Commencement of Building Works In the last newsletter we informed everyone that the practice is being expanded. We are now pleased to announce that the builders will be on site from Monday 15 th January. We would like to remind everybody of the potential dangers around a building site. Signs will be displayed for your safety and we ask that you abide by them. Please ensure that children are supervised at all times. Some of the car parking spaces will become temporarily unavailable as they will be used by the builders for their equipment and site office. We ask you to park considerately and be aware of the extra activity. Whilst the building is taking place there will be very little change to the services we offer, however the noise level may be significant at times. Unfortunately this is unavoidable. For anyone interested the plans are available to view in reception. Patient Numbers With the increased building on local estates our patient list size has continued to grow. Unfortunately it has been necessary to liaise with Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group to temporarily reduce our core catchment area to cope with the number of new patients wanting to register. The areas affected by this restriction are Brooklands, Broughton, Oakgrove and Monkston. As you will see from the chart below it was necessary for us to take some action before reaching a crisis point. 1
15000 14950 14900 14850 14800 14750 14700 14650 14600 14550 14500 14450 14400 14350 14300 Patient List Size Number of Patients at Start Enhanced Nursing Team We are pleased to inform you that another member of our administration team with previous clinical skills has joined our nursing team. Our nursing team now includes: Mel Sumner Fran Morgan Eunice Koranteng Louise Thorpe Gill Errington Sue Side Rebecca Whitehead With the expansion of our nursing team we have made some changes to the way we deliver some of our services. Diabetic Reviews Patients will now be offered an appointment with Gill, Sue or Rebecca for initial tests so that when they come for review with Fran or Aarti their results are available to discuss. 2
Anticoagulant Reviews We have invested in some new software which will enable Gill, Sue & Rebecca to do routine blood testing which is overseen by the patient s registered GP. Minor Illness As Gill, Sue & Rebecca are now undertaking anticoagulant reviews Mel is taking on the role of Minor Illness nurse and will see patients suffering from ailments such as earache, coughs & colds etc enabling the doctors to see patients with more complex conditions. Physiotherapy You may be aware that for some time NHS Physiotherapy has been provided in our practice by Newport Pagnell Physiotherapy. Unfortunately they have not secured an ongoing contract to provide this service so NHS Physiotherapy will no longer be provided in our practice. The new provider starts on 1 st February after which time all referrals will be sent to Connect Health. Health Visitors Health visiting across Milton Keynes has been centralised. As from 2 nd January all contact should be via a new telephone number of 01908 725100. This change has been made to enable the service to be more responsive to clients and professionals and to free up clinicians to focus on clinical work. 3
PPG Patient Participation Group If you would like to join our PPG then simply come along to a meeting. They are held monthly on a Thursday, and the dates are advertised on the PPG notice board. We would love to see you. If you cannot get to a meeting why not sign up to our Patient Reference Group where we will keep in contact via email. If you would like to leave your details with the reception staff you will be added to the practice contact list and will receive copies of the minutes of the meetings. Anne Falcus Manager s Blog The last year has given us an unprecedented amount of pressure in Practice. Our patient numbers are still increasing and we work hard to ensure that we meet patient demand without affecting the standard of care we provide. Sometimes this is more challenging and we need to make difficult decisions that aren t always popular. One of our challenges for this year will be the start of the building project. Obviously on any building site there are dangers. We will ensure that these are minimised but would ask you to take care and abide by the signage which is there for your safety. Unfortunately a few disruptions will be inevitable but all our services should run as normal. As always we look forward to your comments. Friends & Family cards are available in reception and you are all invited to attend the PPG in person if you wish. Mrs Kim Foy-Olowu (Practice Manager) 4
Are you caring for someone? If you are looking after someone at home, providing them with support, you may not consider yourself to be a carer. You may be missing out on services such as benefits, NHS flu vaccinations and other types of support. We understand that not everyone sees themselves as a carer, especially when caring for loved ones where home support comes naturally, but we would like to support carers by introducing you to some support, information and people in a similar position. If you would like some additional support, and give us your permission to record you as a carer, we will be able to put you in contact with Carers MK. Please complete the attached slip and hand it to reception. You can ask to speak to Helen who will be happy to help you. Please hand this form into reception I am a Carer The person I care for is Your Name: Your Date of Birth: Please arrange for me to speak to Helen. Please tick if required Please refer me to Carers MK. Please tick if required We are here to help you. 5