This is the newsletter for patients of The Oak Gables Partnership. In it you will find useful news and information about the practice and its services.

EMIS PATIENT ACCESS

You may have been one of the 5,000 patients who received a text message recently advertising EMIS Patient Access. EMIS is the clinical system that the Practice uses and this offers a secure online system that can enable you to book appointments on-line and order your repeat prescriptions. This is an alternative method of prescription ordering via the Practice website. You can register for both if you would like to.

The current benefits of EMIS Access are;

  • Patients can check routine appointment availability 24 hours a day.
  • If you see a convenient appointment you can click and book your appointment.
  • Patients can also cancel and re-arrange their appointment in this way.
  • Repeat prescriptions can be ordered on EMIS Access.
  • Patients can send a secure message to the Practice which the Reception Team will deal with and respond.
  • Patient Allergies and Adverse Reactions are recorded on your EMIS Access screen.
  • Parents can register on-behalf of their children (please ask about this at Reception)

THE IMPORTANT BIT – as EMIS Access allows you to view some of your medical records the Practice needs to adhere to Information Governance Procedures. This means that you will have to fill in a short application form and provide photographic proof of identification. This is important as we need to keep your data safe and we need to make sure that the access is granted to the correct patient. However, we are aware that not all patients have photographic ID, if this applies to you please contact Reception to discuss this.

Once your request has been granted you will be issued with a PIN number and then you will be able to generate your own private confidential password.

Please contact Reception for further details.

ADDITIONAL GP APPOINTMENTS

Did you know…… You can now book to see a GP in Oldham in the evening and at weekends?

The Practice is part of a local scheme which is offering all patients who are registered with an Oldham GP the opportunity to book an appointment with a GP between 6.30pm & 8pm Monday to Friday and 10am & 2pm Saturday and Sunday. These are pre-bookable non-urgent appointments only and this service is now available to all our patients. It won’t be one of our Practice GP’s that you see but your consultation details will be forwarded to the Practice and included in your patient record.

There are several “Appointment Hubs” across the borough and the nearest one to the Practice is at Royton Health & Wellbeing Centre.

If you feel that this service would be helpful to you or if you need an evening or weekend appointment please give them a call.

The telephone number to book an appointment is : 0161 934 2827

STAFF NEWS

Congratulations to our Apprentice Medical Receptionist, Alex, who has passed her Medical Receptionist and AMSPAR Diploma with flying colours.

Also congratulations to our Health Care Assistant, Joe, who has also passed his NVQ Level 3 in Health Care with Distinction and is now continuing his study to NVQ Level 5.

Both Joe and Alex have worked extremely hard to achieve these excellent results.

Well Done to both of them!!

PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

Thank you to all of the Patients and staff who attended the PPG AGM. Our Patient Participation Group work very hard and it is much appreciated when patients and staff show their support.

ThePPG are inviting new members to join the Group, if this is something that would interest you, or you would like to discuss anything further, you can contact the PPG via their e-mail address . Alternatively if you leave your contact details at reception we will ask a PPG Representative to contact you.

USEFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Practice Telephone Number01706 888222

Practice Fax Number01706 888223

Out of Hours when the Practice is closedNHS 1-1-1

Emergency Services9-9-9

Emergency Dental Services0161 621 3613

Local Police contact Non-Urgent1-0-1

The Samaritans01706 868686

or 116 123

Age UK Oldham0161 633 0213

District Nurses0300 323 0464

Out of Hours District Nurses0161 621 3524

The Salvation Army01706 290996

Healthwatch Oldham0161 622 5700