| Latest
News dated 1st February 2012 |
Northlands Surgery Newsletter:
Issue 2, the January edition of Health Matters, the Northlands Surgery newsletter has
now been published. To read it online, please click the link below.
The
newsletter is available here as an Adobe PDF. If you need the free
Adobe PDF reader, please follow the relevant link below to download it.
Previous editions of Health Matters are
still available on the
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
page.
Departures and
Arrivals:
At the beginning of February we say goodbye
to Dr Roland Teare who has been with us as a Registrar for the last six
months. We wish him well in his next placement and his future
career.
Roland is replaced as a Specialist
Training Year Two Registrar by Dr Kimberly Bruce who will also be with us
for six months, up to the summer. Kimberly will soon start to see
patients.
New Computer System:
During September 2011, Northlands replaced the computer system
used to process all patient data. Two areas of the changeover specifically affect users of this web
site.
Firstly, the system for booking and cancellation of appointments over the internet
changed. Please see the
APPOINTMENTS
PAGE for further details, including
information about changes to the logging in procedure on the new system.
Secondly, the method of requesting repeat prescriptions changed in
early November 2011. In order to request a repeat
prescription on the internet you now need to have previously
registered to use the Internet Access facility, as has always been the case
for appointment booking. Please see the
REPEAT PRESCRIPTION PAGE
for further details including how to apply for an Internet Access account.
Repeat Prescription Requests
by Telephone:
Please note that, in the interests of patient
safety, the telephone prescription requests service has now been
withdrawn.
Please request your repeat prescription
either by going via the
REPEAT PRESCRIPTION PAGE
here on the website or by sending your completed repeat slip in by post or
by bringing it in to the surgery personally.
Wasted Appointments:
In January 2012, 177 appointment slots were lost because 166 patients missed them without letting us know.
47 of the slots were for
appointments with doctors and 130 were for appointments with nurses or
other staff. The time lost to the surgery from those missed
appointments was 37 hours and 13 minutes.
Missing appointments
without letting us know beforehand affects everyone. It means we are
able to see fewer patients and the waiting time for appointments is
longer.
If you know you are
not going to attend an appointment please tell us as soon as possible.
The telephone service for cancelling an appointment, on
01249 812141, then Option 4 from the menu, is available day and night, including
weekends and Public Holidays.
Due to the number of wasted appointments through patients failing to attend without informing us, it has become necessary to implement the following
policy:-
If you repeatedly fail to attend
appointments without informing us in advance, you may be removed from this practice list and will have to find an alternative doctor.
Patient Participation
Group:
We are pleased to announce that the Northlands Patient Participation Group
(PPG) is now up and running. Thank you to all our volunteers.
The PPG is made up of a
virtual community (i.e. patients who want to be involved via e-mail) and
patients who are able to meet up from time to time at the surgery.
Membership of the group is open to all. Please ask at reception for
a form if you would like to join the group.
The PPG recently designed a survey so that patients could get
involved in decisions about the range and quality of services provided by the surgery, as well as by other agencies, and help us plan
together for the future.
Text Reminders for
Appointments:
During November 2011 we reintroduced our popular
text reminder service for appointments.
If you would like to take advantage of this
service and we do not currently have a note of your mobile telephone
number, please let a member of the reception staff know what it is and you
will automatically start to receive reminders.
We will assume that you would like to take
advantage of this service if we have your mobile telephone number, but if
you would prefer not to receive text reminders for your appointments,
please let the reception staff know and we can opt your number out of the
service.
Extended
Opening Hours:
As
a result of patient feedback, we operate extended opening hours as follows:-
Monday and
Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm
to 8.00pm.
If it would
be more convenient for you to visit the doctor during these times please
use the
APPOINTMENTS
PAGE here on the web if you're registered for
Internet Access; or ask at reception; or contact our appointments line on 01249
812141, then Option 1 from the menu, to book an appointment.
Please note that you will
NOT BE SEEN by a doctor during these times if you do not have an
appointment made in advance.
You will
NOT be able to telephone the surgery during these extended opening times; the
Out of Hours service will deal with ALL telephone calls and visit
requests as they do now.
Calling all Carers:
Northlands
Surgery wishes to establish a register of carers and invites all patients
who are caring for someone to enrol.
As a carer,
you may feel you need some help and support for yourself.
This
information is also helpful to enable the surgery to plan our services.
You may
have been caring for the person in their home, your home or elsewhere,
regularly helping them with everyday tasks or giving them assistance and
support which they need.
Perhaps you
see it as part of your life, or duty, to care for your mum or dad,
partner, child or friend, but there may be times when you need
information, advice or some extra help.
When you are a carer, it is often difficult to have a real break
because someone depends on you to look after them.
You can get tired and run down and your health may suffer.
Telling
your doctor can help him or her to support you and make sure you get the
right sort of care.
Carers
themselves have felt that it is important that doctors recognise and value
the work they do as carers.
We are
trying to trace all those patients who are carers and set up a Carers’
Register. This will mean that
your caring role is recognised by the practice and steps are taken to
support you.
If you wish
your name to be included in the practice carers’ register, please tell us at
reception the next time you visit; telephone us, preferably in the early
afternoon when the lines are quieter; or use our
CONTACT US
form, here on
the web.
As
a carer, you are also entitled to a flu vaccination each year, so please
ask about booking an appointment.
