Newsletter No.9 Winter 2009

SUGGESTION BOX

Overhead lights are now in situ in the car park that come on at dusk.

Appointments: If you want to make an appointment urgently or fairly urgently, do not ask for a specific doctor. You will be seen sooner if you don't mind who you see. Please ring for routine appointments after 10.30am or in the afternoon when you will have little, if any, trouble getting through to the surgery. You can now make an appointment up to 3 weeks ahead.

PATIENT GROUP NEWS

Communication: We are hoping to put summaries of group meetings on the surgery website. We hope this will facilitate patient/surgery communication.

NHS Hearing Aid Batteries: You can get these free from the Dispensary. Please bring your hearing aid book with you to get new batteries.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM

The Practice telephone system can be very busy at certain times of the day and we appreciate that it can sometimes be difficult to get through. We are exploring ways in which we can make life easier for you, the patient, and also help the reception team. We receive in excess of 1,000 calls a week and of these over 35% are received on a Monday. A typical day sees 50% of calls coming in before 11am. The system has to cope with a very wide range of demand.

We are looking at facilities to enable alternative ways of booking or cancelling appointments. Also we will be conducting an audit of the patients' needs when telephoning. This may help us guide callers with specific requirements to certain times of the day.

Patients can also help. For instance, please leave calling the surgery for routine matters to quieter periods of the day after 11am. We will keep you updated with progress of our research.

TRAINEE DOCTORS

This Practice has been associated with the training of doctors for at least 30 years and is held in high regard for its commitment and quality in training. Following formal qualification, the structure of training has changed and the majority of doctors are now required to spend time in General Practice during their early years. As a consequence, you have probably noticed we have some new faces in our consulting rooms and these doctors are with us for 3, 6 or 12 months.

We may have two doctors in training at any one time and this has a knock-on effect on the availability of principal doctors. Actual appointments increase in number but sometimes you may have a longer wait to see the doctor of your choice. We all feel that these facilities are very important for the future General Practice and may we thank you for your support.

DISPENSING BY DOCTORS

Phil Hope, from the House of Commons, announced at the end of last year that there would be no changes made to current arrangements of dispensing by doctors. More information possible in the next Newsletter.

The Role of the Phlebotomist - Mandy Haines

Employed by Gloucester Primary Care Trust to take blood for routine blood tests. Mandy works Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays 8.30am to 1.30pm taking blood. On Mondays she is employed by the doctors as a Healthcare Assistant when she assists the Nursing team. For example, taking blood pressures and ECGs. As Mandy is not trained as a nurse she is unable to give advice on clinical matters. Following suggestions from patients, the surgery has been able to arrange that appointments for blood tests can now be made up to six weeks in advance. Hopefully, this well make life easier for those patients requiring regular blood tests.

EXPERT PATIENT PROGRAMME

The Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust are pleased to offer a free self management course called the Expert Patient Programme (EPP). It is an NHS initiative to help those living with long-term conditions to improve the quality of their lives. A FREE course, for those over 18, EPP focuses on developing self help skills.

Weekly sessions are 2.5 hours long, over a 6 week period. EPP is led by volunteer tutors, people who have long term conditions themselves.

Participants learn ways to deal with stress, depression and low self image, how to manage pain and fatigue, new ways to relax and stay healthy. Participants are encouraged to manage their condition in partnership with health care professionals, learning how to improve communication with them in sharing responsibility for their own health. All the tools and techniques to help you take control of your life and not let your condition rule you. Also in Gloucestershire we are now able to offer the 'looking after me' course which is a specific course for carers. If you would like to register or require more information , please call Kay James on 01452 309217 for more details and availability of local courses. Or email kay.james@glos.nhs.uk

SURVEY OF THE DISPENSARY SERVICES AND FACILITIES

This has produced overall very positive responses. We will publish more details in the Spring Newsletter and plan to feature different questions posed by patients over the next few Newsletters, eg.

Q: Can you order your next month's medication when collecting this month's?

A: Yes. Leave the medication request with the dispensary. We will put it in the diary system in time for routine collection. It will not be ready in advance of your normal collection time.

Q: Can I order all my medications at one time to avoid several visits?

A: In most cases it is possible to synchronise the renewal of your medications. Please ask the dispensary team. It will also be more efficient for them.

ADVICE FOR WINTER COUGHS AND COLDS

These usually start with a sore throat, runny nose, cough, raised temperature and aches. All these are caused by viruses, therefore antibiotics, which cannot kill viruses, would be ineffective.

You should take the recommended dose of paracetamol for your temperature and aches. Also drink plenty of fluids. Hot drinks have a more soothing effect than cold.

Trials carried out at Cardiff University’s Common Cold Centre have found that:

a hot drink of an apple and blackcurrant cordial provided immediate and sustained relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness.
Zinc lozenges can also help shorten the duration of symptoms.
Large doses of Vitamin C, in most cases, will not ward off colds.