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Practice Telephone:
01785 850226 Repeat Prescriptions (Only): 01785 850244
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This months news includes details about the Out of hours Service, Dr Rani happy news Missed Appointments Results of the Patient Questionnaire, The Healthy Heart Clinics, and the Surgery Flu campaign.Change in Out of Hours Service at the Crown surgery, Eccleshall You may be aware that the Crown Surgery is the only practice in the local area which offers patients the opportunity to consult their own GP, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This service has been offered by the three partners at the practice with the help of a colleague over the last 6 years. Prior to that Dr Bland and Dr Carr covered the practice 24 hours a day for 19 and 12 years respectively. Unfortunately the practice is unable to meet the new government regulations, and from the 1st October 2004 Out of Hours Services will be provided by the Staffordshire Ambulance Service and the Stafford Primary Care Centre. Patients will only need to make one telephone call on 01785 850226 for Out of Hours Services. The Out of Hours Service operates when the GP surgery is closed:
If you need to contact medical help out of hours after the 1st October 2004, you can either telephone NHS Direct (0845 4647) or telephone the surgery (01785 850226). We have arranged for your calls to the surgery to be automatically diverted to the Out of Hours Service where your call will be handled by trained ambulance personnel. If appropriate, a member of the ambulance team, either a doctor or a paramedic, will arrange to visit you at home or offer an appointment at the Primary Care Centre in Stafford. From Monday 29.11.04 the practice will no longer be open on Saturday mornings All medical issues will be dealt with by contacting the Out of Hours Service, by telephoning 01785 850226. Requests for repeat prescriptions can still be left on 01785 850244 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We hope that you will understand the reasons for the doctors having to reduce their commitment to a 24 hour service, and appreciate that this decision has only been made after considerable discussion with the local Primary Care Trust. The Stafford Out of Hours Service has been working successfully since April 2004 for over 124,000 patients who live in Stone, Gnosall, Stafford, Great Haywood, and Penkridge areas, under the management of Staffordshire Ambulance Services and the South Western Staffordshire Primary Care Trust. If you have any comments about the change in service, please do not hesitate to contact the practice manager, or send your comments via the patient suggestions on this website, or contact the South Western Staffordshire Primary Care Trust on 01785 220004. Dr Rani - Happy News Dr Rani recently left the practice to start her maternity leave. She will be coming back to work in the new year. We are very pleased to announce that we have a new GP, Dr Matt Warburton, working with us during Dr Rani's period of leave. 63 Appointments Missed in April 2007 The recent patient survey high lighted patient concerns regarding the availability of GP and nurse appointments. Unfortunately one of the persistent problems we encounter is missed appointments. Over the last 12 months the practice has lost over 900 appointments through patients not attending as planned. We are very grateful to those patients who help to limit this waste, by contacting the surgery to cancel and rearrange their appointment. Without their help the situation would be much worse. We are aware that sometimes the clinicians do not "keep to appointment time" and although we try to keep these occasions to a minimum, sometimes it is unavoidable. Please contact the practice as soon as you realise you no longer need the appointment and let us know that we can offer it to someone else in need. Patient Questionnaire A survey of the Practice was carried out in 2005 and the average scores for the Crown Surgery were compared to the average scores for all participating practices. 80% of the patients requested to complete a questionnaire responded and the results were as follows. Higher than average scores were noted for;
Lower than average scores were noted for;
We would like to thank all those patients who took part in the survey. We have discussed the results of the survey as part of our regular practice meetings, all patients have the opportunity to comment on the services provided by submitting a comment form or telephoning the practice manager at any time. We were particularly pleased with patient comments regarding the clinical care that the practice offers, however the ability of patient's to see a doctor of their choice is an area which is causing patient concern. Patient comments regarding the 24/48 access to clinicians is worrying as the practice offers both routine, pre bookable appointments and urgent appointments each day. In this way patients should always be able to access a GP within 48 hours. Individual comments made
as part of the survey reflect the change in Out of Hours provision made
last year. Unfortunately the decision to withdraw from Out of hours
provision was made by the South Western Primary Care Trust as part of
their annual review process. All calls to the practice in the evening
after 6.30pm and over the weekend are automatically transferred to the Out
of Hours Service which is managed by the Staffordshire Ambulance Service
The Healthy Heart Clinic was started in 2000 with
the aim of keeping a close eye on patients who either have heart disease
or are considered to be at risk of developing heart disease. Each
year invitations are sent to patients years who have a history of the
following problems:-
Some patients need to have blood tests before attending the clinic but if this is the case it will be made clear in the invitation. Patients are seen by either Sister
Trafford. Each appointment lasts 20
minutes during which time the patients’ height, weight and blood
pressure are measured. Special attention is also paid to the results of
the blood tests for cholesterol and sugar levels. Sister Trafford is also
keen to make sure that patients are given any help or advice they may need
regarding lifestyle issues such as exercise, diet and stopping smoking. The clinic has proved very popular and since it was started over 450 patients have been seen. We are convinced that attending the clinic and following the advice given, minimises the chance of patients with the above illnesses suffering unnecessary complications. Flu vaccination campaign The vaccination sessions are now completed. All the practice stock has been exhausted, and we expect to receive a supplementary supply in early December. Once the additional supply is exhausted we will try to order locate further vaccine however, given the limited availability, nationally, further supplies are unlikely. All patients over the age of 65 are eligible and we would encourage all patients with the following diseases to have the vaccination as flu is much more dangerous if these conditions are present:- · Patients with diabetes · Patients with a history of angina or heart attack · Patients with liver disease · Patients with a history of mini stroke or stroke · Patients with asthma or emphysema
The only people for whom the flu jab is contraindicated are those who are allergic to eggs. |
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