Flu vaccinations are available now. The vaccinations are for:

• all patients over the age of 65

• all patient under the age of 65 who have any of the following medical conditions:

• Asthma or other respiratory illnesses

• Diabetes

• Other chronic medical condition, eg. kidney, liver, heart disease

• all carers and healthcare workers

  Flu Clinics will be held this year as follows:

  High Street:  

  Monday 8 October p.m.          Wednesday 10 October p.m.

  Thursday 11 October p.m.     Wednesday 17 October p.m.             Friday 19 October p.m.

  Firs:               

  Friday 12 October p.m.           Friday 26 October p.m.

  Please book your appointment via our receptionists

  Pneumococcal Vaccination

  Pneumococcal infection can cause diseases such as pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis in older people who are at most risk of getting the infection.  The Pneumococcal Vaccine is now recommended for everyone aged 65 years or over.  It is also recommended for adults and children who are at increased risk because of long term treatments or conditions such as chronic bronchitis, serious heart, liver or kidney disease and diabetes.   Vaccination is usually required only once in a lifetime.  If you are unsure whether you need the vaccine then please ask at reception.  You can book your appointment at any time for this vaccination at reception or it can be given at the same time as the influenza vaccine.

Do I always need to see a doctor?

No, it is not always necessary to see a doctor, we are fortunate that we have a team of highly qualified and experienced nurses that can treat the conditions below.

• Asthma, Eczema, Hayfever, Allergies
• Ear infections, Sinusitis, Sore throats, Eye infections
• Rashes, Shingles, Boils, Abscesses, Acne, Bites
• Head lice, scabies, threadworm
• Infected cuts and wounds
• Minor burns
• Urinary tract infection
• Vaginal discharge

Our nursing team can also provide telephone advice for: Childhood diseases, Colds/Flu, Constipation, diarrhoea, vomiting.

Thank you to everyone who has given feedback on the music in the waiting room, some good and some bad.  We introduced the music in response to patients’ concerns that confidential issues being discussed at reception could be heard by patients waiting for their appointments.  We also realised that on occasion patients in the waiting room upstairs might overhear conversations from neighbouring consulting rooms.  Having played Classic fm for a few months now your feedback suggested that this was not a popular music station.  We have now switched to radio 2.  It is not possible to please everyone but hopefully this station will offer the variety of music and chat to improve the balance?

Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey forms.  We met with a representative of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum to discuss the outcome of the annual survey.  The patient representatives felt that there had been a very encouraging response with many answers in the very good and excellent categories with very few poor ones.

 Action plan based on survey findings 

 Booking appointments in advance

We already offer the facility of booking an appointment with a GP up to two weeks in advance but from your survey comments it seems this is not meeting your needs.  We are therefore conducting a couple of data collection exercises over the next few months to identify the type and number of appointments needed.  We will then use the information to review our appointments system and try to improve the pre-booking facility for you.

Trying to get through on the telephone

We are sorry that you are experiencing problems in contacting us early in the morning.  We already have three receptionists answering the telephones but we soon hope to have an additional receptionist available for this critical time.  We will also be conducting a survey of our call volume pattern to review staffing levels. 

 We are conducting this year's practice survey during September and October. We appreciate your help in completing the survey forms. We are required to survey our patients by the Department of Health. We apologise that the questions must be the same as last year. Remember that we welcome any comments or suggestions you may have and you can address them to our practice manager Mrs Brenda Pittham, by phone, or by letter.

Obtaining Your Test Results

Test results are available by telephone after 14.30 at the High Street and 11.00 at the Firs when the telephones and reception staff are less busy. 

Please allow for the following timescales before requesting your results

• Routine test results (e.g. bloods, urine) – 1 week 
• INRs - 24 hours – Please telephone the next day. 
• Radiology e.g. X Rays - 6 weeks. 

Please note that we like patients to be responsible for finding out the results of their tests.  We will only give the results of patients over the age of 16 directly to the patient.  If you would like your results released to someone else we will need your written approval to do so.