Summer 2009

 

                       

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

 

·        Staff changes

·      Making blood test appointments

·      Dispensary News

·      Travel Plans 2009

·      Questionnaire Results 08/09

·        Pandemic Flu – what will this mean for me as a patient

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General Surgery Information

How you can help us?

Telephoning the Surgery

It would be appreciated if patients could ring for:

 

Home visit requests before 11am

Results of tests after 12 noon

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REQUESTS FOR

REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS

48 hours notice required please

By using the right hand side of present repeat prescription and:-

·          leaving in box inside Surgery entrance (or box outside when door locked and Surgery closed)

·          Posting to Surgery (including s.a.e. for return by post)

·          Leaving at Wards of Warboys or Lloyds Chemist branches in Ramsey

Alternatively by faxing or e-mailing your request to the Surgery.

 

If you come to the Surgery to request a repeat prescription without the green prescription slip – you will be given a form to fill in your medication details

*  *  *  *  *  *

Dispensary Request

 

As we are now in the holiday period we would ask patients to think about their medication requirements well in advance of a departure date.   This is particularly relevant if a patient uses the “advance ordering” system.

 

Many thanks, Dispensary Team

 

 

 

 
 
THE MOAT HOUSE SURGERY

       NEWSLETTER

The Moat House Surgery, Beech Close, Warboys,

Huntingdon, Cambs   PE28 2RQ

 

Tel:   01487 822230                                          Fax:  01487 823721

Appointments:   01487 824033 / 824207

E-mail: moat.house@nhs.net

        

www.wardoc.demon.co.uk               NHS DIRECT: - 0845 46 47                        

Resource Centre: 01487 822325      District Nurses:  01487 822385

 

Patients should continue to dial 01487 822230

in an EMERGENCY at all times

 

 

 

                                

                                                                                                                       

 

Staff Changes since our last Newsletter

 

Although we were sorry that Fiona Jones has left the practice to move back to London, we are pleased to report that we have now recruited a new nurse, Annette Farrow, who joined the team on Monday 1st June. Annette has previously been working at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and will eventually be taking on the childhood immunization programme along with her other nursing duties. 

 

This now brings the complement back to four nurses and one health care assistant.  We have been very lucky that Sue Darlington, who previously worked for us, has been helping us out with cover whilst we recruited.

 

Making blood test appointments

 

As you know the majority of doctor and nursing appointments are “book on the day”.  This is not the case with regards to our health care assistant/phlebotomist.  If you have been advised by your doctor or nurse to have a blood test then please either make this appointment whilst you are in the surgery (reception desk) or when you get home.  These appointments can be made well in advance.  The receptionist will endeavour to make the most convenient appointment for you within a 2 week period, the clinician will have advised how urgent this will be.

 

Dispensary News

 

Please could anyone holding a current exemption certificate please remember to bring it in with you when you next collect your repeat medication from the dispensary.  We are planning to update our records and will need to see the expiry date on the certificate.

 

Thanks in advance from Louise and Pam

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: Travel Plans 2009 Travel Nurse – Jacquie Merritt If you are planning to go abroad for your holiday/business please either phone or pop into the surgery and fill in a TRAVEL REQUEST FORM at least 6 weeks prior to your departure. Any travellers going away for over a month backpacking, trekking or multiple destinations, if possible please allow 3 months notice to allow sufficient time to complete all vaccination courses. Unfortunately if you do not allow enough time to give you full protection, we may not be able to make you an appointment as partial protection does not meet our standards. Please be aware of this particularly when taking advantage of short notice travel offers. For registered patients, if it is possible to provide protection within NHS rules, we do not at present levy any vaccine charge even when we are allowed to do so. Increasingly exotic travel means that several vaccines are not available at NHS expense and have to be purchased privately. You may also be charged a standard fee for administration of the vaccine at the time of the procedure. If you require any travel advice, vaccinations or anti-malarials we can check it all out for you and will give you a ring to make a convenient appointment. Any queries please do not hesitate to get in contact with the Surgery on 01487 822230 between 9:00-4:00pm Monday to Friday.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


   

 

 

Questionnaire Results 2008/09

 

The full results of the questionnaire completed by patients in the autumn 2008 are available on

the practice website www.wardoc.demon.co.uk, the results are too long to include within this newsletter

we have picked out some results as you will see below.  If you do not have access to a computer

we can give you a copy of these results on application. 

 

Summary of response – There were 200 questionnaires collected by the practice which gives a

response rate of 80%.  The practice used the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ)

with the results being collated by the Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust.

 

Overall Satisfaction

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

167

26

1

0

86%

13%

1%

0%

 

 

How do you rate the way you are treated by receptionists at your surgery?

Poor

Average

Good

Excellent

1

4

59

130

1%

2%

30%

67%

 

How do you rate the hours that your surgery is open for appointments?

Poor

Average

Good

Excellent

0

17

92

85

0%

9%

47%

44%

 

What additional hours would you like the surgery to be open?

Early Morning

Lunch times

Evenings

Weekends

None, I am Satisfied

16

2

37

45

111

8%

1%

19%

24%

58%

 

 

We were very pleased with the results of the questionnaire as the overall satisfaction was very high, with

86% rating the practice as excellent.  This is the highest percentage recorded to date by any practice in

this locality in 2008.

 

The one area where patients’ rating were not well above average was the ability to get through to the surgery

on the phone.  In our defence we feel that this is only a problem during the magical hour of 8.00-9.00am

when patients are obviously very keen to speak to a receptionist to make an appointment.  We would

strongly suggest that if you left it until after 9.00am you would not have a problem getting through and we

would always have appointments available throughout the day.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: What is Pandemic Flu and what can I do about it? Flu is an illness caused by an infection of the influenza virus. The flu virus constantly changes and there are many different strains. What they are calling “swine flu” is actually an influenza A H1N1 strain which is a respiratory disease that infects pigs. This is not an uncommon outbreak in pigs which become ill but rarely die from the virus. Unfortunately in this instance the virus has moved across to humans. As this now appears to be spreading from human to human this could lead to a “pandemic flu outbreak”. This is different from seasonal flu because it is a new virus so no-one will have immunity to it and everyone could be at risk of catching it. This includes healthy adults as well as older people and children. Without being alarmist this could mean that over 50% of the population could catch this within a matter of weeks leading to difficulties maintaining services across the country. It is certainly worth reiterating that Prevention is better than cure and the Government adverts about Catch it, Bin it, Kill it are very relevant. The virus can be easily spread from nose/mouth to hands to all objects touched, it can live on surfaces for days and hot, soapy water is still the best way of killing it on hands and surfaces. Preparation is necessary so ensure that you have a supply of paper tissues (do not use fabric tissues), know your NHS number (this is shown on repeat prescriptions) or ask one of our reception team. Keep up to date with the latest help and advice through radio and TV. Confirm you have “flu friends” these are friends and neighbours who can help if you become ill, they could get food or collect your medication so you do not have to leave the house. This is vital to help stop the virus from spreading. Have a two week stock of food and other supplies in case you or your family are ill. Ensure that you have a supply of appropriate self-help medication in the house such as aspirin, Ibuprofen or paracetamol (be advised by your local chemist).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                

           

                 

         What will happen if they do announce it is a Pandemic?

 

  We would firstly suggest that our patients keep this newsletter to hand to refer to the various contact

  numbers

§         NHS Direct 0845 4647

§         Flu information line 0800 1 513 513

§         Surgery Flu line 07538 246050 (to be activated once Pandemic announced)

§         Surgery phone number 01487 822230

 

  If you have internet access NHSDirect have a “symptom checker” and our own website has a Pandemic

  Flu page - www.wardoc.demon.co.uk.

 

  As you can appreciate we will have to prioritise our services as it may be that our own staff are off sick

  reducing our ability to operate as usual.    It may be that we will have to stop our clinics for diabetes,

  asthma, heart disease, childhood immunizations etc during this time.    It is also worth mentioning

  that your local hospital will have to cancel all routine appointments and surgical procedures during a

  pandemic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Although flu symptoms can mimic a cold in the early stages it is different.   Symptoms include:-

 

§         Fever

§         Cough

§         Headache

§         Weakness and fatigue

§         Aching muscles and joint

§         Sore throat

§         Runny nose

  

  You will have heard that the Government has stockpiled a drug called Tamiflu. This is not a cure and

  it will need to be taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms but it can help to reduce the length

  of time you feel particularly unwell by a day and reduce the risk of complications.    We understand

  this will be distributed to central locations for patients to collect once they have been diagnosed.  It

  will not be used as a preventative and will not be stored in the surgery.    

 

  Our advice will be:

§         Stay at home and rest

§         Do not come to the surgery unless advised otherwise

§         Take medications such as aspirin, Ibuprofen or paracetamol (following

the instructions – children under 16 should not be given aspirin or

ready made flu remedies)

§         Drink plenty of fluids (small sips)

 

  Unfortunately we will only be able to cope with the number of potential cases if all our patients do

  not attempt to contact the surgery by telephone.  We will be adding an additional page to our website

  that you can go to for further advice which will be updated daily/weekly.   The doctors will only be

  able to see patients with secondary complications such as breathing difficulties and you may be directed

  to another site for this consultation.  Parents of unwell children should always contact the surgery

  for advice.

 

  With regards to the seasonal flu vaccination programme, this is still planned to start in October.

  Currently this vaccine DOES NOT include the H1N1 strain.   We continue to strongly recommend this

  vaccination for all the under 65s in the at risk groups (asthma, diabetes, heart disease, renal disease,

  carers and autoimmunity) + all patients over 65 years.  We are in the process of identifying dates

  for this injection and plan to write to patients over the next few months offering appointments.

  It is worth mentioning that this injection will not offer protection against the swine flu, but it is

  still important to get protection from the seasonal flu strains.

 

  We are obviously hoping that this Pandemic does not take affect but it is important that you are

  kept up to date with plans to cope with this if it does.  This is not intended to alarm you in any way

  but being able to plan for the worst and hope for the best can help.