News

Swallownest Health CentreNews

National Emergency Alert Test 17/04/2023

April

On Sunday 23 April there will be a national UK Emergency Alert test. This new Emergency Alert system is being rolled out by the government and will notify all phones with an alert sound - including when they are on silent. Victims and survivors who have a secret phone that they may hide from an abusive partner must be informed in order to take action to prevent the phone from activating, like switching it off or putting it on airplane mode. Please share this message to help inform victims and survivors of the upcoming alert and Refuge have kindly provided a video to inform victims and survivors how to ensure their secret phone does not play the notifying sound and become detected:

Change to our Prescription processes WEF 1st April 2023 – 03/04/2023

April

 

We have made the decision to no longer issue paper prescriptions at this surgery.

 

What do patients need to do

 

Benefits

  • If you previously collected repeat prescriptions from the Health Centre, you will no longer have to visit your GP practice just to pick up your paper prescription. Instead, your GP will send the prescription electronically to a pharmacy of your choice, saving you time.
  • The prescription is an electronic message so there is no paper prescription to lose.
  • You will have more choice about where to get your medicines from because they can be collected from a pharmacy near to where you live, work or shop.
  • If the prescription needs to be cancelled the GP can electronically cancel and issue a new prescription without you having to return to the practice – saving you extra trips.
  • Often we are asked to reprint prescriptions which may have gone astray. Clearly this is a major concern to us with regards to patient safety and confidentiality GDPR.
  • For clinical safety with regards to checking if medication reviews are up to date and ensuring that there is a full electronic audit trail.
  • We have monitored the time it is taking our staff to reprint paper prescriptions, therefore to save time for our staff (GP’s and also our Reception Team) thus allowing them to focus on other workload priorities, including seeing patients and answering our telephones.
  • As a practice, we are fully committed to the sustainability and reduction of our carbon footprint. We have signed up to being a ‘Greener Practice’ and will continue to work with both our staff and patients to improve our carbon footprint.

 

Timescale

It is the patient’s responsibility to ensure that they are requesting their repeat prescriptions in a timely manner to ensure that they do not run out of their regular medications.

Please note that ALL prescription requests should be made 7 days before you run out – the surgery also requires 72 working hours to prepare all prescription requests.

 Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee that medication requested on the same day it runs out will be issued that day, please help us by requesting your prescription in a timely manner.

 We regret that we have been unable to take prescription requests over the phone since 13th July 2018

Ways to wellbeing in later life – Age UK Rotherham

March

Providing practical support to help people to feel less lonely and reduce social isolation, improve their physical and mental wellbeing, promote creativity and feel more connected within their communities.

We understand that each person’s needs will be as individual as they are. So, whether it’s getting out and about more, creating opportunities to spend more time with friends or family, starting a new hobby or even restarting an old one we will help people to make their desired change.

Each person will have their own ‘wellbeing buddy’ – someone who will be there to help and support them along the way.

In addition, we’re planning to hold monthly Wellbeing Socials on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 10.00am to 1.00pm in several locations around the borough.

The socials will be a welcoming, safe place for everyone involved and provide an opportunity for people to try new activities in local community services. The groups will help people to build confidence and self-esteem by supporting them to feel less lonely and improve their wellbeing.

If you or someone you know or care for would like to find out more about Ways to wellbeing in later life, call Kym Gleeson on 07988 638 355 or Email [email protected]

Online GP appointments from 1st March 2023 – 17/02/2023

February

 

In line with the re-design of our Appointment System that was implemented in February 2023; from 1st March 2023, we have made the decision to remove our GP appointments from online booking.

As part of the work that we undertook with NHS England’s Time for Care programme, we have audited and collated data with regards to our appointment system. This has identified that appointments are being booked inappropriately with a GP when other clinicians are often more appropriate.

The previous GP contractual requirement stated that “all practices will ensure at least 25% of appointments are available for online booking”. This requirement that applied to the entirety of the practice’s appointments has been replaced to allow practices to determine what is most appropriate to make available for online booking. Therefore, any appointments that do not need to go through a triage process, could be available for patients to book directly online, by phone and/or by visiting the practice.

Our Reception Team have been trained accordingly and continue to be supported with regards to actively signposting to the correct clinician/service.

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