Self-help
As we all have busy lifestyles there are many ways in which we can help ourselves:
Have you got a well-stocked medicine cabinet at home?
Further advice on what you should have in your medicine cabinet can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/your-medicine-cabinet/
Often these medicines can help with minor ailments without the need to visit your GP.
Visit your Pharmacy First for minor illnesses
We are encouraging local people to visit their ‘pharmacy first’ for minor illnesses such as coughs and colds, hay fever and indigestion.
A fifth of GP appointments are taken up by minor illnesses which could be better dealt with in other settings, such as pharmacies or by the individual caring for themselves.
The cost to the NHS locally of the prescribing of ‘over the counter’ medicines is around £4 million, part of which could be saved to fund the treatment of other conditions.
Medicines for minor illnesses can be purchased from community pharmacies, many of which are open during evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
Online advice
Advice about how to self-manage a wide range of conditions can be found online
Ageing Well at Home https://tinyurl.com/yyp34eky
Back Pain https://tinyurl.com/y69ejj2v
Children-Diet & Exercise https://tinyurl.com/yxgcs7mf
Dementia https://tinyurl.com/y3y8rt8o
Diabetes https://tinyurl.com/y3y8rt8o https://tinyurl.com/yxlqv6gx
Health Promotion https://tinyurl.com/y4qdu9g2
Heart Failure https://tinyurl.com/y5xl8kom
Keeping well at work https://tinyurl.com/y3yypf7g
Lifestyle https://tinyurl.com/y3v22xge
Weight Loss https://tinyurl.com/y56hpr9b
Mental health at work https://tinyurl.com/yygfe2b9
Covid Boosters
We are now inviting in eligible patients for their Covid boosters. You become eligible 180 days after your 2nd dose. We will be in touch to invite you in when it's your turn.
All boosters will be Pfizer, if you were advised for your primary Covid vaccinations to have Astra Zeneca due to allergies, please contact us to discuss the options available.
These clinics will be held at Wigton hospital and will be busy. T o avoid parking issues please can we ask that you to arrive a few minutes before your appointment, if you arrive too early you may be asked to return at the correct time. Clinics will be running weekly
Flu Vaccines
This winter those eligible for NHS influenza vaccination in 2021 to 2022 are:
- all children aged 2 to 3
- those aged 6 months to under 50 years in clinical risk groups
- pregnant women
- those aged 50 years and over
- those in long-stay residential care homes
- carers
- close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
- frontline health and social care staff employed by:
- a registered residential care or nursing home
- registered domiciliary care provider
- a voluntary managed hospice provider
- Direct Payment (personal budgets) and/or Personal Health Budgets, such as Personal Assistants.
- Please contact the surgery now to book your appointment!
CQC
CQC suspended their routine inspection programme in March 2020 in response to Covid-19 and do not intend to resume it for the immediate future. They have continued to use a mix of onsite and off-site monitoring to ensure the public have assurance as to the safety and quality of the care they receive. As we emerge from the pandemic they are further developing their monitoring approach.
Latest update from CQC is:
We carried out a review of the data available to us about Aspatria Medical Group on 09-09-2021. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about (this will be prepopulated with your location name), you can give feedback on this service.
Covid Restrictions from 19th July
Throughout the pandemic our main concern has always been to keep our patients and staff safe.
With this in mind we have decided that nothing will change from 19th July, we will continue to wear masks, socially distance, use hand sanitiser and wear appropriate PPE.
We know many people will be frustrated by our actions but safety is our main concern and as a Practice we have many vulnerable/ill patients and need to ensure we keep everyone safe.
We have remained open throughout the Pandemic and have also delivered many Covid vaccines and our staff have worked extremely hard. So please don't be abusive to them when they ask you to follow this guidance we are trying our best for everyone.
National Data Opt Out
We have had a few queries about NHS digital sharing pseudonymised data for research purposes. Further information can be found as below:
Type 1 Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital collecting your data)
We will not collect data from GP practices about patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out with their practice. More information about Type 1 Opt-outs is in our GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice, including a form that you can complete and send to your GP practice.
This collection will start on 1 September 2021 so if you do not want your data to be shared with NHS Digital please register your Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice by 1st September 2021.
If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after this collection has started, no more of your data will be shared with us. We will however still hold the patient data which was shared with us before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.
If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out. Via the online link below. Please do not contact the surgery with regard to the National Data Opt-Out
Covid Vaccine Passports
We had a couple of people asking us about COVID vaccine proof for international travel, the latest advice we have is from NHSE:
You can access your COVID-19 vaccination status through the free NHS App from 17 May. You can access the app through mobile devices such as a smartphone or by tablet. Proof of your COVID-19 vaccination status will be shown within the NHS App. We recommend that you register with the app before booking international travel.
If you do not have access to a smartphone and know that the country you are travelling to requires COVID-19 vaccination status, you can call the NHS helpline on 119 (from 17 May) and ask for a letter to be posted to you. This must be at least 5 days after you’ve completed your course of the vaccine. We expect the letter to take up to 5 days to reach you.
Do not contact your GP surgery about your COVID-19 vaccination status. GPs cannot provide letters showing your COVID-19 vaccination status
Protected Learning Time
We will be closed for staff training from 1pm on the following dates:
Thursday 14th October 2021
Wednesday 17th November 2021
Thursday 13th January 2022
Thursday 10th February 2022
Wednesday 16th March 2022
If you need medical advice before we open the following day please contact 111
We are very proud to have been accredited as a veteran friendly Practice
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Keeping it Green
We as a Practice are signed up to the Green Impact Scheme. This is a scheme to help general practices become more efficient and to improve sustainability.
REPEAT PRESCRIPTION PHONELINE : 016973 22491
We now operate an automated telephone service for repeat prescriptions on 016973 22491. This number is available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week allowing patients to call and leave their medication requests at times convenient for themselves.
We hope that by having a dedicated prescription line separate to the main surgery number 016973 20209 callers requesting appointments, home visits etc will experience fewer delays in having their calls answered.
Please use 016973 22491 to order your repeat medications as the previous options on the main number is no longer available.
Download our new appointment bookings app to your smartphone for free.
myGP was developed to make access to healthcare easier and faster for patients. Once downloaded, simply log-in with your date of birth and mobile number and add the people you care for, allowing you to book and cancel appointments for them. It’s really that easy! For more information, please visit: mygp.com
Aspatria Medical Group paracetamol prescribing policy
Paracetamol or ibuprofen are the first choice treatments for pain and fever in adults and children and are cheap, safe and readily available. The practice policy is that we do not prescribe them for occasional use as it is normal for a household to keep a supply for family members in the event of aches, pains and fever. This policy includes paracetamol or ibuprofen suspension (e.g. Calpol and Nurofen) for infants and children as we would expect you to keep a supply in case it is needed for colds, earache etc.
For those patients being treated for chronic pain we will continue to prescribe them if indicated.