Protect yourself from Measles and Flu

Important!, Medical

Protect yourself and your family/ community

You will be aware of a rise in measles cases in recent weeks/ months,  including in London and Birmingham.  Hospitals are seeing more admissions.  Measles can be a serious illness.  We have vaccine in stock,  and can check your records to see if you are up to date.  Normally the MMR is given at age 1,  with second at age 3 .  We are offering catch up for anyone who hasn't had 2 jabs,  at any age.  Speak to reception or to nursing team.

We also still have flu vaccines for this winter in stock.  There are still those winter illnesses circulating.  Keep well

Improving William Place

Important!

We are very excited !

William Place, immediately outside the practice,  is soon to be improved.  Your previous feedback commented on obstacles,  problems with disabled access,  uneven paving, parked vehicles.    If sufficient funds can be raised,  seating and planters can be provided.  Disabled parking is available ; other parking restrictions will be enforced. Fundraising has been enabled by "we are possible".  Find out more here

The lift at the front of the building is also being restored.  Thank you,  LBTH !

Online Record Access for patients

Important!, Medical

We have for some years offered online access to records via the NHS App / NHS login. We are rolling this out on an opt-in basis . It is on offer to patients age 16 and over. Read on to find out more. For under 11s, it is possible for parents or guardians to get “proxy access” . Between age 11 and 16 it is more complicated, and an ethical approach is needed. We need to respect the confidentiality of the young person, whilst often they would wish their parents/ guardians to be involved in their care.

Change to pharmacy requests

Important!, Patient information

For many years, pharmacies have been able to request prescriptions from practices. We want to improve safety and reduce wastage in this process.   Local practices in Bow (Bow Health Network) and local pharmacies have agreed a  new standard approach

What can my pharmacy request for me?

  • Repeat medication
  • Repeat dispensing medication (batches of repeat medication)
  • Dosette medication

What can’t my pharmacy request for me?

The following items need to be requested directly by yourself

  • Any acute medication (intended to be one-off, eg course of antibiotics)
  • Past medication (not listed as current)
  • Any medication we haven’t prescribed for you before
  • Variable use medication, such as creams, ointments
  • Painkillers – opiates including tramadol, co-codamol, codeine, dihydrocodeine, morphine/oxycodone
  • Hypnotics (sleeping tablets) – including benzodiazepines and melatonin
  • Salbutamol inhalers – it is important for your safety we keep track of your reliever inhaler use​. Your preventer inhaler can be requested by the pharmacy.
  • Rescue packs – antibiotics and prednisolone for COPD exacerbations – this is to help us keep track of usage to ensure your safety.​
  • Laxatives 

What if, by mistake, my pharmacy asks for medication in these categories?

The practice will inform the pharmacy and the patient, that the request needs to come from the patient.  With time, the pharmacy should be able to recognise these items and let you know to ask us for them directly. The pharmacy or reception should also be able to help you with NHS app requests

Get your prescription medication easily

Important!, Online services

The quickest and easiest way to get your repeat prescription is through the NHS app.  If you go to the medication icon,  at bottom of screen,  it will show your items on repeat prescription.  Your request then goes straight to the GP’s inbox.  This is more direct than doing an online consultation to request.

If you have a long term condition which is stable,  and you don’t want to be requesting every 1 or 2 months,  ask about batch  prescriptions (aka “RDS”).  Our inhouse pharmacists can set this up for you.  This means we pre-authorise several prescriptions.  Every 1-2 months you simply collect next medication from your pharmacist.  The batch can last 6-12 months.

If you need help getting started with the NHS app, ask reception,  or the pharmacists at the practice.

If you can’t see a medication you need on the NHS app,  it may be because it wasn’t prescribed for long term use (as acute rather than repeat).  Medications which haven’t been requested in a long time also are automatically moved to “past”. We may be able to rectify. Also “batch” /RDS medications shouldn’t be rerequested through the practice until the batch has been completed at your pharmacy.

You can change your preferred chemist on the NHS app,  eg to one close to work,  or at a temporary address.  Almost all our prescriptions are sent electronically.

Please allow at least 2 working days for your request to be authorised,  as GPs have other competing work and sometimes an extra check may be needed (such as monitoring blood test)

According to national guidance ,  we cannot prescribe some items which are readily available over the counter,  such as hayfever remedies.  Talk to our pharmacist or local pharmacist , or consider low-cost generic items.  We appreciate times are hard,  and it is worth shopping around.

Consultations update

Important!, Practice information

Please let us know the nature of your problem,  whether new or ongoing,  and your expectations/ concerns.  This helps us to prioritise and get you the right help.  Not everything needs a doctor’s appointment or call.  BMA recommends 25 patient contacts per day for safe practice;  currently 60-90 is not unusual. For clinical safety, and due to exceptional winter pressures, we are now limiting the daily number of online enquiries to which we can respond.  The portal is open from 8am daily;  we now need to close to enquiries when the daily limit is reached.

We have 5 nurses,  3 health care assistants,  2 pharmacists,  a community physiotherapist and mental health practitioner working with us.  Appointments with these experienced staff are directly bookable through reception.  GP appointments will be offered if needed.  We recommend following up with your usual GP for ongoing problems.  Please be aware there is a national crisis in GP staffing.  Thankfully we have a great team of regular GPs and trusted locums,  and are active in seeking extra help when needed to ensure sufficient numbers.

For skin problems,  please attach an image to your enquiry, as this is the most efficient way to suggest a diagnosis and treatment: for you,  for us, and for the dermatologists.  In most cases we do not need to see you in person.  For other problems we will reach a common sense agreement about whether face to face or telephone appointment works best,  bearing in mind your preference.  If an urgent same day examination is needed,  we are likely to invite you at end of morning or end of afternoon.  Please keep your preferred telephone close so we can contact you.

CONTINUE

Making online consultation easier. 23rd July 2022

Medicine, Patient information

Though many have been satisfied with “econsultation”, we have had feedback from some that the number of questions is laborious. We have changed to a new service, accurx. Although there are fewer questions, please do give us as much information as possible so we can prioritise and direct to the right person to help. Not everything needs a doctor’s appointment. About a third of our enquiries are related to certificates, letters, results, medication. If it is an admin query such as these, please make this clear. We also want to avoid duplication, so if you have written in, please allow us to respond before telephoning. We hope you will be happy with the new service

We are continuing to experiencing very high volumes of enquiries (from patients online, in person, by phone, as well as 111, other medical services and allied professions). Sorry we cannot resolve all queries within 48h. We are often working late into the evening and at weekends. As well as consultations, we are dealing with hospital letters, results, and chronic disease management. You will get a text reminder 24h before your appointment or time your online enquiry will be reviewed.

We have good availability for nurse appointments for smears, blood pressure, contraception and specific long term conditions. We also have HCA appointments for blood tests (though this is likely to require prior discussion with other clinician). We have pharmacists who can discuss your medication queries. We have a pod in the waiting room where you can check your blood pressure or weight. You can book these options through reception.

Update 9.4.22

Medicine, Patient information

Dear registered patients: due to very high volumes of enquiries, we cannot resolve all within 48h, but we will endeavour to notify you of plan (eg follow up with the doctor you were previously dealing with). We had 1973 econsults submitted in March, and over a 5 week period approximately 4200 econsult reviews/ phone consultations/ patients seen in person. This has meant we are often working late into the evening and at weekends. As well as consultations, we are dealing with hospital letters, results, and chronic disease management. You will get a text reminder 24h before your appointment or time your econsult will be reviewed.

We have good availability for nurse appointments for smears, blood pressure, contraception and specific long term conditions. We also have HCA appointments for blood tests (though this is likely to require prior discussion with other clinician). We have pharmacists who can discuss your medication queries. We have a pod in the waiting room where you can check your blood pressure or weight. You can book these options through reception.

Staff unwell with coronavirus

Medicine

23.12.21
Several staff members (doctors, nurses and other staff) have had to self isolate as they are unwell. We are open as usual , but running with significantly fewer staff. Please bear this in mind when contacting us. Econsult will not be available over weekends and bank holidays.
Coronavirus vaccines, including booster doses and age 12+. are available on bookable and walk in basis over Christmas period. Further info and times here