ST MARYS SURGERY
NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2010
TEL: 01264 361424 FAX: 01264 336792 www.stmaryssurgery.co.uk Email: info@stmaryssurgery.co.uk
GP REGISTRAR
We are pleased to welcome Dr Gillian Hawdon to St Marys as a GP Registrar. She will be with us for a year and will work closely with our GPs.
She originally trained in Cardiff and hospitals in South Wales, moving to the Royal Hants County Hospital in 2008. Whilst there she has worked in various departments including Paediatrics, Dermatology and Rheumatology. She also worked in the Medical Assessment Unit at RHCH. We hope she will enjoy her time at St Marys.
MATERNITY LEAVE
One of our Practice Nurses, Nicky MacCulloch, is taking maternity leave as she is expecting her first baby in September. We would like to wish her well at this exciting time and hope she contiues to be well and to have a safe delivery.
In her absence our other Practice Nurses will be covering her clinics and we will be able to provide a full service to all of our patients.
HEARING AID BATTERIES
We are now able to supply hearing aid batteries to those patients who require them. Please ask at Reception.
We have 2 types and ask that patients who need them make a note of the type of battery their hearing aid uses. We have some in a blue packaging with a NPC code of GHF015 and some in orange packaging with a NPC code of GHD347.
PARKING AT ST MARYS
Parking at St Marys is strictly reserved for Staff and Patients attending for surgery business only. This is especially important on Saturdays now that we operate some Saturday surgeries.
Please do not leave your car to 'pop into town to do a bit of shopping'.
Due to the busy working hours at the surgery is is only possible for maintenance work to be carried out at weekends and access to the car park is essential.
Difficulties encountered when people abuse our car park facility will not be tolerated.
TAKE YOUR OWN BLOOD PRESSURE IN THE WAITING ROOM
You are invited to take your own blood pressure using the Monitor in the Main Waiting Room. By using this blood pressure monitor you will help save the Doctor and Nurse’s time and you will probably be rather more relaxed taking the reading in your own time, which may give a better result.
Follow the instructions and take the printout produced with you to your appointment. Take time to relax beforehand and sit down in the waiting room for a few minutes before using the monitor.
Please do not let your children play with it or the chair on wheels that is with it.
TRAVEL IMMUNISATION
With the holiday season well upon us, are your immunisations up to date? We have a travel immunisation form that you can collect from Reception or use the link on the right hand side of our website and fill in with all the details of your trip, start date of your holiday, and some general health details. Once this form is completed, return it to us so that one of our Practice Nurses can check your immunisation status with the needs of your destination. She will complete the reverse of the form which will list any vaccines you will need for your trip. This takes a couple of days to check so please allow us at least 5 working days before you phone to see if you need any injections. Some of the vaccinations incur a fee, details of these fees are on the reverse of our travel immunisation form.
If you are taking the option of a late deal or being sent abroad to work at short notice it may not be possible to fit you in for vaccination before your departure. In that case we recommend that you contact a travel clinic, there is one at Winchester Tel: 01962 856646.
You can collect an immunisation form form Reception together with a leaflet with more details of all teh individual vaccines that may be required. you can also visit our website to fill in the form online and email it to us.
THE NEW FIT TO WORK CERTICATE
Since 6th April the Sick Certificate has been replaced by the Fit Note. The fit note is the new form which your doctor will give you when your health affects your ability to work. It replaces the sick note. The main difference is that the fit note allows your doctor to advise you on how you may be able to return to work.
Work can be an important part of your recovery. You can find more details online at
www.dwp.gov.uk/fitnote The fit note provides evidence that you cannot work because of your health condition. Your employer will use this to arrange your sick pay. If you are self-employed or unemployed you can use the form to support a claim for benefits.
Your doctor, might advise you that you ‘may be fit for work’ if they believe you may be able to return to work with some help from your employer. You should discuss this with your employer to see if you can return to work, taking into account the effects of your illness or injury. If it is possible for you to return to work you should agree how this will happen, what support you will receive and how long the support will last.
If you and your employer agree it is not possible for you to return to work until you have recovered further, you do not need to return to your doctor for a new fit note. If you are self-employed or unemployed you can still use the form to make a claim for benefits if the doctor has advised that ‘you may be fit for work’.
Your doctor will say on the form if they need to see you again. So, unless requested, you do not need to see your doctor again before you go back to work.
You should return to work as soon as you feel well enough to do so and with the agreement of your employer. This might be before your fit note runs out. However, if your doctor has advised you that it would be unsafe or bad for your health to return to work you should take this advice seriously, for some jobs there are separate processes to ensure it is safe for you to return to your job. Your employer will advise you if this is the case.
The way you apply for benefit has not changed. If your doctor has recommended that you ‘may be fit for work’ you can still apply for benefit. Information on how to make a claim to benefit is on the back of your fit note.
The arrangements for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) have not changed. If a doctor recommends that you may be fit for work, but you and your employer agree that you should remain off work you can still receive SSP. If you are in doubt about your rights to SSP you can seek advice from your trade union or an advice centre. You can find detailed information about SSP online at
www.direct.gov.uk
CERVICAL CANCER PREVENTION
Cervical cancer is a preventable disease through cervical screening and the HPV vaccination programme. Despite this last year 20% of women did not take up the invitation for cervical screening. In addition, only 50% of older girls offered the HPV vaccine have elected to have this potentially life saving jab.
Over 4 million women in the UK are invited every year to attend for a smear test and over 90% receive a normal smear result. However, there is a worrying trend in the UK; that fewer women are attending for regular screening following their invitation. Please take up the invitation if you receive one.
CHLAMYDIA SCREENING
Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection that affects both men and women. A screening service is offered to all people under the age of 25yrs who are sexually active. It is especially advisable if you have a new partner; most people who have chlamydia show no symptoms and will have no idea that they have the infection. Without treatment, the infection can spread to other parts of the body and cause serious long-term complications.
Screening is totally voluntary. You will be asked to complete a ‘test-request’ form and provide a simple urine test, and maybe a swab. Details you provide are treated in the strictest confidence. You will be asked to give a preferred method of contact to inform you of the result. These details do not have to be your home address. You can select to be informed by letter, telephone or text message. If you prefer, you can contact the surgery for your results.
The result is usually available in 2 weeks. If the result is positive you will be offered treatment which is free. To avoid being re-infected it is important that your partner is seen and tested/treated. If you change partner or your partner has sex with someone else you should be tested—we do not mind how often you are tested.
PODCASTS
Visit our website, www.stmaryssurgery.co.uk to download any of the 7 podcasts to your iPod or MP3 player for advice on First Aid to carry with you at all times. The 7 are;
Burns, Fits, Wounds, Unconscious patient who is breathing, CPR for adults, CPR for babies and Collapsed patient in detail.
Nearly 8,000 patients have accessed our website over the last 3 months and 500 have ordered their prescriptions on line in the last month.
CONTACTING YOUR DOCTOR BY TELEPHONE
If you need to speak to your Doctor by telephone, please leave your name, contact telephone number and a few details of why you want to speak to a Doctor, with the Receptionist.
She will email the Doctor to phone you back at a time that is convenient to them, in between home visits and other routine duties. We are unable to tell you when the Doctor will phone, so you will need to give us alternative contact numbers and times when you will be available.
Alternatively the Receptionist can email a query on your behalf and get an answer from a Doctor for you. This email will be attached to your medical record and any receptionist will be able to access it, in order to answer your query when you phone back.
FORMS FOR SIGNING BY DOCTORS
If you have a form that needs to be completed by the Doctor or sick certificates signed, it may not be necessary to see the Doctor.
Please check with the Receptionist before booking an appointment to see if you need to be seen.
Please note that most forms (except Fit to work certificates) attract a charge; which you will be asked to pay at the time you bring the form into the surgery. If the Doctor completes the form which you later decide not to use, we are unable to refund your payment.
Fit to work certificates are only issued by the Doctor after a period of 1 week’s sick leave. During this first week of any illness a self-certificate should be completed which is available from your employer or the DSS. You do not need to see a Doctor to complete a self-certificate.
We accept payment by cash, cheque or debit card, we are not able to accept credit cards. Cheques should be made out to St Marys Surgery.
PRESCRIPTIONS READY BY
So many patients phone us after only one day to see if their presciption has been done. We would like to stress that we need 48 hours to produce a repeat prescription.
If your script is collected by a chemist you will need to allow an extra day for them to collect it and then dispense it before you collect it. We would also ask patients to phone the chemist first if they collect them and not the surgery if they are wanting to know if the script has been done.
We usually produce over 750 prescriptions a week. Only 2 printings are done each day so it is possible that if we receive your re-order slip late afternoon, it will not be printed until the following morning.
It is then left for the Doctors to check and sign after they have finished their surgeries. It is not unusual for a Doctor to be signing prescriptions for more than an hour at a time, whilst dealing with all of their other paperwork.
CANCELLED APPOINTMENTS
If you cannot attend an appointment please cancel it as soon as you know you are not coming. We can then offer it to others who need it. If you have future appointments but manage to get an earlier appointment, please ensure you cancel them too.
PRESCRIPTION COLLECTION AND DELIVERY BY CHEMISTS
Several of the local pharmacies collect scripts from the Surgery. To use this service, you need to ensure we receive your request in good time before you run out of medication. We print the script which will be collected by one of the pharmacies listed below. You can then collect your medication directly from the pharmacy, saving you an extra trip to the Surgery. If you want to check that your medication is ready to collect please phone the Pharmacy first.
They are also open on Saturdays for those who work.
The Pharmacies who regularly collect scripts from St Marys are
Asda Pharmacy
Anton Mill Road Tel: 01264 367620 (ask for pharmacy)
Boots Pharmacy (Coopers)
High Street Andover Tel: 01264 396611
Boots Chemist
Chantry Way Andover Tel: 01264 352180 (ask for pharmacy)
Boots Pharmacy
Charlton Road Andover Tel: 01264 323844
Lloyds Pharmacy
Shakespeare Avenue Tel: 01264 339951
Shepherd’s Spring Pharmacy
Cricketer’s Way Andover Tel: 01264 355700
Superdrug Pharmacy
High Street Andover Tel: 01264 352183
Tesco Pharmacy
RiverWay Tel: 0845 6779007
Boots Pharmacy and Superdrug also provide a home delivery service for those who find it hard to get out of their houses and will also dispose of any unwanted or out of date medicines you may have.
Dr M Stone Dr E Pritchard Dr M Ferris Dr J Byrne Dr A Latham