Patient Update - 16.07.20
Please watch the youtube video for an update from Dr Crookall on behalf of the team at Haresfield surgery
Hello everyone, I’m Dr Crookall, one of the GP Partners at Haresfield surgery, the team and I wanted to take this opportunity to update all of our patients on what is happening with the way we are working. Following on from Dr John’s update back in May we thought it would be helpful to share some further changes that have been happening and be able to remind everyone of how you can access our surgery.
First of all I personally wanted to take this opportunity to say that I hope everyone is keeping safe and managing to cope in these unusual circumstances we are facing. We are grateful for everyone’s ongoing support and understanding for how we are having to run the surgery to ensure everyone is kept as safe as possible.
Our services and team are still here and available to help, this is still different to normal but I will now explain how this is currently working;
If you need to speak to someone at the surgery then you can call the practice on our main phone line and select the appropriate option
NHS England are advising practices that we speak to patients over the phone first for any problem to discuss what help you require and make any necessary arrangements. To do this the reception team will book in a phone call where a clinician will speak to you.
You can also access our services by using the Health advice forms, which is the online consultation system available on our website and on the Patient Access app or website. Completing a form on here gives us the information we need before a member of the team calls you to discuss. You can do this instead of calling the surgery.
It is important that we have your up to date contact information and that you are available to take the call when agreed.
We have nurse clinics running in the surgery at Haresfield for screening programmes, vaccinations, blood tests and patient care, in line with infection control measures and NHS England guidance we have instructions from NHS England about what practices should be offering patients, which will continue to change but please be reassured we will continue to update patients when these happen. If you are attending for an appointment we are working extra hard to make every contact count and by that the nurses may do your annual tests and checks in your appointment slot to prevent some patients having to come to the surgery again later in the year.
We will call you to discuss any urgent concerns that you have and for any ongoing discussions and monitoring, if you need to be seen by a Doctor we will arrange this and ask you to attend the practice for an appointment. We have all embraced using technology differently over the last months and some of you will be aware we are using different approaches such as patient’s emailing and texting photos to us for us to look at, this helps us work out whether we need to have a face to face appointment or not.
You can request your regular medications through the online Patient access website or app, or you can email us or post a request. If you have any queries about your medication we ask that you call the surgery and do not attend the building as access is still limited to patients attending for an appointment. We must continue this to ensure risks to patients remain low. We are aware that more sectors and businesses are opening and returning to normal but please be mindful that the surgery helps patients who are often ill and vulnerable and we are still required to limit access because of this but are working on extra measures and a long term solution for how we will continue to ensure we can look after our patients.
When attending the surgery for an appointment you are required to wear a face covering or a mask, everyone will continue to have their temperature checked at the entrance and we ask that if you have any symptoms of coronavirus that you call us and cancel your appointment and make further arrangements with the team. We are unable to provide exemption letters for anyone that cannot wear a mask and if you have any further questions then we ask that you consult the government website for further information.
If you have any questions about an appointment you are expecting at Worcester Royal hospital, please be aware you can call the main line of the hospital to be directed to the department you need and the appropriate secretarial team.
I hope this information helps explain our current way of working at the surgery and how you can access our services, we want to support you all and we ask that you continue to support us and our staff, respecting that this way of working is in place as requested of us by Public Health England and the NHS.
We will be in touch with any further updates and when we make any changes. Please continue to stay safe and I hope you are able to enjoy the summer in light of the current restrictions that are in place. Thank you.