Home  Newsletter and latest news Summer 2008 |
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INNSandOUTS Practice Newsletter Summer 2008 Issue 17
INNSandOUTS, our quarterly newsletter is designed to inform you of developments within the Practice, local and national health issues and other information to help you get the best from the services we offer.
New Team Members
We are pleased to welcome our new Registrar, Doctor Rajat Srivastava, who will join us in August.
Opening Times (Gold Street)
As a result of comments received during our recent patient survey, we have altered our
opening hours in line with patients’ stated preferences. Surgery opening times are: Monday to Friday – 08.00am to 6.00pm Emergency telephone access is available throughout the day from 8.00am to 6.30pm
Opening Times (Earls Barton Surgery) The opening times at the branch surgery are: Mondays to Thursdays - 8:30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 5.00pmFridays – 8.30am until 12.30pm. Additional Opening We are also pleased to announce that we have introduced two new “extended hours” surgeries, aimed specifically at those patients who cannot get to the surgery during routine weekday opening times. These additional surgery times are: Tuesdays 6.30pm to 8.00pm – by appointmentSaturdays 8.00am to 9.45am – by appointment Repeat Prescribing
Repeat prescriptions can be requested either by using one of the two ‘post boxes’ that are situated outside the main doors (for use when the surgery is closed) or in the waiting room or, of course, by post. If a stamped addressed envelope is enclosed your new prescription will be sent back to you. Please note, that there is no requirement to see your doctor to arrange for repeat medication. However, when a review date is shown, this is purely for internal purposes and does not signify that an appointment is needed. If a ‘review appointment’ is required, you will be notified by letter or by a message on your next repeat prescription slip. Attendance for Appointments It is the policy of the Practice that patients who arrive late by twenty minutes or more for their appointment cannot be assured of being seen as arranged. Two choices may be offered: a) to wait until the doctor with whom the appointment had been made has finished his or her surgery to be seen at the end, or b) to arrange another appointment through the receptionist.
New same day appointment booking system In an effort to improve access for you, we have introduced a new way of working that we hope will reduce appointment waiting times. We now have an “on call team” which involves both doctors and nurse practitioners every morning and afternoon. All patients who need to be seen as ‘same day’ appointments, i.e. those who need to be seen without delay for a serious problem, which cannot wait, will be booked to this team and seen by the most appropriate clinician. This system will free up appointments for GP advanced bookings and is already having a positive impact in reducing wait times.
Advance booking appointments It is practice policy that when you wish to make an appointment you will be asked the nature of the problem. The reason for this is to ensure that you are seen by the most appropriate medical professional, be it a doctor, nurse practitioner or health visitor. To improve the range of appointments we offer the treatment area nurses are now available for routine blood pressure and contraception checks and hope to provide asthma and hormone replacement therapy checks in the future.
Smoking Cessation clinics We continue to hold regular smoking cessation advice clinics at Gold Street on Wednesdays with our own specially trained advisers. To access this service you must be seen by one of our clinicians who will then refer you to our smoking cessation team. The team have been successful in helping more than 50 people quit smoking.
Afternoon Closures The surgery will be closed on the following afternoons for ongoing development training for all doctors and staff: Tuesday 8th July, Thursday 4th September and Wednesday 1st October. If you require a doctor on these afternoons, telephone the surgery in the usual way and you will be put in touch with the doctor on call service. If you want general medical advice at any time, telephone NHS Direct on 0845 4647.
Out of hours Out of hours cover (from 6:30pm-8:00am) and at weekends, bank holidays etc. is available for urgent medical problems. The practice is served by an out of hours service covering Nights, Evenings and Weekends called NENEDOC, (incorporating Keydoc) which is based within the hospital grounds at Kettering. The telephone number for advice is 01536 522955. Alternatively you can telephone NHS Direct on 0845 4647 for immediate health advice at any time of the day or night.
Travel Advice Clinics This travel clinic is only held at our Gold Street surgery one afternoon each week. Appointments are booked though our receptionists in the usual way and travellers must allow at least 6 weeks notice prior to travel. Some aspects of this service is outside the scope of the NHS and fees are charged as displayed in the waiting room. In addition, please note that a non-refundable deposit of £10 per person is payable upon making a ‘travel appointment’ in respect of the necessary ‘risks to health’ research by our travel specialist and administration incurred. New Premises The medical centre in Gold Street was opened in 1974. It was a ‘state-of-the-art’ and ground breaking design for its day. There were 21 doctors and 6 Practices in the building at one time and now 12 doctors and 3 Practices, however, the number of other clinical staff employed has rapidly increased to help cope with the significant extra work undertaken. We are struggling for space! Many of you have been aware of our intention to move to new premises and at last we have been successful in negotiating a deal to build on the Isebrook hospital site, thanks to the hard work of Dr McMahon. We also have some very exciting plans which will provide a spacious and light first-floor area in a modern building with 12 consulting rooms, back to being a ‘state-of-the-art’ medical centre as we were in 1974. A lot of background discussions have taken place with the PCT such that this is in keeping with their current estates strategy. How many of you have been frustrated at finding a parking space when you come to visit us? We will now be able to offer plenty of parking and we will also be ensuring good public transport links to the new site. We believe that you will be delighted with your new medical centre and although many people do not like change, this has got to be in the best interests of our patients. We hope to move in early 2010 and although we will make the transition as smooth as possible there may be some temporary disruption in our service but we will try to keep this to a minimum. Please bear with us. We will all be involved with the task of making sure the layout, equipment and function of the building suits everyone – no mean task and many hours of work. We hope to get it right for you all and look forward to welcoming you when we move in.
Patient Participation Group The patient participation group has met on 18th December 2007, 18th March and 10th June 2008 and held informal discussions on a range of topics. The next meeting is scheduled for September 2008.
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