Marine Avenue Medical Centre

Marine Avenue Patients (MAP) Group

Autumn-Winter 2017 Newsletter

Dear patients welcome to our latest Newsletter.

Flu Vaccines Pnuemovax Vaccine

The Flu vaccines are now available If you are booking a Flu jab why not

Please contact surgery for appointmentsbook aPnuemovax too (if you have

Eligibility Criteria:not already had one)

  • Over 65Babies receive this as 3 separate
  • At risk due to chronic condition/disease injections at 8wks, 16wks and 1yr.
  • Age 6 months as part of normalOver 65 and you only need a single
  • vaccination programme vaccine which will protect you for life
  • Children age 2,3, (nasal spray)
  • Children from reception up to year 4 at school
  • Carers.

Self Help

Many minor illnesses can be managed at home.Often viruses can cause similar symptoms to bacterial infections, such as a blocked runny nose, sneezing, coughing, mild fever, aching and fatigue. Antibiotics are not effective against viral infections.

The best remedy for a mild viral infection is to stay at home, keep warm and drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. Antibiotics are not the answer.

Antibiotics

The over use of antibiotics has contributed to antibiotic resistance which is one of the most significant threats to patient safety in Europe.

Antibiotics work by killing bacteria or preventing them from reproducing and spreading. They will only be prescribed if the doctor feels that they are absolutely necessary. Many mild bacterial infections can be cleared up by your body’s own natural immune system without the use of antibiotics.

Pharmacies

Your local pharmacist can offer good advice and treatment on many minor health conditions such as:

Cold and fluSore throat

CoughsThrush

Diarrhoea and vomitingCystitis

FeverConjunctivitis

You can contact your local Pharmacies for opening hours

Text Message Service

We operate a text message service so that we can send text reminders for appointments.

You can also text back if you want to cancel your appointment.

In order to do this we need an up to date mobile number for your records, please leave this with reception.

Missed Appointments

There has been an increase in the number of missed appointments. In the month of September we had a total of 75.

GP’s 35 x 10 minute appointments

Nurses 40 appointments

GPs on average normally have 32 appointments a day, and nurses 32 appointments a day, this equates to more than 2 days of wasted time just in one month alone.Overall this means that there is a waste of valuable time and resources and increases the risk of patients not being able to book appointments.

If you do not need or cannot attend a booked appointment please ring or text the surgery to cancel.

Staff

A big Thank-you to Dr Robson and Dr Scott and the whole team, who continue to maintain the smooth running of the practice often in difficult circumstances.

Dr Waggitt was a very welcome addition to the practice and has been with us for almost a year now.

Dr Taqvi has completed her Fellowship and will be teaching medical students who will be sitting in on consultations, this will hopefully help encourage them to become GP’s of the future.

Role of Practice Clinical Pharmacists

Part of thepractice pharmacist role includes reviewing medications and offering advice, he also oversees Hypertension clinics helping to improve patient care.

Role of Practice Nurse

Helen our Practice nurse can now review and prescribe certain medications which helps to take the pressure off the doctors.

Receptionist Apprenticeship

We continue with the apprentice receptionist scheme having two qualified receptionist who have completed the course Olivia (who has recently sadly left) and Sam who is still with us. We also have a new apprentice Tamzin.

Carer’s Service

If you are a carer we now have a carer’s register the aim is to offer help and support, if you would like further information please contact Sandra who is our Carers Champion at reception.

As a Patients Group we are very keen to have some new members to join us, your views and input would be invaluable to help represent the patients.

We would like to wish every-one a very Happy Healthy Christmas and New Year.