A Teaching General Practice of the University of Birmingham

A Teaching General Practice of the University of Birmingham

WOODLAND ROAD SURGERY

57 WOODLAND ROAD

NORTHFIELD

BIRMINGHAM

B31 2HZ

DR M P ALLEN TEL: 0121 475 1065

DR M SHEVKET FAX: 0121 475 6179

DR H SCOTT-COOK

DR O ONGLEY

Dear new patient

Firstly welcome to Woodland Road Surgery. As a very popular surgery we have many new patients registering every week, it is therefore vital that we follow a careful process for new registrations to ensure that we are able to take over your care in a safe and efficient manner. Please take a moment to read through this letter alongside the other forms and documents in this pack.

As well as asking you to complete, in full, the forms that you have been given we will book you an initial new patient health check. This gives us the opportunity to gain key information from you regarding your medical history and any ongoing conditions or medications you may have. We also use this appointment to record your current smoking and alcohol status, your height, weight and blood pressure.

So that we can give your new registration the time it deserves we ask that you return your completed forms, together with your identification documents, to reception on any working day between the hours of 11am and 3pm. The receptionist will then check that everything has been completed in full, ensure we have copies of you documents and book you in for your new patient health check. Within a few hours of receiving your completed forms you will formally be registered onto the practice system and you are then free to arrange appointments or attend Open Surgery as necessary. You do not need to wait until after your health check to start accessing appointments or arranging your medication.

If you are in receipt of regular, repeat medication then please try and provide us with a copy of your most recent repeat prescription tick list, this would have been on the reverse of your last prescription from your previous GP. If you do not have a tick list then you can bring confirmation from your pharmacy or packaging from your medication to reception and we can add it to the system.

IF YOU CANNOT PROVIDE ANY OFFICIAL EVIDENCE OF THE MEDICATIONS YOU HAVE BEEN PRESCRIBED, OR IF YOU ARE IN RECEIPT OF CERTAIN CONTROLLED MEDICATIONS, THEN ONLY A GP CAN SET UP MEDICATION FOR A NEW PATIENT. PLEASE ASK A RECEPTIONIST FOR GUIDANCE.

If you don’t have your NHS number to complete your purple form then you can easily get this by contacting your last surgery.

Identification documents must prove to us who you are and where you live, if you are unsure of what you need to show please speak to a receptionist.

Once again welcome to Woodland Road Surgery and if you have any questions or concerns relating to the new patient process or any other aspect of our service then please speak to one of our receptionists, or you can ask for Jean who is our Reception Supervisor.

Many thanks for choosing Woodland Road Surgery.

Yours faithfully

Rachael Jackson

Practice Manager

SEEING A DOCTOR

Woodland Road Surgery prides itself on providing excellent access that enables our patients to see a GP on the day that they need to. As well as being able to pre-book to see a GP as necessary we operate Open Surgery. Open Surgery is essentially a walk-in clinic that runs at the following times

Monday8.30am – 10am4pm – 6pm

Tuesday8.30am – 10am4pm – 6pm

Wednesday8.30am – 10amNO AFTERNOON CLINIC

Thursday8.30am – 10am4pm – 6pm

Friday8.30am – 10am4pm – 6pm

You do not need to ring us, you do not need to book in advance you just turn up between the times shown above and you will be seen (please understand waiting times can reach one hour). Open Surgery can be used for anything that you feel requires attention and cannot safely wait until a pre-booked appointment can be arranged. We do ask that you try and only bring one problem at a time to Open Surgery as it is difficult for the GP’s to cover lots of different problems when we are so busy.

We try and always offer male and female GP’s, but on occasion this may not be possible. Similarly we do try and accommodate patients who would prefer to see a specific GP who is covering Open Surgery, but we do ask for your understanding on the occasions where due to limited cover we cannot accommodate GP preferences (look out for the signs advising that we may not be taking preferences due to limited GP cover).

SEEING A NURSE OR HCA

We have nurses and a HCA working five days a week, although obviously they do take annual leave and occasionally they may be unwell so we cannot make this a guarantee every week of the year! Between them our nurses and HCA can provide ongoing support and monitoring of long term conditions, they can undertake regular dressings, provide all vaccinations and immunisations as well as overseeing our compliance with infection control and working to ensure all patients who need regular follow up are seen in a timely manner. If you are unsure of which nurse you should see then please ask a receptionist and they will guide you in the right direction.

We do try and provide a variety of times throughout the day for seeing our nurses, however due to the time our bloods are collected for transportation to the laboratories at the QE we cannot offer blood tests after about 2.30pm.

REPEAT PRESCRIPTION

All repeat prescriptions are subject to a 48 hour turnaround time, and this only applies to working days. So if you request your repeat on Friday it won’t be ready until Tuesday. If you urgently need medication or you need extra due to a holiday then please speak to a receptionist. We have careful medicines management processes in place and we would not wish to unintentionally cause you inconvenience.

ONLINE SERVICES

All new patients over the age of 16 who register at Woodland Road Surgery are automatically signed up to our online services, you are not obliged to use them, but they can be a convenient way to arrange appointments, prescriptions and even see your medical record and test results. If you need any guidance or support then please ask at reception.

PLEASE SEE THE ENCLOSE PATIENT INFORMATION LEAFLET FOR FURTHER DETAILS OF THE SERVICES AND STAFF AT WOODLAND ROAD SURGERY