News

We are not vaccinating any of our patients at the Health Centre. Eligible patients will be contacted by our Rother Valley South colleagues 6 months after your second dose. You can try to book your appointment online if you haven't been contacted by the NHS within six months and one week.

Find out more:

https://www.nhs.uk/.../coron.../coronavirus-booster-vaccine/

Covid booster doses are being offered to those most at risk from the virus including people who are:

• aged 50 & over
• living & working in care homes
• frontline health & social care workers
• aged 16 & over with certain health conditions

More on boosters: https://www.nhs.uk/.../corona.../coronavirus-booster-vaccine

#GetBoosted

Please kindly do not call the Health Centre to book as we are unable to.

Please follow the link should you wish to provide any patient feedback on our services: https://www.cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care/1-545452796/1-199713213/Swallownest%20Health%20Centre

Throughout the pandemic we have strived to make the surgery as safe as possible for all our patients and staff. We will continue to do so going forward.

From the 19th July nothing will change at the surgery - patients will need to still wear a mask, socially distance and use hand sanitiser in the surgery, and staff will continue to wear PPE. We do understand that it can be frustrating but we know that when people come to us they are sick and vulnerable (and some cannot receive the Covid vaccinations due to medical reasons) so we feel it would be wrong to not take these small precautions that can protect people.

In terms of opening up, as many of you know, we have never been shut and in fact have consulted with much higher numbers of patients than we did pre-Covid (face to face, by phone, and by video), not counting vaccinating our adult population twice in the last 6 months.

We have come so far in trying to minimise the impact of Covid and we are sure you understand that we need to keep the surgery as safe for ALL patients and staff as we can.

Thank you for your understanding.

Long Covid tri-fold leaflet

All staff at the Health Centre were saddened to be made aware about the recent petition  ‘Improve the waiting & appointment times at Swallownest Health Centre’ . At Swallownest we have always been proud of ourselves with regards to the quality of the service we provide and have strived to improve patient care where we can. We have been experiencing extremely high demand for the past few months, which is mirrored in all parts of the NHS currently, all whilst continuing to help support the local vaccination programme at Anston. We are aware of the difficulties that patients are having getting through on the phones and we continue to take steps to address this.

Having said that the petition is factually incorrect and is predicated on a fundamental misunderstanding of the NHS GP contract. Waiting times on the phone are not over 1 hour. A great number of appointments is being offered, much higher than our historic activity levels, and have continued to be offered throughout the pandemic. All patients that require a face-to-face appointment have been offered one based on clinical need, which has always been the case.

The Practice Manager deals with complaints in accordance with the NHS complaints procedure, and it is incorrect to state that they are “falling on deaf ears” when no contact has been made. This could also be considered indirect discrimination. The “simple solution” requested in the petition is simply not possible under the current contracting arrangements, and thus signatures are being received under false pretences. The petition also makes a direct accusation of clinical negligence in the phrase “failing to provide the correct care”, which we strongly dispute.

The petition has been reported with a request to be removed at your earliest convenience.

Kind regards,

GP Partners.

Primary care phlebotomy services are funded for General Practice needs, and those patients being treated under a Shared Care arrangement.

We’ve had an increasing number of patients trying to use our services for Hospital Bloods. Please note that practices aren’t obliged to pick up secondary care phlebotomy.

Patients should be using the relevant hospital bloods service.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - https://www.sth.nhs.uk/clientfiles/File/Drive%20through%20blood%20taking%20service%20is%20moving%20-%20pd11071.pdf

Rotherham Foundation Trust http://www.therotherhamft.nhs.uk/

It is important that to care for your needs we only accept communication from our patients via the correct communication channels

It has come to our attention that patients are emailing for health care. Unfortunately this is not one of the communication options available, unless you need to cancel an appointment.

If you are a Swallownest patient emailing with regards to any medical advice, please note that this mailboxes are not monitored for use in this way. It is important for your health needs that you contact us by telephone 0114 4333888 or by booking an appropriate appointment online.

To cancel an appointment, please email [email protected]

Please note that lateral flow tests are for testing if you haven’t got Covid symptoms. They are not accurate.

If you have any of these 3 coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, use this service to get a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test as soon as possible:

a high temperature

a new, continuous cough

you’ve lost your sense of smell or taste or it’s changed

https://www.nhs.uk/.../coronaviru.../symptoms/main-symptoms/

About 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 do not have symptoms but can still infect others.

It is really important that you have both of your Covid vaccinations. Like all medicines, no vaccine is completely effective, so you should continue to take recommended precautions to avoid infection. Some people may still get COVID-19 despite having a vaccination, but this should be less severe.

Please do not come to the Health Centre if you have symptoms. Please continue to follow Government guidance.

#handsfacespace

If you are aged over 18 and require your covid vaccination. Please contact us via email [email protected] quoting your name, date of birth and stating that you are a Swallownest Health Centre patient.

Thank you.