Download November 2016 - The Osmaston Surgery

November 2016
Flu Clinics
All of our ‘drop-in’ flu clinics have now finished – if you have not yet had your flu
vaccination please make an appointment with the nurse.
The flu vaccine is available to all adults over the age of 65 and those aged 6 months
or older with the following conditions:
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chronic (long-term) respiratory disease, such as severe asthma, COPD or
bronchitis
chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
chronic kidney disease (chronic renal failure)
chronic liver disease
chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson's disease or motor neurone
disease, stroke, trans-ischaemic attack (TIA), MS or hereditary and
degenerative disease of the central nervous system
diabetes
a weakened immune system due to disease (such as HIV/AIDS) or treatment
(such as cancer treatment), have no spleen or whose spleen does not work
properly
Pregnant Women
those in contact with people who may be at risk of developing serious
complications from flu
 people living in long stay residential care homes
 carers
 healthcare professionals
Children Nasal Flu Vaccine
Letters have been sent out to parents of children that are in the catchment groups to
have the childrens nasal flu vaccine. Please contact the surgery to make an
appointment with the nurse.
New Appointment System
If you have contacted the surgery in the last month you will have noticed that our
appointment system has changed.
Whereas before we used to have a ‘Duty doctor’ system that came into action if all
our appointments for a particular day had been taken but you felt that your
problem/question could not wait until the next available appointment the ‘Duty doctor’
would call you back, this system has now stopped. The reason the change has been
necessary is that the number of calls the doctor was having to make was becoming a
concern for both the doctors and the patients with sometimes up to 150 calls to make
it might have been that you would not get a call back until late in the evening, which
is not a good service to offer you as patients or safe practice for a doctor that has
been making telephone calls since 8am in the morning.
We still have pre-bookable appointments that are available with the doctors 14 days,
2 days and now also 1 day in advance. If you call and feel that you need to see a
doctor on the same day because you have become unwell we now offer a ‘Drop-In’
Clinic, which means you are told to come down straight away, your name will be
added to the Drop-In clinic list and you will be seen in the order which you arrive, we
cannot give you a time that you will be seen as it depends on how long each patient
is in but the sooner you come down the fewer there will be before you.
If you would like some telephone advice or a continuation fit note we have increased
the number of telephone consultation slots for each GP and they will telephone you
the next day they have a clinic, the receptionist will tell you which day this is.
Staffing
As mentioned in the October Newsletter, we are under-going some changes within
the practice.
We are currently trying to recruit new GPs to the practice and whilst we are waiting
to fill the vacant positions we are employing some Locum staff.
Dr Ian Ferrer joined the practice working Tuesdays and Wednesdays on 4th October
2106. Dr Lucy Etukakpan will be returning to the practice to help by working
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from November 2016.
Mr Khaled is an Advanced Practitioner (AP) who has been working in the practice
since the beginning of September consulting patients in the same way that a GP
does. He is not be able to treat pregnant ladies, ladies with ‘lady problems’, or babies
under 6 months but can consult children over 6 months and adults for acute
conditions or to help with on-going problems and prescribe or refer to other services
where necessary in the same way as a GP.
We also now have 2 GP Registrars. In addition to Dr Hina working on Tuesdays,
Wednesday mornings and Fridays we now have Dr Saunders working in the practice
on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Our Clinical Pharmacist, Mr Waqas Ahmed will be able to help you with your
medication reviews, any queries that you had about your medication and will also
work closely with the GPs regarding your conditions and medications.
Dr Steve Stanley-Smith will be leaving the practice as he retires on 14th January
2017, we will all miss him but wish him well for the future and in his retirement.
Car Parking
Just a quick reminder that whilst you are attending the surgery you can park next
door at the old Derby Engineers Club, there is a large car park that extends round
the back of the building. The surgery car park can get quite busy so please make
use of this extra facility that is available to you.
Repeat Prescriptions
Please remember to order your repeat prescriptions in plenty of time, ideally when
you have at least 7 to 10 days of tablets left. This is to allow enough time without
running out of tablets should the doctor need to see you about your medications
before issuing them.
Also only order the items you need not your complete repeat list if you have enough
medication still at home. If a pharmacy orders your medication for you please let
them know if there are items you do not need.
Always read your repeat medication slip, if we need to see you we will put a
message on the slip. If your pharmacist keeps your repeat medication slip check
your bag label when you receive your medication to see if there is a message on it
about seeing the doctor before any more prescriptions will be issued to avoid any
delays in receiving your next lot of medication.
Fit Notes (used to be called sick notes)
If you need a fit note because you have been off work for more than 7 days and we
have previously seen you because of the illness you are requesting the note for, it
might be that you do not need to see the doctor again. You might be able to get a
further fit note by talking to the same doctor again over the telephone, this will not be
dealt with as an urgent request as fit notes can be backdated but cannot be issued in
advance. If the doctor that previously saw you and/or issued your last fit note is not
in that day a message will be left for them to contact you the next day they are in
surgery. If they are on annual leave then another doctor will call you.
Telephone System
As you will be aware if you have contacted the surgery since 7 th September our new
telephone system is up and running.
You now have several options when you call:
Option 1
Appointments
Option 2
Test Results
Option 3
Prescription queries
Option 4
Medical Reports
Option 5
Referrals
Option 6
Care Co-ordinator
Or
hold to speak to reception
Once you have selected one of the options above you will be told where you are in
the queue so that you can make a decision to either continue to hold or call back at a
less busy time.
Any suggestions or feedback, good or bad would be appreciated.
Patient Group Meeting
The next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday 11th January 2017, this will be an
afternoon meeting starting at 3:00pm, in the main reception area. All patients are
welcome to attend and minutes of the meeting will be posted on our website for
those unable to attend www.osmastonsurgery.co.uk
Please let us know if there are any topics you wish us to cover in our newsletter, you
can send suggestions via our website or a good old fashioned letter addressed to
Suzanne Rigbye, Practice Manager.
The Surgery will be CLOSED on the following dates/times:
Wednesday
Monday
Tuesday
Monday
16th November 2016
26th December 2016
27th December 2016
2nd January 2017
2:00pm – 3:30pm
All day
All day
All day
Staff Training
Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday