Shelford Medical Practice Newsletter, April 2018
Surgery Remedial Work
By the time you are reading this, our remedial work should be finished and we should have beautifully tarmacked footpaths and car park. Thank you all for being so patient (no pun intended!) whilst this work was been carried out and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this caused you over the last few weeks.
Car Park Spaces
We have noticed an increasing number of car parking spaces being taken up by people not using the surgery. Please may we request that if you are not coming into the surgery you use one of the other two village car parks -many of our patients are less mobile and really need to use our parking spaces.
Easter Opening Times & Alternative Services
Thursday 29 March – Open 8am to 6pm
Friday 30 March - Good Friday - Closed
Saturday 31 March – Closed
Sunday 1 April - Closed
Monday 2 April – Easter Monday – Closed
Tuesday 3 April – Open 8am to 6pm
When the surgery is closed, there are local GPs on call at the local urgent care centre at Addenbrookes. If you need to be seen by a doctor or nurse, or need advice while the surgery is closed, please call 111. This service operates between 6:30pm and 8am on weekdays and 24 hours at weekends and on bank holidays. It is free to call from mobile ‘phones and landlines. Your condition will be assessed over the ‘phone and if they think you need to be seen by a health professional they will refer you to the out-of-hours GP services.
You can take simple steps such as stocking up on essential medicines to help you treat minor illnesses at home, helping you avoid unnecessary trips to your GP or A&E department. Medicine cabinet essentials include:
· Pain relief (paracetamol)
Cost to your local NHS £1.2m; cost for you to buy 25p (16 tablets)
· Upset stomach treatment
Cost to your local NHS £295,000; cost for you to buy £2 (200ml)
· Heartburn and indigestion treatment
Cost to your local NHS £1.1m; cost for you to buy £1 (6 capsules)
· First aid kit
Repeat Prescriptions
Please ensure you have enough medication to cover the Easter break by ordering what you need in good time, allowing 3 days from making your request to collecting your prescription.
As always, we welcome any patient feedback so please feel free to contact us with comments, queries or questions – our aim is to provide the best possible service we can to all of our patients.
Sandra East
Communications Manager
Shelford Medical Practice proposed changes
Report from Granta Medical Practices and Shelford Medical Practice Proposed Merger Public Consultation 1st February 2018
Firstly, thank you to all of you that came along to the Public Consultation on 1st February. There was an amazing turnout - approximately 145 people!
Dr Chris Schramm opened the meeting by giving a presentation about the future of healthcare and the merger proposition. This was followed by question time.
The main issues addressed were:-
Retaining the surgery in Shelford - the proposed merger is to Retain, Maintain & Improve our presence and service we offer in Shelford.
Continuity of care – there will be no staff changes at Shelford, but there will be more choices. If, for example, a Shelford slot offered did not fit with your schedule, you could then have extended choice of other Granta sites.
Maintaining - the Granta management structure was also explained in the meeting. By having dedicated expert managers for each part of the business means that GP’s can be freed up to do what they do best – doctoring.
Out of Hours was discussed but is a separate NHS service which will not be affected by the proposed merger.
Merging reduces risk of privatisation – merging giving us more strength, making takeover by a corporate giant very unlikely.
Dr James Morrow from Granta went into further detail about how GP surgeries are funded. A GP practice is paid £136 per patient per year. This is a standard amount - whether the patient sees a GP once or 20 times in a year. (Interestingly, it costs more to insure a pet gerbil for one year!)
Improvements - part of the Granta future plan is about moving hospital services out into the community, giving easier and quicker access for patients. Ear microsuction is already being offered and services currently in development include a paediatric clinic, ENT, Ophthalmology and MSK (orthopaedics and physiotherapy).
Feedback following the meeting was very positive indeed, with many members of the public coming to speak to representatives to offer their support for the proposed merger.
If you should have any further queries about the proposed merger please do not hesitate to contact Gerard Newnham, Business Practice Manager of Granta on 01223 727555, Gerard.newnham@nhs.net or Sandra East, Admin & Comms Manager of Shelford on 01223 843661, sandra.east@nhs.net.
Surgery Remedial Work
Over the next few weeks we are having the car park resurfaced, the footpaths repaired and the flat roof replaced. There will be reduced parking spaces whilst this work is going ahead and we would ask that if you able-bodied you consider parking in one of the village car parks so that our less mobile patients can park near to the surgery. Please accept our apologies in advance for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Shelford
Medical Practice Newsletter, February 2018
Winter
Pressures on the NHS
As you will be aware, the NHS is currently experiencing a surge in
demand for all health services, which in turn is putting pressures on acute and
emergency services as well as GP surgeries.
With the NHS under such huge winter pressures we would like to remind
our patients about appropriately accessing emergency services.
Infection control – Emergency Departments in our region have seen an increase
in patients going in with flu and diarrhoea/vomiting conditions. There has also
been norovirus outbreaks, leading to ward closures. Emergency departments have
asked that the general public stay away from hospitals with non-acute
infectious illnesses and instead seek advice from 111, local pharmacies or
self-care.
Getting yourself to hospital – The ambulance service has been tweeting to ask the public
to choose wisely when calling an ambulance or visiting a hospital and to do so
only in a genuine emergency. They are
finding that some patients are calling for an ambulance for non-emergencies as
they have trouble travelling to see their GP.
The NHS is encouraging patients
without transport to approach family, friends and neighbours and ask to be
taken to hospitals and practices in non-emergency situations, before relying on
ambulance transfers. If it is an option, it will be much quicker for the
patient than using an ambulance.
NHS 111 promotion
begins this week
NHS England has launched a new
TV advertising campaign to help promote the NHS 111 service. We hope this will
help you choose the right services for your conditions.
If you need any help or
assistance with choosing the right service please call the surgery and we will
be happy to help you.
Proposed
Shelford Medical Practice and Granta Medical Practices Merger
Further to the announcement by Granta Medical Practices and Shelford
Medical Practice, there will be a public consultation meeting on Thursday 1st February from
2pm to 3pm, in Great Shelford Memorial Hall.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Sandra East
Admin & Comms Manager
Shelford Medical Practice proposed changes
Shelford Medical Practice could merge with the larger Granta Group in 2018.
A consultation meeting to kick off the proposals will take place at 2pm on February 1 at Great Shelford Memorial Hall.
The move would ensure the future sustainability of the Medical Practice in Great Shelford.
The merger could happen for several reasons:
1) Specialist outpatients services for Shelford and Stapleford would be provided as part of any new arrangement
2) An emergency home care service across the area would be provided by the merged group
3) Any merger would guarantee the future of the Shelford Medical Practice
4) Management services would be shared between the different members of the group.
The Granta Group currently has 3 practices operating from four different sites, including Sawston.
* The Shelford Medical Practice, which has 9,000 patients, is also considering options around a new medical practice building for the Shelfords and Stapleford.
