Dec/Jan bank holidays 2023/2024 Saturday 23rd Dec Sunday 24th Dec Monday 25th Dec Tuesday 26th Dec | The surgery is CLOSED. For MEDICAL ASSISTANCE when the surgery is closed, please dial 111 this is a free number from landlines and mobile. If you have a life-threatening medical emergency, please dial 999 immediately. | Wednesday 27th Dec Thursday 28th Dec Friday 29th Dec | Surgery Open Emergency surgeries only | Saturday 30th Dec Sunday 31st Dec Monday 1st Jan | The surgery is CLOSED. For MEDICAL ASSISTANCE when the surgery is closed, please dial 111 this is a free number from landlines and mobile. If you have a life-threatening medical emergency, please dial 999 immediately. | Tuesday 2nd Jan 2024 | Surgery Open Emergency surgeries only |
IF YOU HAVE A LIFE THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY PLEASE DIAL 999 IMMEDIATELY |
Dear Patients, Are you interested in finding out more about Ellenbrook Medical Centre? Would you like to influence the development of our practice and local health services? We would love you to come along to our meeting to discuss your ideas and for us to hear what you would like us to consider so that we can reshape services to meet patients’ needs. You are more than welcome to join in our next meetings - Tuesday 10th October 11am – 12.30pm at New Little Hulton Health Centre, 4 Longshaw Drive, little Hulton M28 0BBTuesday 12th December 11am - 12.30pm Walkden Methodist Church, Manchester Road East, Walkden M38 9AN.If you would like to join, please contact Hollie or Chris at Ellenbrook Medical Centre. |
August Bank Holidays 2023
Monday 28th August | Surgery Closed – For MEDICAL ASSISTANCE ring – 111 (this number is free of charge from landlines and mobiles) IF YOU HAVE A LIFE THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY PLEASE DIAL 999 IMMEDIATELY |
Tuesday 27th August | Emergencies only |
IF YOU HAVE A LIFE THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY PLEASE DIAL 999 IMMEDIATELY
Primary Care Network Patient Group
Meeting Tues 1st August 11am - 1pm Walkden Methodist Church
All patients welcome, it's your chance to have a say on the services provided within our community.
Primary Care Network Patient Group
Meeting tonight 4pm - 6pm New Little Hulton Health Centre
All patients welcome, it's your chance to have a say on the services provided within our community.
Special News
Monday 17th July 2023 will be Dr Levison’s last working day at our practice due to her relocating.
Any patients wishing to pass on their regards to Dr Levison can do so on Mon 17th July anytime between 9.30am and 12.30pm. Please note Dr Levison will not be carrying out any clinical work this day.
Dr Levison has been an integral part of the Ellenbrook Medical Centre family for the past 20 years showing true dedication, care and empathy towards patients within the community. We’re sure you’ll join us in saying a big THANK YOU for all her hard work.
Whilst we are sad to announce this, we wish Dr Levison and her family lots of love, happiness and luck for the future.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest GP partner Dr Cooke. Dr Cooke worked at our practice during his training and has worked as a locum for us over the last 12 months so many of you will have already had the chance to meet him.
We understand these are big changes for our practice, but we would like to assure you of our ongoing commitment to providing high quality care to all of our patients.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
National Emergency Alert System
This is being tested by the Government on Sunday 23rd April. There is a significant concern that this may compromise vulnerable people who have a secret, hidden mobile phone. Refuge have created some information on how to deactivate this alert. Please follow the link -
Primary Care Network - next meeting Thursday 20th April 2023
Ellenbrook Medical Centre is now part of the Walkden & Little Hulton Primary Care Network (PCN). Our PCN has been formed by 10 neighbouring practices across the Walkden & Little Hulton area. The PCN objectives are to enhance quality, develop the range of services offered in Primary Care, improve access to services and patient experience and outcomes. See the PCN website https://www.walkdenandlittlehulton.nhs.uk/
As demand for healthcare increases, it is essential that we all work together to provide a range of services that our local community tells us they need the most.
Our practice will now form part of the PCN Patient Engagement Group (PEG), which will replace our practice specific PPG, and will feature representation from patients from all the PCN practices along with staff members. The PCN Patient Engagement Group will offer a range of ways to engage with members which will include face to face meetings, virtual meetings, and email contact and updates.
Adult Social Care and District Nursing
Care Navigation
Our reception team are here to help you access the most appropriate service/professional for your needs within a reasonable timeframe.
When our receptionist speaks with you, they will ask for a brief description of your problem, please don’t take offence. The receptionists are not prying, they are trained to ask and direct to the most appropriate services, which may be more appropriate than a GP appointment.
We have direct access to the following service –
Mental Health Practitioners
First Contact Physiotherapists
In house Pharmacist
Practice Nursing team
Primary Care Network GPs (evening and weekends)
Social Prescribers
District Nurses
Black Health Improvement Programme
BHIP 10 Pledge Charter
Inclusive Leadership
Inclusive, and accessible recruitment and selection
Diverse publicity, promotion, and marketing within reception areas
Effective engagement and inclusive activities, including supporting documentation
Greater cultural awareness in clinical consultations and diagnosis
Delivering appropriate communication support across patient population
Effective complaints policy and procedures including harassment and bullying policies and procedures
Greater cultural awareness of signposting and referral pathways
Increasing the diversity voice in patient involvement and engagement
Improvement in the data collection and monitoring of patient’s ethnicity
Also, encourage patients to sign up to CAHN’s Health Hour – https://portal.cahn.org.uk/healthhour
Our practice, hereby signs up to the BHIP Principles
Practice: Ellenbrook Medical Centre
Date of training: 03.11.2022
Primary Care Network
Ellenbrook Medical Centre is now part of the Walkden & Little Hulton Primary Care Network (PCN). Our PCN has been formed by 10 neighbouring practices across the Walkden & Little Hulton area. The PCN objectives are to enhance quality, develop the range of services offered in Primary Care, improve access to services and patient experience and outcomes. See the PCN website https://www.walkdenandlittlehulton.nhs.uk/
As demand for healthcare increases, it is essential that we all work together to provide a range of services that our local community tells us they need the most.
Our practice will now form part of the PCN Patient Engagement Group (PEG), which will replace our practice specific PPG, and will feature representation from patients from all the PCN practices along with staff members. The PCN Patient Engagement Group will offer a range of ways to engage with members which will include face to face meetings, virtual meetings, and email contact and updates. The next meeting is due to be held on Thursday 15th December.
Appointments – extended hours
Our PCN is now offering a wide range of evening and weekend appointments at Little Hulton Health Centre. You can book an appointment with a GP, HCA, pharmacist or specific COVID vaccination clinics. Please speak to a practice receptionist if you wish to book an appointment in our extended hours clinics.
Hospital wait times
For helpful information and guidance for patients waiting for a hospital consultation, treatment or surgery please click on below link. Please note that Salford Royal Foundation Trust now comes under Northern Care Alliance.
https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk/
COVID vaccinations
For the most up to date information on clinics available please visit - https://www.salfordccg.nhs.uk/live-well/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccine-walk-clinics
Social Media
We are aware of the popular nature of social media and the benefits behind the many platforms available.
We would like to remind patients of the importance of remaining safe while using social media platforms by protecting your information and not sharing information with unknown sources. This is particularly relevant for parents/guardians with children who use social media, we would strongly encourage that children are supervised at all times when using any sort of social media.
We would also encourage patients to refrain from using social media as a place to air their grievances regarding the practice and to raise issues directly with the practice. This enables us as a practice to be more aware of issues raised by patients and respond effectively regarding actions taken. This can be done anonymously via the suggestions and comments slip.
Please note if we are made aware of any comments made on social media regarding the practice that directly/indirectly identifies a member of staff and are deemed to be factually incorrect or defamatory, the practice will take action to have these posts removed and may seek legal advice.
We thank you for your co-operation.
Appointment System
Over the last few months we have trialled a number of different ways to run our GP clinics - this has included all on the day phone appts, a number of pre booked phone appts and making our pre bookable phone appts available online. We strive to ensure that the system works for the majority of our patients, however we appreciate that we will never have a system that works for all our patients. We understand that the current system was a cause for concern for some patients and so from next week we have increased the number of pre bookable phone appts available with a proportion being available online as per our contractual requirements and the rest available by telephone for those without online access. We hope this improves our patients' overall experience when booking an appt.
28.06.21
Telephone system - 28.06.21
Our telecomms provider has now implemented a fix which they believe will ensure we no longer experience the problems we have been doing. We have also had a back up telephone line installed as a precaution. We would like to thank everyone for their patience during this time and sincerely apologise for all the inconvenience caused.
Telephone System
Out telecomms provider is working on a fix to rectify the issues we have been having with our phone system. Therefore, there may be a short outtage affecting incoming calls on 24.06.21. Please bear with us and keep trying should you receive an error message when calling us. We will keep disruption to a minimum and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience.
PRIVACY NOTICE
We have updated our privacy notice - please look at the 'Your Data' tab to find out the most up to date information on how your data is used.
Response to patient enquiries about wanting face2face appointments
We apologise for not being able to offer you a face-2-face appointment without an initial assessment by one of our clinicians. In light of the recent increase in the new variant of COVID-19 that are still circulating, we need to exercise caution for the benefit of both patients invited to the surgery following a remote consultation and our practice staff, this is in line with guidance received from our Local Medical Committee.
We can assure you that if the GP feels you need to be seen face-2-face then they will arrange a date and time for you to come to the surgery.
We would encourage you to arrange a remote consultation to discuss your issues with one of the surgeries clinicians’ as you have been throughout the pandemic.
Telephone Problems
We are having problems with our phones. If you ring the surgery & get disconnected/ hear a message saying we are closed or the phone is unavailable ring back later or text the number when we should be open please keep trying. DO NOT TEXT the surgery, we cannot access any texts sent. If you have sent us a text after hearing this message and haven't had a reply please contact us urgently. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience.
Remember, when the surgery is closed you can dial 111 for medical advice or if you have a medical emergency at any time dial 999.
Online Access
There was a technical issue with the online service on Monday 18th January 2021. Unfortunately, this has resulted in all registered patients using detailed online services such as prescriptions being deactivated and having to re-register with new passwords from the practice. We have worked out a number of ways to get the details to patients quickly should they be needed. Please ring the surgery if you require new details for the online service and a staff member will help you. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience.
New phone system
Please note from Thursday 10th December 2020 all calls will be recorded. Access to the recordings will only be available to relevant practice staff and via password protected software.
COVID-19 vaccination programme
The Government has asked the NHS to be ready to deliver a COVID-19 vaccination programme so that it is set to mobilise and start offering vaccinations as soon as one becomes available.
While it isn’t yet certain when COVID-19 vaccine will be available, we are working hard and busy preparing to ensure we are ready to offer it when it is.
NHS planning is based on the latest information on the vaccine development including which groups will be the priority to get vaccinated early in the programme. This might mean that smaller numbers of people – who have been prioritised as the most vulnerable – will be vaccinated first, with larger number of eligible people being offered later in the new year, dependent on COVID-19 vaccine availability. The NHS will follow clinical guidance by Department of Health and Social Care and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the prioritised people eligible for COVID-19 vaccine and therefore plan for vaccine rollout accordingly.
Plans will be finalised when we have certainty on when and what vaccines will be approved and available for use. Further details and timeframes will be shared shortly.
In the meantime, we are encouraging people to have their flu vaccination as soon as possible in preparation for this winter. As well as protecting yourself against the flu virus, you are also protecting family and friends.
Who will get the vaccine?
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have recently published interim updated advice on the priority groups to receive COVID-19 vaccine, advising that vaccines should first be given to care home residents and staff, followed by people aged over 80 and health and social workers, before being rolled out to the rest of the population in order of age and risk.
The JCVI will continue to update this advice as more information becomes available on vaccine effectiveness, safety and clinical characteristics. This will in turn be reflected in the NHS’s plans.
ADVICE TO PARENTS DURING CORONAVIRUS
Parents are being reminded to seek medical advice if their child is unwell.
Please see this quick reference guide to know what to do and where to go if your child has particular symptoms (click on the link to download the document) -