Author: Rosie Dilley

Newsletter

QUEEN MARY PRACTICE

Welcome to our October 2015 Newsletter:-
Keeping you updated with the latest news from your surgery! We want to make it a practice where our team can offer you the best healthcare advice and experience possible.
Our staff, as always work tirelessly to maintain the smooth running of this surgery to deliver a very efficient service for all our patients.
Please do feedback to us to help us achieve this goal. This is your practice! Please help us shape it to serve you better.
Dr Tasneem Khan

PATIENT PARTICIPATION /PATIENT VIRTUAL GROUP (PPG/vPPG)
The Practice would like to thank all our PPG members for their valuable contribution in making our PPG a success. We are keen to recruit more members for our PPG group and involve you in shaping up the practice. The main purpose of this group is to ensure your views and experiences as a patient are taken into account.
For more information on how to join our group please ask at reception or go onto our website on:
www.queenmary practice.nhs.uk.

Practice Update:
Flu/Pneumococcal injections are now available to the at risk group. (for more information please ask at reception.
Children aged 2,3 and 4 are also eligible for the nasal flu or flu vaccination
Letters have been sent out to 18yr olds to book an appointment with the nurse for ACWY vaccination
Measles/Mumps/Rubella vaccination is also available for the 16yrs and over
Meningitis B vaccination (childhood vaccination) are also available to be given to babies along with their first immunisations
Shingles vaccinations are available for the 70yr, 78yr and 79yrs old only.
Please book an appointment with the practice nurse if you fall into the above category.

Family and Friends Test Survey
We are keen to incorporate patient feedback and ideas. Queen Mary Practice is offering the Friends and Family Test to all our patients. The NHS friends and family test (FFT) is an important opportunity for you to provide feedback on the services that provide your care and treatment. Your feedback will help NHS
England to improve services for everyone. This is also available on our website.

Continued overleaf >

Smear tests

If you are over 25 and are, or ever have been, sexually active, you should have a smear test every three years. If you are not sure when you had your last smear please contact us and we can let you know. We will contact patients when their next test is due but understand you may prefer to contact and she will explain it all to you.
!

Women Over 25
25

Telephone appointments

Where possible we now offer telephone appointments which are much more convenient for you as you don’t need to come to the surgery. The doctor will call you back so you can discuss what is wrong, as many issues can be dealt with over the phone.

Did Not Attend Appointments (DNAs)
Missed Appointments (wasted

Doctor and nurse appointments are always at a premium and we are already putting into place changes to increase their availability. However, every week there are a significant number of appointments that are made where patients don’t turn up and are therefore wasted.
We recognise that sometimes factors outside your control happen and you miss your appointment but, if at all possible, please ring the surgery and let us know so that we can offer the appointment to another patient.
Missed Appointments
July 2015 81appointments were missed = 885 hrs
August 2015 77appointments were missed = 873 hrs
September 2015 87 appointments were missed = 864 hrs
Overall from July to September a total of 245 appointments were missed, because patients did not contact the surgery to cancel their appointments.
Does this mean that 345 sick patients did not get to see the doctor/nurse because someone could not be bothered to pick up the phone to cancel their appointment?

D
N
A

Self Check In
You can now arrive yourself at the surgery without having to wait in the queue to be marked as arrived. For more
information speak to our
reception staff

SMS Texts
We can now send a confirmation of your appointment via SMS Text. For this we will need to have your updated mobile number

Change of Contact Details
If you change your name, address or phone number please inform the surgery as soon as possible so that we can update your Records

ONLINE ACCESS
All patients now have the choice and can
Book their appointments online
Request their repeat medication online
Change their contact details online
For more information on how to access the above please ask our reception staff

Named GP
By 31st March 2016, GP Practices will need to include on their website reference to the fact that all patients (including children) have been allocated a named accountable GP. This is a contractual requirement.
Practices are required to inform patients at the first appropriate interaction that they have a named accountable GP.
At your next contact with the practice, please do ask who your named GP is if you have not yet been informed by the surgery.

New Health Screening for those patients aged 75 or over
We now offer health checks for patients aged 75yrs and over. This will be a 20 minute appointment and will offer patients of this age category a full health check. Patients will be invited and booked at the
surgery.

Smoking Status

As you will be aware from recent advertising campaigns ‘Stop Smoking’ is high on the governments list of priorities. We are delighted to say that a large number of our patients have taken this on board and have booked in with our Nurse, to help them give up. If you are a smoker why don’t you call and make an appointment.
Smoking status is something that we are asked to record for all patients over the age of 15 years. When you next pop in, please fill in a form at reception so that we can update our records as to your status.

Choose well

The Choose Well campaign encourages patients to intelligently asses their own healthcare needs and choose the most appropriate service for themselves.
Often all you need to do is speak to a pharmacist or contact NHS Direct for health advice. Self-care and having a well-stocked medicine cabinet can really help ease the strain on local health services.
Except in emergencies were your first port of call should be your GP, your local Walk-in Centre or the OOH service.
A&E: 0208 983 8000
Walk-in-centre: 0208 822 3800
Pharmacy : To find your nearest check NHS Direct or NHS 111 www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
t. 0845 4647 t.111

Self Care:
Means looking after yourself in a health way.
Information is available from the pharmacy on self care:-
Coughs and colds
Hay-fever
Sore Throats
Minor sprains and strains
Flu like illness
Earache
Insect bites, stings & skin reaction
Low back pain
Diarrhoea and vomiting
Blepharitis and conjunctivitis
You can get more information by visiting the NHS choices website on
www.nhschoices.net
Or by visiting your local pharmacy

Child immunisations

Please ensure that your child is up to date with their immunisations. If you are not sure, please ask at reception and we will check their records.

Patient Feedback

We are always keen to hear your feedback, both positive and negative. We aim to provide a great service for our patients, but should you have any complaints or comments we would urge you to discuss them with the Practice Manager. Should you have any comments about the service here, please do speak to reception.

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