Practice News
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Lister House Surgery - Practice Updates August/ September 2022
Included in this update:
- Physiotherapy service changes
- Community Pharmacy consultation service CPCS
- Patient Participation Group (PPG)
- Practice Staff
- Telephone
- Building
Physiotherapy
As of 1st September our phytotherapy service will be on Mondays and Fridays. Monday service will remain on site but Thursday physiotherapy will now be held at Wrafton House Surgery.
Why? - The reason for this change is due to the practice havening a limited amount of space on site for all our consultants and additional staff members.
How will it work? – The physiotherapists at Wrafton can see the exact same clinical system that we see at Lister. This means they have access to your records and the appointment book to be able to review and add information as necessary to your medical records. The only change for you will be where you are seen.
What do I need to do? - If you have an appointment booked for Monday or Thursday before 1st September – nothing! Please come to the surgery as per usual.
If you have an appointment booked for Monday after 1st September, please attend the practice as per usual
If you have an appointment booked for physiotherapy on a FRIDAY after the 1st September you will need to attend Wrafton House Surgery. On arrival you should advise the receptionists that you are a lister house surgery patient there to see the physiotherapist.
Where do I go? - For any appointments for physio on Thursday after 01.09.22 please attend- Wrafton House Surgery 9-11 Wellfield Rd, Hatfield AL10 0BS
What do I do if I need to make or change a physiotherapy appointment? – You will continue to contact Lister House Surgery for any new / amendments or cancellation of appointments.
What if I go to the wrong place? – If you make a mistake and go to either practice incorrectly, we will advise you where you need to be. Please be advised that the physiotherapists do not see patients more than 5 mins late and consider this when attending for your appointment. We appreciate this is a new change so may make some allowances in the first week.
CPCS Community Pharmacy consultation service
The practice will be starting the CPCS service as of 22nd September 2022. This service allows the reception to navigate patients to the local pharmacies who can help with a wide variety of issues. This saves both the GP and you time. For more information on how this service will work please see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STsHgyM-rR8
See list of some conditions that can be referred and your pharmacist can deal with
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Acne, Spots and Pimples Allergic Reaction Ankle or Foot Pain or Swelling Athlete's Foot Bites or Stings, Insect or Spider Blisters Constipation Diarrhoea Ear Discharge or Ear Wax Earache Eye, Red or Irritable Eye, Sticky or Watery Eyelid Problems Hair loss Headache Hearing Problems or Blocked Ear Hip, Thigh or Buttock Pain or Swelling Itch Knee or Lower Leg Pain |
Lower Back Pain Lower Limb Pain or Swelling Mouth Ulcers Nasal Congestion Rectal Pain, Scabies Shoulder Pain Skin, Rash Sleep Difficulties Sore Throat Tiredness Toe Pain or Swelling Vaginal Discharge Vaginal Itch or Soreness Vomiting Wound Problems - management of dressings Wrist, Hand or Finger Pain or Swelling |
Patient Participation Group
The patient participation group is a group of patients interested in health and healthcare issues, who want to get involved with and support the running of our practice at Lister. The group meets every 6-8 weeks (virtually or in person) to decide ways and means of making a positive contribution to the services and facilities offered by the practice to its patients.
If you would be interested in joining our group please visit our website.
Practice Staff
The practice has welcomed new GP partner Dr Amar Gohil who started with us as of 1st July 2022.
Dr Sonal Patel will be our new salaried GP starting 1st September 2022.
New nurse Mariam Heidari started with us as of 24th August 2022.
The practice is happy to have all new team members on site.
We are continuing to recruit a GP receptionist both part- and full-time hours. Anyone wishing to apply for the role can send addressed to the practice manager. Please note that should you be successful you would need to register with another practice, full details available on NHS jobs or indeed.
Telephone
Regrettably we had 2 days of faults with the telephone system this month and we apologise for this. We appreciate the difficulties you face in contacting us and we are doing all we can to resolve these issues. Regrettably during august we have faced some serious staff shortages that have affected our usual service. We are facing serious recruitment issues, which is a national issue across the NHS.
Building
The practice will be adding an additional consulting room to the first floor – room 13. We expect this work to take place over the next few months.
Covid Booster Update December 2021
As per government guidelines the practice is working extremely hard to roll out the COVID-19 booster vaccination programme to our communities. All adults (over 18 years) are eligible from Monday 13 December 2021.
Please do not contact the practice over any COVID vaccination queries or try to book through the practice as this will stop patients with medical conditions being able to get through.
You can book your booster for 3 months from the date of second vaccine, and you can access the National Booking System to book the appointment from 2 months.
We are working at pace to increase the availability of appointments. To facilitate this we have reduced some services and temporarily suspended routine work. We remain open for any urgent needs.
In terms of any planned appointments, there are no changes at the current time, and everyone should attend your planned appointments as normal. If we need to make any changes, we will contact you directly.
If you have already been given an appointment for a COVID vaccination you should also still attend for this.
PLEASE BE KIND…
On a final note, Please understand that every member of the Practice team has gone above and beyond in their job during this pandemic. We have been through the same things that you have and like you are tired and frustrated with the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on us all.
As a Practice we are proud of what we have achieved over the last 15 months, that we are getting through this pandemic together and we want to ensure that the patients continue to get the best possible care that we can deliver. We ask that you help us to do this and be kind to anyone you come in to contact with at the Practice. As a little kindness goes a long way.
To book a vaccine using the National Booking Service NBS:
For latest NHS and Government information visit:
COVID Vaccination
We continue to provide COVID vaccinations to our patients at Bellingham court and will be doing so until the end of summer. As such we have a reduced number of appointments available at the practice.
If you would like to book an appointment for your COVID vaccination, please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/
Social Distancing
As a surgery, we have a responsibility to look after the vulnerable and sick patients that need to visit us. We also need to protect our staff for their own safety and to maintain services to our patients.
The practice along with our Hatfield PCN colleagues, will continue to operate with restricted access to the building, social distancing measures will remain in place, and you will need to wear a face mask when visiting us (unless exempt).
The practice remains open from 8.30am - 6.15pm Mon- Fri.
We continue to operate a telephone triage system. Any face-to-face appointments will continue to be given by the clinician.
The reception team have been directed to ask all patients the reasons for the calls so that may direct them to the most appropriate services.
Please respect the job that the receptionists are doing, they are working to protocols set out by the partners in order to keep the practice operating as efficiently as possible.
We hope you understand the reason for us to continue working in this manner: the situation will be reviewed regularly, and changes made where appropriate. Our key focus is keeping the staff and community safe.
Extended Access
The practice continues to offer appointments at our extended access clinic between 8am – 4pm Mon – Fri and Saturday & Sunday 8am -12pm. These extra appointments will be at spring house medical centre. The clinic is currently operating a telephone triage service, and has a doctors, nurses and pharmacist that you can contact for help and advice.
Please ask our receptionist when calling for an appointment.
Online consultation
The practice will be switching back on the e-consult function as of 17th August.
The feature was temporarily turned off while changes to processes were put in place with the development team.
Please note the following with regards to how we will process e-consults from this date;
- All e-consults will be assessed by a practice user by the end of the next working day. This means a member of the team will get back to you to advise how we intend to process the information given to us.
- The practice has found a high volume of our patients like using the e-consult service. As such we need to ensure that we are able to deal with the volume of queries safely. To help aid this there will now be ‘capped’ amounts of e-consults per day. We will update the website to show when the e-consult limit is reached, and this will prevent any further e-consults being sent to us. Once we have dealt with the demand you will once again be able to send an e-consult within 72hrs.
- E-consults are for routine (non-urgent) queries only. Any forms requesting an appointment with the GP will not be responded to.
- Patients are permitted to send 1 E-consult per patient per day. Any duplicates or further communications will not be responded to.
Changes to Hospital walk-in blood test service
Blood tests, requested by GPs, now have to be booked online for the following hospitals: Hertford County Hospital, Lister Hospital and New QEII.
You should book your appointment using the link https://www.enherts-tr.nhs.uk/changes-to-our-walk-in-blood-test-service.
If you are unable to book online, please call the phlebotomy team on 01438 284044 9-5pm Monday - Friday. To complete the booking, the team will need to know the hospital where you would like to have the blood test, your NHS number, name, address, date of birth and phone number.
If you do not know your NHS number, it will be on your latest prescription or there is guidance on the NHS website to find your NHS number.
NHS e-Referral Tracking
If your doctor has referred, you to a specialist for further care you will be asked to book your appointment using the ‘NHS e-Referral’ system.
You will receive a letter from us within 2 weeks giving details of how to book your appointment and any passwords you may need.
To track your e-Referral you will need the following details to log into the e-Referral website:
- Your date of birth
- Reference number – this will be on the first page of your letter
- Password – this will be on the second page of your letter
To track an e-Referral, https://www.ebs.ncrs.nhs.uk/login
COVID-19 Vaccinations
The first phase of the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme has started. When it is the right time people will receive an invitation to come forward. This will be by phone call or text message. Please do not contact the practice to get an appointment.
Where will the vaccination take place?
All vaccinations will take place off site at the University of Hertfordshire. This is not a walk-in service and all appointments must be pre-booked. Details of how to access the site Click here (please add link DIRECTIONS )and what will happen on the day click here (please add link) COVID 19 INVITE LETTER are available on our website.
Who can have the COVID-19 vaccination?
The COVID-19 vaccination will be rolled out across the NHS in phases. The vaccine will be given to patient priority groups as decided by JCVI and the government.
Click here to see the priority groups.
The practice will contact patients that fall within these groups when it is the right time to do so. We will regularly update the website to indicate which groups are being contacted and if appointments are available.
Please do not contact the practice about COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Why do I have to wait for my COVID-19 vaccine?
- COVID-19 adult leaflet
- COVID-19 Pregnant women leaflet
- Priority order of COVID-19 vaccinations
COVID Recovery
Your COVID recovery is a new NHS website designed to help people recover from the long-term effects of COVID-19 and support them to manage their recovery. It includes information from rehabilitation experts about how to manage ongoing symptoms and health needs at home, and signposts to sources of support.
For information please click here
COVID-19 (Corona Virus) Practice Update
You must wear a face covering at all times when attending the practice.
Click video for more details:
In light of the most recent guidance we are making some dramatic changes in attempt to keep the practice running. If we have confirmed cases who attended the surgery then that building will have to be shut for deep clean, and if several staff members contract the virus the whole practice may stop functioning effectively. We need to do all we can to stop that happening so that we can continue to provide advice and help to those who really need it.
No entry to either surgery without an appointment
As off Tuesday 24th March no one will be allowed to enter either surgery unless they have been asked to attend.
Telephone triage system
From Monday 9th March 2020 we started a full telephone triage service. This means if you would like an appointment or administrative support you will always be called first and only if unavoidable will you be asked to attend the surgery. If the GP deems it appropriate they may suggest a video consultation with you to resolve your issue.
Contact us by using eConsult via our website
If you need help, either doctor/nurse advice or administrative support (eg sick notes) we request you complete an eCONSULT form online via our website. If you do not have online access yourself please ask someone you know to help you. You can instead ring the surgery to speak to a receptionist but please bare in mind there may be a waiting time to get through and you will not be able to give us as much information as when using the eConsult. We will get back to you by the end of the next working day.
Home Visits
All home visits requests will be also be phone triaged by a doctor first. Home visits are a high risk situation for both the patient and the doctor. Therefore, where possible, we will try initially to manage the problem over the phone. This is a change for many patients so if you are a patient or a relative please understand the reasons if a visit does not take place.
As with all consultations if you have been phone triaged and then your condition changes please let us know.
Prescriptions
Requests:
Please do not attend the surgery to drop off prescription requests. For routine prescriptions request these via on line access. Please submit an eConsult if you do not have the forms to request this. For medications not on your repeat list please request these via an eConsult.
Collections:
We will not be printing prescriptions were possible, they will sent be electronically direct to your nominated pharmacy. If you do not have a nominated pharmacy please add this to the presription request notes.
​Please use self help first where possible
We urge all patients to use our online eCONSULT self help function or NHS online (www.nhs.uk) to obtain advice about your problem before contacting the surgery.
We understand what a massive change this is. By introducing the above actions we hope we will be able to continue to provide a service to our patients through out this difficult period. The current situation continues to change and we will keep our patients informed via our website of any further changes. We hope to revert back to our normal processes in the near future.
If you have any concerns about Covid-19 please visit 111-ONLINE: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ The 111 service is being overwhelmed with calls, please only call them for advice about Coronavirus if you think you have Coronavirus and are significantly short of breath.
Support for those in isolation with no support
Support for those in Isolation with no support
For those in isolation who have no support network in place please visit:
www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable or call 0800 0288327, the Government’s dedicated helpline.
Thank You
Lister House Surgery
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Advice in your region:
From Monday 1 June:
- You can spend time outdoors, including private gardens and other outdoor spaces, in groups of up to six people from different households, following social distancing guidelines
- You should go to work if you cannot work from home and your business has not been required to close by law
- More shops are beginning to reopen, with a plan for more to do so later in the month
- Children in early years (age 0-5), reception, year 1 and year 6 can return to childcare or school in line with the arrangements made by their school
- You can be tested as part of the test and trace programme, which will enable us to return to normal life as soon as possible, by helping to control transmission risks
For information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing
There is separate advice about:
- staying at home if you're at high risk of getting seriously ill from coronavirus
- staying at home if you or someone you live with has symptoms of coronavirus
Symptoms and what to do
Do not leave your home if you have either:
- high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
- loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
Most people with coronavirus have at least one of these symptoms.
To protect others, do not go to places like a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Stay at home.
Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.
Only call 111 if you cannot get help online.
Read general information such as:
Website under construction
Due to patient feedback we have updated our site to make it more user friendly. During our transition period some aspects of the site may not be fully functional. If you encounter any issues please contact reception team. Once the site is fully restored you will no longer see this message.
Additional clinics and staff
Physiotherapy
We have a physiotherapist service every Tuesday morning. You can see the physiotherapist for a first assessment instead of seeing a doctor. The physiotherapist can assess many physical injuries and pains. Appointments are 20 minutes long.
Social Prescriber
We now offer apppointments with our social prescriber every Friday monring. Appointments are 40mins long. The social prescrber can provide help and assistance with social care needs such as; difficuty completing beneift or housing forms, blue badges, support for loneliness and managing at home. For further infromation please contact the receptionist. More details are also avilable on https://www.hertshelp.net/hertshelp.aspx
Pharmacist
We have a pharmacist service once week on a Thursday morning. The pharmacist can see some minor illness problems and reviews. Please ask the receptionists for more details.