THE TUTBURY PRACTICE

Dr HOWARD SKINNER

Dr MIKE SALWEY

Dr LUCY AMBROSE

Dr ENAS DARWISH

SUMMER NEWSLETTER

May - July 2016

PRACTICE NEWS

After 24 years of loyal service to the practice Eileen Neal retired at the end of March. Eileen started out life at the Tutbury Practice as a receptionist and stayed with us until she retired from her role as Office Manager. Eileen will be a very hard act to follow and we will miss her wealth of knowledge and general practice experience she has gained over those years, We will miss her witty comments sense of humour and knowing looks she’ll give us when we are having ‘’One of those days’’

Eileen, we wish you and your husband Steve a very long, happy and healthy retirement.

We would like to welcome Zoe and Claire to the receptionist team and after a long few months we are also pleased to announce Sonia Jager joined the team as our new Practice Nurse. We wish them all well in their new roles within the practice.

The practice is very pleased to announce that Dr Kay is now the very proud father of a beautiful baby boy. Henry arrived safely a few weeks early and is doing well. We would like to thank our patients who had to change appointments at short notice to ensure Dr Kay was where he needed to be!!

NATIONAL WALKING MONTH - MAY 2016

May is National Walking Month. National Walking Month is a campaign to promote the benefits of walking and to get everyone walking, no matter what your level of fitness is. Walking is simple and free and one of the easiest ways to be more active, lose weight and become healthier.

Walking for just 20 minutes a day can transform fitness levels, improve health and reduce stress and anxiety.

A brisk 20 minute walk can burn up to 110 calories so if combined with a healthy eating plan it is an excellent way to lose a few pounds. It’s an easy and accessible way to get active and help

maintain a healthy heart.

PRESCRIPTIONS

Please remember we need at least 2 working day’s notice for repeat prescriptions whether requested online or in person.

EPS

The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) is a new NHS service that allows your GP to send your prescription(s) directly to your chosen pharmacy. This means that you can choose to have a paper-free prescription.

What does this mean for you? If you collect your repeat prescriptions from your GP you will not have to visit your GP practice to pick up your paper prescription. Instead, your GP will send it electronically to the place you choose, saving you time. You will have more choice about where to get your medicines from as they can be collected from a pharmacy near to where you live, work or shop. You may not have to wait as long at the pharmacy as there will be time for your repeat prescriptions to be processed before you arrive.

DCR

The General Medical Service (GMS) Contract And Personal Medical Services (PMS) agreement 2015/16 include the requirement for GP practices to offer patients access to detailed coded data in their health records. We also continue to promote online services such as booking of appointments and ordering repeat prescriptions.

Patient Access online service

The Tutbury Practice continues to offer an online service which includes ordering your repeat prescriptions, making an appointment and access to your health records. Please visit the surgery for a registration leaflet and further details or visit our website.

www.tutburypractice.co.uk

STAFF TRAINING- ½ DAY PRACTICE CLOSURES

Training Dates in 2016

The Tutbury Practice will be closed for Training from 2pm - 6pmon the following dates in 2016:

Wednesday 8th June 2016

Thursday 21st July 2016

Tuesday 13th September 2016

Tuesday 11th October 2016

Wednesday 16th November 2016

Referrals

If you have been referred by the doctor for further care at the hospital, queries regarding waiting times or appointments should be directed to the relevant department at the hospital.

A and E NEEDS YOUR HELP

How to Get Healthcare Advice & Assistance
when the Surgery is Closed:

When the surgery6G is closed (i.e. between 6pm and 8am and all day weekends and Bank holidays) and you need medical help which is not an emergency, call NHS 111.Calls to 111 are free from land lines and mobile telephones. Lines are open 24/7, every day of the year.

You can call 111 when you think you need to go to the Emergency Department at the hospital, or another Urgent Care Service, if you need advice outside surgery opening hours or you are not sure who to call for medical help.

Please only visit the A&E department if it is an emergency.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

With the holiday season coming up please give the practice as much notice as possible if you need any holiday immunisations. Some vaccinations need more than one injection and so may have to be repeated a month later.

Please try and give 2 months’ notice to ensure we can get everything completed prior to you going away.

Please visit our website for further details and to download the required forms.

DISTRICT NURSES NEWS

As you may have read in the press, the way in which some community health services are provided in East Staffordshire will change on 1st May this year. The local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has selected Virgin Care to deliver the Improving Lives programme for people living in East Staffordshire with long term conditions and for frail, older people. The services remain part of the NHS, with patients continuing to receive NHS care, free at the point of need as currently. Staff including the adult community nursing teams, physiotherapists and podiatrists will transfer to Virgin Care. The care these professionals provide will remain the same, with any changes in the future discussed in advance. These changes do not affect child health services, including health visiting, or midwifery services. If you have any questions about the transfer, Virgin Care Customer Services can be contacted on 0300 303 9509.

PATIENT FORUM NEWS

Who are we?

The Patient Forum was set up over 8 years ago and meets every two months in the Tutbury Village Hall, (situated next to the Health Centre). The group has grown from 4 people, managed by the Practice, into an autonomous group of 20+ members. The meetings are also attended by representatives of the Practice. This enables meaningful discussions to be held on all aspects of running the Practice and the issues that they and the patients may have. Our aims are to maintain the quality of care and work with the Practice on moving forward in these challenging times. All patients of the Tutbury Practice are invited to attend the Forum meetings.

Virtual Patient Group

We appreciate that, due to home and work commitments, patients may be unable to attend the meetings so in January 2015 the Virtual Patient Group was set up and currently has 38 members.

Wider Aspects

We also have representation on both the East Staffs District Patient Engagement Group and the East Staffs Clinical Commissioning Group, (ESCCG). This means we can keep all members updated on both NHS and ESCCG decisions / commissioning plans that could have an impact on the Practice and /or it’s patients.

Meeting Dates 2016

All meetings are held on a Wednesday between 1pm and 3pm in the Village Hall. The remaining 2016 dates are as follows:

May 18th, July 13th, September 14th and November 16th

A copy of the Agenda is placed on the Forum noticeboard, situated in the entrance to the Health Centre one week prior to the meeting. On this board and to the side, are other relevant notices and application forms for joining the Forum and/or Virtual Group.

Events

The Forum hold bimonthly quiz nights at the Tutbury Institute in the High Street. The next quiz is on Friday May 6th start time 8pm. All monies raised go to various charities or to the Forum for specific projects. Later in the year we will be holding our annual Health Event in the Village Hall.

Community External Defibrillator Project

At the start of 2015 we started our project to provide defibrillators for the community of Tutbury. We are pleased to announce that we now have 4 complete units and the plans are that these will be installed hopefully in May. At present monies are being raised for our 5th unit.

Contact Details

For further details, please contact the Forum Secretary, John Bridges on Tel 07590379892 or Email on