Closure - Monday 19th September 2022

The Practice will be closed on Monday 19th September in recognition of the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth ll. 

Out of Hours services will still be available. please ring 111 for urgent medical advice and 999 in the case of a life threatening medical emergency. 

The practice will reopen at 8:30am on Tuesday 20th September 2022. 

Join the team

Exciting opportunity has arisen for a Lead Receptionist to join our dynamic and friendly reception team. This role will be 17hours a week worked over 4 days. The hours are: Tuesday 3pm- 6.30pm, Wednesday 3pm - 6:30pm, Thursday 1:30pm - 6:30pm and Friday 1:30pm - 6:30pm. The aim of this role is to effectively lead, monitor, train and develop a team of 16 receptionists within the practice. To be the first point of contact for all the clinical team, managers and patients. If you have been working in a GP reception for at least 2 years this role could be a great opportunity for career progression. 

To apply for this post wither pop your CV into the practice, email to craneswater@nhs.net or apply following the link below. If you have any further questions please contact the surgery on 02392 828281 and ask for Karen Moore. 

https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/xi/direct_apply/?vac_ref=917418821 

Dr Durnford - Long Term Leave

Dr Durnford will be taking some time out from May 2022 for dependant leave. She will be away from the practice for several months.

Staff Shortages

All the team at Craneswater Group Practice are working hard to care for you this winter. Like the rest of the NHS we are experiencing staff absences at short notice due to covid-19. This can make it difficult to provide a normal level of service for you including longer call waiting times. 

If you have a minor illness please consider accessing help in other ways including through your local pharmacy. 

Thank you for your support and patience during this difficult time. 

Covid - 19 - NHS Vaccine Rollout

We are now in a position to offer the Covid -19 vaccine to all patients over the age of 16. Please contact us to arrange an appointment.

Download the NHS APP by following this link: https://www.nhs.uk/apps-library/nhs-apps/

This app will provide you with your upto date vaccination history including the dates of your Covid-19 injections.

Covid - 19 Walk In Clinic

We will be operating a walk in covid vaccine clinic every Tuesday  starting 3rd August 2021. At these clinics you will be able to receive any of the following vaccines:

· 1st Astra Zeneca over 40s

· 2nd Astra Zeneca 

· 1st Pfizer 16yrs - 40yrs

· 2nd Pfizer 

Boosters

Covid- 19 Walk in Clinic Poster

SELF CARE WEEK

Why is self care good for people?

Self care provides patients with the confidence and information to look after themselves when they are felling unwell. Self care week helps to educate patients on when they need to contact a GP or if they can self manage their illness with over the counter medication.

In many cases people can take care of their minor illnesses, Which helps to reduce the number of GP consultations and allowing GPs to focus on caring for more vulnerable patients, such as those with co-morbidities, the very young and elderly, managing long-term conditions.

More cost-effective use of our stretched NHS resources allows money to be spent where it’s most needed. This will ultimately ensure the long-term sustainability of the NHS.

SELF CARE

http://www.selfcareforum.org/resources/patient-portal/#healthyliving

Helpful links

Mental Health

Are you or someone you know experiencing a crisis and need urgent mental health support? Call 111 or visit www.111.nhs.uk and speak to the NHS Mental Health Triage Service.

Our NHS 111 mental health triage service provides advice, support and guidance, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for anyone living in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The Mental Health Triage Team has a wide range of skills, including on the phone brief psychological support and has access to key services and organisations that can offer mental health support to people in their time of need.

This service can also be also used by GPs and other healthcare professionals, the emergency services, mental health charities and any other organisations that come into contact with people experiencing a mental health crisis.

Beat Depression and Anxiety

http://www.beatingtheblues.co.uk/

https://www.thesilverline.org.uk/ Need help? Call us ANYTIME on: 0800 4 70 80 90

https://giveusashout.org/ Text 'SHOUT' to 85258

https://www.thecalmzone.net/ Call 24/7: 0800 58 58 58

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ 

https://www.saferportsmouth.org.uk/domestic-abuse

Minor Illnesses

Colds, Coughs and Stuffy Noses
These are caused by viruses and even in this day and age, there is no cure. Antibiotics can only kill bacteria which are completely different organisms. Paracetamol will relieve the headache, sore throats and aching muscles as well as bringing down the fever. The illness will last 5-6 days but the cough may persist for several more days. If you are coughing dirty sputum, you should see the Doctor

How to treat a cough yourself

How to treat a sore throat yourself

Urinary Tract Infections

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) can affect different parts of your urinary tract, including your bladder (cystitis), urethra (urethritis) or kidneys (kidney infection). Most UTIs can be easily treated with antibiotics.

How to treat a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection)

Flu

It’s not the same as the common cold (please see above).

Flu is caused by a different group of viruses. Symptoms tend to be more severe and last longer.

You can catch flu all year round, but it is especially common in winter, which is why it is also known as seasonal flu.

Flu causes a sudden high temperature, headache and general aches and pains, tiredness and a sore throat. You can also lose your appetite, feel nauseous and have a cough.

Flu symptoms can make you feel so exhausted and unwell that you have to stay in bed and rest until you feel better.

When to see a doctor?

If you are otherwise fit and healthy, there is usually no need to see a doctor if you have flu-like symptoms.

The best remedy is to rest at home, keep warm and drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

You can take paracetamol or ibuprofen to lower a high temperature and relieve aches.

You should see a doctor if you have flu-like symptoms and you:

• are aged 65 or over
• are pregnant
• have a long-term medical condition such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease or a neurological disease
• have a weakened immune system

This is because flu can be more serious for you, and your doctor may want to prescribe antiviral medication.

Antiviral medicine can reduce the symptoms of flu, but treatment needs to begin soon after flu symptoms start for it to be effective.

Antibiotics do not help in the treatment of flu because it is caused by a virus and not by bacteria.

How long does flu last?

If you have flu, you generally start to feel ill within a few days of being infected.

Symptoms peak after two to three days and you should begin to feel much better after a week or so, although you may feel tired for much longer.

You are usually infectious a day before your symptoms start and for a further five or six days. Children and people with weaker immune systems, such as cancer patients, may remain infectious for longer.

Elderly people and anyone with certain long-term medical conditions are more likely to have a bad case of flu, and are also more likely to develop a serious complication such as a chest infection.

How to check if you have the flu

NHS 111

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy helps to restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability. It can also help to reduce your risk of injury or illness in the future.

Do you have a muscle, bone or joint problem?

Pharmacy

Treat yourself better - Pharmacist advice

Family Planning

Contraception Services

Self-care information for young families

https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/  Gingerbread is a charity that provides information to help single parents support themselves and their family. They run programmes to equip single parents with the skills and opportunities to gain employment. They also campaign and influence policy to reduce stigma against single parents, and make services more accessible to all families.

Portsmouth Food Bank

https://portsmouth.foodbank.org.uk/ 

Portsmouth food bank provide three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to the local people of Portsmouth who are referred to them as being in crisis. Portsmouth Food Bank is part of a nationwide network of food banks and are supported by The Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the uk.

Seasonal Information

Stay well this winter

Self Care Survey

Please complete the self care questionnaire and send the completed form to our email address: Craneswater@nhs.net

Self-care survey

Diabetic Appointments 

Diabetic Eye Screening: Important Notice about Diabetic Eye Screening

The National Diabetic Eye Screening Team have recently issued guidance to restart screening for all in a phased approach. Our Restoration Plan has been agreed with the local NHS England and NHS Improvement Commissioners and we are very pleased and eager to start screening once again.

• We will invite people to screening appointments in the following order:
• Invite over next few weeks and months – those who are pregnant, under digital surveillance, newly diagnosed, had background retinopathy at last appointment (R1M0) or Did Not Attend their last appointment
• Next Year – Those who at their last appointment had no retinopathy or maculopathy (R0M0) are at much lower risk of developing diabetic retinopathy.

Should you notice any severe changes to your sight in the meantime, please telephone your local Hospital Eye Department or A&E.

The Bookings Team will be in touch to rearrange all other appointments once screening resumes.

Thank you for your patience.

Care Navigation - Help us help you!

Did you know that there are range of services and trained healthcare professionals working closely with your GP that might be better suited to help you?

The next time you make an appointment with us, you may be asked some questions about the reason for your appointment. Please don't be offended - this is simply so that we can make sure you see the person who is most suitable to help you, this may not always be a GP.

Of course you don't have to do this, but it would help us to navigate you to the right person, first.

The practice and our local Southsea parkrun

The Royal College of GPs has been running a programme to partner practices with their local parkrun, and in Southsea we are the nearest geographically to the route of our local parkrun. If you'd like to sign up or find out more, please visit their website

Craneswater rated highly for patient satisfaction in 2018 and 2019 survey

This annual survey was recently published and shows Craneswater Group Practice to be rated among the best in the city for most areas of patient experience. To access the complete report for 2018 and city-wide results please click here

Get running.. with couch to 5k

NHS Couch to 5k is a free nine week running plan for people who want to be more active. It's perfect if you're new to running- the plan is all about building up gradually. Anyone can start Couch to 5k, you don't need to be fit!

Visit here for more information.

Accessible Information Standard explained

The access of information standard aims to make sure that disabled people have access to information that they can understand and any communication support they might need.

Please help us by letting the practice know if you have a disability that makes communication difficult. We can then update your records and put in place measures to help with your communication needs. Please see signs up at the practice for more information.

Information about our duty team & urgent appointments

We now have a duty team who run the walk in surgery every morning at Waverley Road and are based at Salisbury Road in the afternoon. We hope that by co-locating the doctors we will be better able to meet the needs of our patients by providing shorter waits at the walk in surgery and an increased number of pre-bookable appointments in the afternoon. You no longer need to ring to ask for an 'on the day' appointment- just turn up at our walk in surgery.

We will also be closing Waverley Road Surgery on Friday afternoons from 2pm, all the doctors and nurses normally on duty will provide the same appointments from Salisbury Road.

Extraction of Fitness for Work (fit note) data in England explained

Anonymised data on the use of fit notes is being provided to the HSCIC on behalf of Department of Health, and the Department for Work and Pensions. This will enable the Department for Work and Pensions to undertake research analysis to inform policy relating to employment and sickness absence, including evaluation of Fit for Work.

Further information is contained here

For additional information please follow the links below:-

HSCIC information pages - HSCIC and also here

For details on how this data may be used visit - Gov.UK

Health Intelligence - Retinopathy and your data

Information available here  Retinopathy privacy notice

Information regarding the Electronic Prescription Service

From 13 June 2019 Craneswater Group Practice will start 'EPS Phase 4'

For more information click here  Electronic Prescription Service

Complaints

We make every effort to give the best service possible to everyone who attends our practice.

However, we are aware that things can go wrong resulting in a patient feeling that they have a genuine cause for complaint. If this is so, we would wish for the matter to be settled as quickly, and as amicably, as possible.

To pursue a complaint please contact the Operation Manager or Business Manager who will deal with your concerns appropriately. Further written information is available  from reception.

Violence Policy

The NHS operate a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons. Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.