ST JAMES SURGERY, 89 WASH LANE, CLACTON-ON-SEACO15 1DA
THE SURGERY, CHURCH SQUARE, ST OSYTH CO16 8NU
PATIENT NEWSLETTER NUMBER 10
Well we are having lovely weather at last just in time for the Olympics. We have done really well and it gives us something to be proud of.
Patient Participation Group
We have had a recent success with our patient participation group who were asked for suggestions for topics on which to survey our patients. We did a patient questionnaire in February/March which highlighted the confidentiality aspect of our reception area. We therefore purchased some barriers and asked our patients to wait behind them so that patients at the desk can talk confidentially to the receptionists. We have had a lot of positive feedback from our patients as a result of this and would like to thank you all for your participation in this venture. We now have 67 patients in our Patient Participation Group and if you would like to join, please visit our website where you can find a sign up form or call in at reception and ask for one. We contact our members via email or post and are happy to receive suggestions for our next patient questionnaire at any time.
Automatic check-in
Please do give this a try if you are in a long queue and just want to book in for an appointment. All the instructions are on the screen and it could save you having to stand and wait longer than necessary. Our hard-working reception staff would be very grateful as they don’t like to keep patients waiting!
Surgery Website
Our website is still proving popular with 192,013 hits in the last 12 months! You can book appointments, order medication (900 requests in the last month via the website) or leave comments for us on this site – such as this one received on 2nd August “The doctors and staff are helpful and polite. It is a pleasant visit for a trip to the doctors.” It does boost our morale to receive comment such as this but we are hopefully never complacent and always looking for ways to provide a better, more efficient service to our patients.
Travel Vaccinations
On our website we now have a travel page with information on the types of vaccinations you may need if you are travelling abroad. There is a short questionnaire on the site which we ask travellers to complete before their appointment which will enable our nurses to prepare the correct information and advice. We hope you find this page useful.
Flu Clinics
Despite the lovely weather, we have still carried on and arranged our flu clinics for the autumn! We will be holding clinics morning and afternoon in Clacton, and mornings only in St Osyth on Saturdays 6th and 20th October. We will also hold another morning clinic in Clacton on Saturday 10thNovember. You are entitled to a free flu vaccination if you are over 65, are pregnant, are immunosuppressed or have a chronic disease such as diabetes, chronic obstructive airways disease (COPD), kidney disease or heart disease. Please telephone the surgery or pop in to make an appointment if you are eligible for a vaccination. Our appointments are on the computer!
We will be visiting our housebound patients at home at the beginning of October. We will be writing to our housebound patients and arranging a day for a visit. If you are housebound, eligible for a flu vaccination and have not heard from us by the end of September, please ring the surgery so that we can add you to our list.
The nurses and doctor will also be checking pulses again this year. This is looking for a condition called atrial fibrillation (abnormal heartbeat) which, if diagnosed and treated, could prevent a stroke. This may cause a small delay in the time taken to have your flu vaccination but the previous time we did this check, we found 20 patients with the condition which I am sure you will agree, is worth it.
New Nurse
We are delighted to welcome our new nurse Sally to the team. Sally worked as a District Nurse before joining our practice. She replaces Melissa who unfortunately had to move away from the area.
New Computer System
We would like to say a big thank you to you all for your patience and understanding when we changed our medical computer system in May. This was a very steep learning curve for all the staff and doctors and we were rather slow to start with. However, we are getting to grips with it now and hopefully we will reap the benefits of a system which is constantly being developed and improved.
Accident and Emergency attendance (A & E)
As a surgery we are constantly monitored on our “costs” and one of those costs is our patients’ attendances at the Accident and Emergency Department at Colchester Hospital. Whilst we fully support patients attending A & E in the case of an accident or emergency e.g. a fracture or burn, it might be more appropriate to contact the surgery first (even when we are closed, Harmoni the out of hours service take our calls) to get advice and then go to A & E if advised to do so. Patients with chest pain should call 999. We have posters in the surgery called “choose the right route” which may help you to decide the most appropriate service to choose. This website has all the details
Thank you for taking the time to read our latest newsletter.
Heather Knappett
Practice Manager