LIBRARY HOUSE SURGERY
PRACTICE NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2008
Dear Patient
At last, although somewhat belatedly, the summer edition of the Library House Newsletter. I confess that Wendy, our Deputy Manager, has been pressuring me to write this for some time, but in my defence I have been waiting for summer.
It seems not long ago that I wrote about a period of stability amongst the medical personnel at the surgery following the successive retirements of Drs Gaskell, Ross, Hall and Almond. Well, here I am eating my words. Dr Eves, after four years with us, has decided that he will take early retirement. We suspect this may be something to do with the fact that all retired Partners automatically look ten years younger within three months of leaving the practice, but we know too that he has caught the travel bug after recent trips to visit relatives in Australia. We wish him well in his new life of leisure. In his place, we have appointed Dr Kevin Tipper, who joins us at the beginning of October. Dr Tipper is a graduate of the University of Leeds Medical School and has undertaken his GP training in Skipton. Although he has obviously spent a number of years on the “wrong side of the Pennines” he does hail from Liverpool originally and has obviously had the good sense to return to the North West. I am sure you will join us in welcoming him to Chorley. Since our last bulletin, we have also welcomed two new members to our support team – Nicola, who has joined us as a medical secretary (and is quickly getting used to my eccentricities) and Andrea, in reception.
Summer 2008 has also seen two weddings amongst the Library House personnel. Our congratulations go to Kim and Sarah and their respective husbands Craig and Matt. Kim also deserves our admiration for finding time during her wedding plans to gain excellent marks in her COPD Diploma. In July a team from Library House entered the Race for Life for the first time. I have a suspicion that this may now become an annual event, certainly if Lesley and Dr Yates have anything to do with it. Those of us who participated were overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the occasion, and believe it or not, clocked up respectable times for the 5k circuit of Worden Park. Many thanks to those of you who sponsored us in aid of the various cancer charities.
No newsletter would be complete of course without mention of the appointments system. Although our previous same day booking arrangement was popular with many of you, patient feedback suggested that the majority would prefer the facility to book appointments in advance. Thus the system has now been amended to allow patients to request appointments up to two weeks ahead, whilst we continue to offer 24-48 hour access as required for more urgent problems. We have also introduced the opportunity to have telephone consultations with GPs, which we hope you find more convenient in the appropriate circumstances. Regrettably however, the change in the appointment system, led by patient demand, has had the negative effect of producing a dramatic increase of the numbers of missed appointments. This had become a rare occurrence under the previous system. An audit of our figures for July has produced the following rather shocking results:-
Missed AppointmentsGPs and David Shone 162 (equivalent to 10 full surgeries) / Nurses 36 / Health Care Assistants 44
Failure to cancel appointments not only wastes time for our clinical staff, but also deprives other patients of the opportunity to be seen. Please ensure that if you cannot attend an appointment, you let us know. Even cancellation at short notice can be a great help. It is not uncommon for some practices to operate a “three strikes and your out” policy for patients repeatedly failing to attend appointments. While always reluctant to remove patients from our list, this may be something we have to consider. I would however very much appreciate patient feedback on this matter and if you would like to send us suggestions on how it might be tackled please write or send an email to Jenny Parry, Practice Manager.
Finally may I thank everyone for their patience and co-operation during the difficult period when we changed computer systems. Thankfully, most of the problems seem to have been ironed out, but we are aware that some of you have experienced difficulties regarding repeat prescriptions, for which we apologise.
Dr Jane Lofthouse
Senior Partner
September 2008