White House Farm

PRACTICE

INFORMATION

LEAFLET

White House Farm

Medical Centre

Church Street, Armthorpe, Doncaster DN3 3AH

Tel No. 01302 831437

Fax No 01302 300623

Practice Web Site

Dr JolandeBennekers (Female)

Artsexamen (1991) (Utrecht NL)

Dr Shrimathi B M Dahanayake (Female)

MBBS MRCGP MRCS LRCP DGM DCH DFFP

Dr Narayana P Bandaru (Male)

MBBS DRCOG

Non Limited Partnership

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE TEAM

Doctors

Dr Jolande E C Bennekers (part time)

Dr Shrimathi B M Dahanayake (full time)

Dr Narayana P Bandaru (full time)

Practice Manager Carole Hicking

Practice Nurses Fiona Moscardini RCG, RM, RPN /Diane Taylor RGN / Sabrina Foster SRN,RPN,ONC

Heath Care Assistant Ann Gullett NVH Health Care Skills

Smoking AdvisorsElizabeth Barton

Medical Secretary Joan Keane

Receptionists /Clerical CorrinaSamways (Senior Receptionist), Elizabeth Barton, Pauline Bowie, Christine Cox, Ann Gullett, Margaret Heathcote, Lynn Vine, Joanne Moses, Shirley Timms

Community Team

A health care team is attached to the Practice. This team includes, District Nurses, Health Visitors, Nursery Nurse, School Nurse, Counsellor, Chiropodist, Dietitian, Midwives, Community Matron.

The practice can help if you wish to access any of the following: Community Psychiatric Nurse, Social Worker, Tissue Viability Nurse, MacMillan Nurses, Diabetic Liaison Nurse, Epilepsy Liaison Nurse, Respiratory Specialist Nurse.

SURGERY OPENING HOURS / APPOINTMENTS

The surgery will be open from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm Monday to Friday.

At least once a month on a Wednesday afternoon, the practice team will be engaged in necessary educational activities. When this training occurs the practice will be closed from 12 noon, re-opening the following morning at 8.00 am. Details/dates are displayed in the foyer.

When the surgery is closed patients can still access a doctor by telephoning the surgery number 831437, your call will be diverted free of charge to a duty doctor.

ROUTINE SURGERY APPOINTMENTS

Dr J E C Bennekers – part time partner

Tues, Weds, Thurs from 8.30 am to 11.45 am & Tues, Thurs 3.00 to 5.30 pm Friday 9.30 – 2.30 pm

Dr S M B Dahanayake – full time partner

Mon – Fri from 8.15 to 11.15 am Mon – Fri from 2.00 to 4.30 pm excluding some Wednesdays

Dr N P Bandaru -full time salaried GP

Mon – Fri - various times between 8.30 and 5.30 pm excluding some Wednesdays

CLINICS / SERVICES AT THE PRACTICE

Ante Natal Clinic Asthma Clinic Child Immunisation Clinic

Counselling ServiceCytology ClinicContraceptive Service Clinic

Child Surveillance ClinicCOPD ClinicCoronary Heart Disease Clinic

Chiropody ClinicDietetic Clinic Diabetic Clinic

Hypertension ClinicMinor surgerySmoking Cessation

Travel Vaccinations

ACCESS TO DOCTOR OUT OF SURGERY HOURS

Patients wishing to access the services of a Doctor between 6 pm and 8 am should telephone the surgery number 831437. Your call will be diverted automatically to the Doncaster Emergency Out of Hours Service which is available for medical emergencies when the surgery is closed or during weekends and bank holidays. This service does not accept requests for repeat prescriptions.

URGENT ACCESS TO DOCTOR DURING SURGERY HOURS

All URGENT requests for appointments or consultations with the Doctor, from patients or relatives are assessed by the Duty Doctor.

Reception Staff will take details and pass the information directly to the Duty Doctor.

Duty Doctor will assess the information and contact the patient/relatives to do an initial assessment/consultation.

The Doctor will carry out one, or a combination, of the following:

A home visit,
A telephone consultation and issue medication that day or within 48 hours depending on the degree of emergency.
A consultation at the surgery that day, or in the future,
Referral to the hospital.

HOME VISITS

Home visit requests should be made between 8 & 10 am if possible. The Duty Doctor will assess whether a home visit is appropriate and make necessary arrangements. We do not consider lack of transport a reason for a visit request.

PRACTICE WEBSITE – ONLINE FACILITIES Book appointments/Order Repeat prescriptions

You canalso cancel a ‘booked’ appointment /we encourage patients to use this facility as this will give another patient the opportunity to use the appointment. The main benefit this service provides is flexibility. The service can be accessed via any computer with internet access, at any time or day of the week.

To use our ONLINE Facility please call in to the practice (with identification) and ask a member of the Reception to register you foraccess to the online facility. You will be issued with a User Name and password. After one hour this user name/password will be ‘active’ for you to access the facility. (You can change the password to one which you prefer).

PATIENT APPOINTMENTS / CONSULTATIONS

Booking in Advance - We offer the option to ‘pre-book’ anappointment up to 10 working days in advance.

Same Day Appointment - We retain a % of routine appointments to make sure we have some availability for patients who contact us daily. If you are a Shift Worker or work away routinely, please let us know when you telephone for an appointment, our Receptionist will seek authority to release a ‘book on the day’ appointment in advance if this will help you.

Choice of Doctor – You have a right to access a doctor of your choice. We will do our best to meet patient requests. Please consider if your Doctor of choice is on annual/sick leave or has other surgery commitment you may need to book i5n advance.

Online facility – see page 2

MINOR ILLNESS NURSE APPOINTMENTS

Fiona Moscardini, our Practice Nurse, has undergone specialised training to deliver care for minor illness conditions, ask our Receptionist for details or see information on the practice website for more information of the conditions our Fiona can treat – Fiona has appointments available on Monday, Wednesday or Friday mornings, you may not need to book an appointment with the Doctor, an appointment with Fiona may be a suitable alternative.

LENGTH OF APPOINTMENTS -Routine appointments are allocated in slots of 10 minutes.

If you require more time, please advise the Receptionist so that provision can be made.

To ensure you are given the most suitable appointment, our staff will check name, DOB, address and telephone details, and also take a brief outline of your consultation needs. This will allow staff to book, a 10, 20 or 30 minute slot with either the Doctor or Nurse.

Hearing/communication - Patients who have hearing or communication difficulties are advised to bring a friend or relative to the consultation

Language Barrier – if a translator is required during a consultation, please note a longer appointment will be required and will depend upon the availability of the translating service. Patients can elect to bring a friend or relative to the consultation to help with translation, but a longer appointment may still be required.

SMS text message service (appointment reminders)

With your consent, we can SMS text message confirmation and a reminder the day before any booked appointments with our doctors or nurses. Please let us know if you change your mobile number or do not wish us to send you text reminders.

DOCTOR CALLED TO EMERGENCY DURING SURGERY HOURS

During morning or afternoon surgery the Duty Doctor may be called out to an emergency. The may cause a delay to booked appointments and we will do our best to inform or offer the opportunity to wait for the doctor’s return or re-schedule an appointment.

WAITING / DELAYS DURING CONSULTATIONS

We appreciate how frustrating it can be when delayed for a scheduled appointment. We know there are several unavoidable situations which have an impact. For example:

A diagnosis made during the consultation may need explanation.
An emergency situation may be identified when examining a patient.
When 1 appointment is booked and 2 patients go in to see the doctor – please book separate appointments.
If single appointment booked - patient attends with a list of items to discuss. The doctor may ask the patient to book further appointments.

Please note: One Appointment – One Problem

We will do our best to minimise delays please help us.

PLEASE CANCEL APPOINTMENTS IF NOT REQUIRED

Please let us know if you do not need an appointment or wish to cancel and re-schedule. We need you to help us use our appointments efficiently. With your help we could offer the cancelled appointment to another patient who needs to see the Doctor or Nurse.

REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS

The practice runs a repeat prescription service for patients on regular medication authorised by the doctor. We do aim to process your repeat prescription/s within 48 working hours.

We accept prescription requests at the surgery VIA

Post box, (external box or internal box in the foyer) We ask our Patients whenever possible to please use the tear-off computerised slip, ticking the items required. Handwritten requests do not always give clarity and can cause delays.

ONLINE for patients who have regular repeat medication register for access to our online facility by contacting the practice - arrange for your own secure login details and add your repeat items. See page 2 - Patients will be responsible for managing their own repeat lists on this facility as the practice cannot make changes on behalf of patients.

We do not accept requests via the telephone. You could use one of the methods above of you could make an arrangement with your local Chemist to request your repeat prescriptions, and most local chemists offer an order and collection service. This is a free service available from most Chemists. Contact your local chemist for details.

ACUTE PRESCRIPTIONS Please Order - early so you do not run out.

Please allow up to 7 days for the Doctors to authorise ‘acute’ prescription requests

An ‘Acute’ item is medication which is not included in the patient computer repeat prescription list.

Acute items are usually prescribed on a one-off basis or as part of a short trial.

The Doctors will check requests for all ‘acute’ items, alongside other surgery work, even if a Doctor is on holiday or sick leave. We will do our best to issue acute items as swiftly as possible but ask for your consideration when making your request.

CHILD VACCINATION & SURVEILLANCE

Our Nurses perform all recommended child vaccinations and Doctors carry out child surveillance on children under school age

DOCTOR RESERVES RIGHT TO PROVIDE TREATMENT

Patients who wish advice/treatment for termination of pregnancy should note that Dr Dahanayakereserves her moral right not to provide this service. You are advised to seek consultation with another doctor at the practice who will advise and refer if appropriate.

CHAPERONE

We practice the policy of having a ‘chaperone’ present during all intimate consultations. The Doctors are committed to putting patients at ease whenever possible. If you wish a chaperone to be present during your examination please do not hesitate to ask the Doctor. We will do our best to provide this service with minimum delay. Trust is important in the relationship between doctor and patient.

ACCESS TO PREMISES

We aim to provide suitable access for all disabled persons visiting the practice. The majority of consulting rooms are on the ground floor. Two clinic rooms are located on the first floor. A lift is available for disabled persons and those less able to access the rooms via the stairs. Our Reception staff will assist patients wishing to use the lift.

GUIDE/ASSISTANCE DOGS

We welcome Assistance dogs into the premises and will arrange a tour of the premises for patients with their guide/assistance dog to help in the event of attending for future appointments. Please ask at reception.

CONFIDENTIALITY

A key aspect of general practice is the need to preserve the medical and personal information of our patients. We guard very closely the information you entrust to us. All clinical and administrative staff sign a Code of Conduct with regard to patient confidentiality. Patient confidentiality is a high priority issue, and any breach by any member of our team would be regarded as a matter of gross misconduct.

We have a room adjacent to the reception desk where patients can speak to staff in a more confidential environment. If you need this facility please enquire at reception.

INVESTIGATIONS/RESULTS

Telephone for results after 10am

Please also note, Reception Staff are only allowed to pass on comments relating to any test results which are viewed by the Doctors. Results will not normally be given to anyone other than the patient except in circumstances when the patient has given consent to do so.

NEW PATIENT REGISTRATION

We are happy to accept registration forms from patients who are resident in our practice area. Patients are asked to sign a standard registration form that will also be signed by the doctor who accepts the registration at the practice.

We ask new patients to complete a new patient questionnaire and undergo a medical check with our practice nurse.

CHANGE OF NAME AND ADDRESS

It is essential that we have up-to-date personal details for all our patients. Please contact our staff with change of details ie: address, name or telephone number, your medical records will be updated for change of name – evidence will be required. This will help the doctor should he or she wish to contact you or to do a medical referral to the hospital.

SICKNESS CERTIFICATES

A significant proportion of the doctor’s workload relates to requests for medical sickness certificates. Important things to remember are:

Follow-on sick notes are not considered urgent and can be back dated – not considered urgent for a same day appointment.

Illness lasting 6 days or less. Complete an SC1 (self employed patients – form available from the practice) or an SC2 (employed patients – form available from your employer.
Illnesses lasting longer than 6 days you will require a sick note from the doctor
Doctor will need to see the patient at the beginning of the illness, or see evidence from another doctor (hospital correspondence) before an initial sick note can be issued.

PATIENT INVOLEMENT, COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS

Comments and Suggestions

We are pleased to receive any comment or suggestion which will aid us to improve patient services or practice facilities. We have a SUGGESTION BOX in the waiting room for patient comments/suggestions and our Practice Manager will be happy to receive telephone calls or speak to patients. We are very keen to involve patients in the running of this practice. Your comments will help us to make informed decisions about the services we provide for you. Anonymous comments will be accepted but in essence we cannot respond to those comments effectively – patients should note we treat all patient involvement with the utmost respect.

Complaints

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the Doctors or any of the staff employed by the practice please let us know.

We operate a Practice Complaints Procedure as part of the National Health Service system for dealing with complaints. Please ask at Reception for a detailed version of our complaints leaflet which will give information how patients can make complaints. Please note, patient representatives/relatives wishing to make a complaint on behalf of a patient must first seek the patient’s written consent prior to approaching the practice with their complaint.

PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

If you would like to be part of our Patient Participation Group, either to attend meetings or as a virtual member through our website, to have a voice and engage with practice issues you may consider joining the group. We encourage patients of all ages, ethnicity or gender to join the group, not as a mechanism for complaint but as a positive approach to making your GP practice work for all patients. If you can spare some time, have innovative ideas or skills then please consider joining the PPG, give your details to a member of staff or speak with the Practice Manager.

DEALING WITH VIOLENT OR AGGRESSION (zero tolerance)

In the media there is often coverage about NHS Personnel suffering violence or abuse from patients, or family relatives, unfortunately, this is not a myth but a fact. Violence and abuse only serves to cause upset and distress for all concerned. The Practice has ZERO TOLERANCE for verbal/physical abuse, but it does happen. Normally we seek to point out our policy to those involved by writing a letter or engaging in verbal discussion, only in extreme cases would we seek to remove a patient from our list or seek assistance from the Police.