Practice Partners
Dr Jason Clark, Dr David Haines, Dr Robert Baker,
Dr Jeremy Munday, Dr Wendy Heard, Dr Linda Watson,
Dr Mark Lepper & Dr Claire Hombersley
Practice News
Change of Practice Manager
Our manager of 14 years, Phil Dowding, has decided to retire and the Partners are pleased to announce the appointment Miss Natasha Ritchie to the position of Practice Manager from 15th April 2013.
Nat joined the practice in 1997 as a part time receptionist and has subsequently worked in all aspects of practice administration and management. Nat obtained her Diplomas in Business Management and Primary Care Health Management in 2009 and has been our assistant manager in recent years.
Nat will be pleased to discuss any non-medical problems that you have, and is also happy to receive any suggestions for improving the services offered.
CHANGES TO ONLINE APPOINTMENT BOOKING & PRESCRIPTION REQUEST FACILITY
Dear Patient,
Due to the changes to our patient clinical records system (See below for more details), It will be necessary to suspend the online appointments booking and prescription request facility on our website. Therefore, you will not be able to request prescriptions online or use the online appointments booking facility from Monday 22nd April. We hope to have this function back in use by Monday 13th May.
We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
CHANGES TO OUR APPOINTMENT SYSTEM,
FOLLOWING OUR RECENT SURVEY
A survey was recently carried out at Swanage Medical Practice and we received 161 replies. The results indicated that the patients who responded were generally unhappy with the telephone triage system and wanted the chance to see a GP face to face.
As a result, with effect from 22 March, in addition to prebooked telephone appointments, patients can be offered, for urgent same day problems, the opportunity to book either a telephone call or to attend a ‘sit & wait’ surgery to see a GP. Those patients happy to sit & wait should attend between 9:00am and 10:30am and 3:00pm and 4:30pm. Those happy to book a telephone call will be contacted by phone, and where appropriate, booked in to see a GP at a specified time.
With the introduction of our new operating system in May 2013 (see below for news article) there will also be the opportunity for patients to book routine appointments with their own GPs, but these will be limited.
We hope that these changes will offer patients a varied choice of appointments to suit their needs. For a full version of the 2012/13 PPG DES report/survey, please follow the link on our website homepage.
Thank you to all our patients who took part in this years survey and to the Friends Of The Practice Group for their help with this project.
CHANGES TO OUR PATIENT CLINICAL RECORDS SYSTEM
On Wednesday 1st May 2013 we are having a new patient clinical records system installed at the surgery.
To assist us and help you:
- Repeat Prescriptions – anyone on repeat medication will need to request it by Monday 22nd April to cover them for the months of April/May. In some cases your GP may issue 2 months supply to help us during this transition period.
- We will be offering a limited number of appointments for patients from at least Monday 6th May – Friday 17th May whilst your GP and staff get used to working with the new system.
- We would remind patients that there are a number of other health resources they can access especially for minor ailments via the local pharmacies, NHS 1-1-1, the Minor Injuries Unit at Swanage Hospital and on our website www.swanagemedical.org.uk.
Our current system is approximately 20 years old and works with technology that is now outdated. The new system, known as System One, which is completely different in its operation, will bring lots of benefits for both patients and staff, however, training for this may take some time. We would therefore ask you for your consideration and patience during the time of transition.
The practice has chosen System One as its preferred supplier to coincide with its implementation across community services and hospitals and is being adopted by all the practices in the Purbeck locality in the near future.
We do hope that you will assist us during this time and thank you very much for your cooperation.
Dr David Haines is undertaking a phased return to work at the practice from the beginning of January
Routine Telephone Appointments/Enquiries
Unless your appointment/enquiry is urgent, we would ask that you try to phone the surgery between 10 am and 3 pm, in order that urgent matters can be dealt with appropriately, and to avoid a lengthy wait for your call to be answered.
Home Visits
When possible, requests for Home Visits should be telephoned to the Surgery before 11.00 am, so that your own GP, when available, can deal with the request.
Prescriptions
The Practice and local chemists are getting an ever increasing number of requests for urgent prescriptions. These are very hard to keep track of and result in members of the reception team spending valuable time searching for these prescriptions rather than dealing with our patients other enquiries.
We would be most grateful if patients could request their repeat prescriptions, either from their chemist or from us, one week before their medication is due to run out. This, we hope, will reduce the number of same day urgent requests considerably and provide you with a more efficient service. Please put your request in the letterbox, which is emptied on a regular basis throughout the day.
If needed sooner than 1 week, please indicate clearly when and where you wish to collect. When making your request also consider, where possible, which medications you are going to run out of in the next 5 weeks and order them all at once. This should ensure that the number of requests that you make over the year are kept to a minimum. This will be more efficient for everyone involved.
RESEARCH
Swanage Medical Practice has become registered as a "Primary Care Research Practice". Dr Claire Hombersley will be taking the lead for the practice and we look forward to working with and involving our patients in this important aspect of their health care.
What is research?
Research is the way new knowledge is found. Clinical research (also called ‘clinical trials’ or ‘studies’) is a type of research that is designed to test new treatments or ways of delivering care. Clinical research can involve patients and/or healthy people.
What is Primary Care research?
When research takes place in a community setting, such as a GP surgery, dental practice or pharmacy it can be called ‘Primary Care Research’. Primary Care Research is concerned with the prevention of disease, new and innovative medical technologies such as a new drug, health promotion, screening and early diagnosis, as well as the management of long term conditions, such as arthritis and heart disease.
Why take part in research studies?
It has previously been found that people who take part in research studies can benefit from the experience. It can be rewarding and people often enjoy taking part. You might learn some more about the condition being studied.
Taking part in research can also help other people, such as others with the same problem as you, or those who might develop it in the future. Some research tries to find new ways of preventing health problems.
You can also sometimes take part in research as a healthy volunteer. This means that you don’t have any problems yourself, but that you volunteer to try out new treatments or ways of delivering care.
How will this affect me?
If you are eligible to take part in a research we are running you will be told about it by your doctor. You will also get some written information about the study. You may hear about it face to face or get a letter in the post from the practice.
It is up to you if you want to take part. Your care and how you are treated by staff will not be affected if you decide that taking part is not for you. You will have time to think about whether or not you want to take part.
Being in a study can be a good experience. All studies have been reviewed by a group of experts that have practice in looking at research.
Swanage Memory Café, Rectory Classroom, St. Mary’s Church, Church Hil
Monthly group for all affected by dementia. 3rd Tuesday of the month, 11am – 12:30pm
Please call Yvonne Rogers or Jody Raab 01202 716 393
Out of Hours
If you are unwell in the evening, overnight or at the weekend, contact NHS 111before on: 1-1-1
As always if you have any comments to make about our services, we are happy to receive them in order that we can try and provide you with the service required within the limited resources which we have.
