telephone cancellation service at both surgeries which is available between the hours of 6.30pm and 8.00am as follows: Potton: 01767 260340 Option 3 Gamlingay: 01767 651544 Option 3 Travel Health If you are travelling abroad and need advice on any vaccination or tablets required for your holiday, please ensure that you pick up a travel health questionnaire from Reception when booking your appointments with our Nurses. Ideally, plan this appointment at least eight weeks before your holiday to allow time for any vaccination course to be completed. This questionnaire should be completed and returned to the Surgery at least one week before your appointment. The Nurse will look at your itinerary and plan your vaccination schedule beforehand.