for the patients of The Roseland Surgeries
A very Happy New Year to all our patients and their families! We wish you a happy and healthy 2020.
A huge thank you!
We were overwhelmed with gifts from patients and their relatives just before Christmas. We would like to express our gratitude to you all and say a very big thank you. It really is very kind of our patients to think of us at this time.
Patients who do not attend for appointments
In the period leading up to the Christmas break, (16th to 24th December inclusive) we had a total of 39 patients who did not turn up for a pre-booked appointment with the doctor or nurse. Unfortunately, these patients did not contact the surgery in advance to cancel the unwanted appointments.
To drill this down, 33 patients failed to attend for appointments specifically with a doctor. At 15 minutes for each appointment, this is equal to 8¼ hours of GP time – or put it another way, a full day’s worth of appointments. 6 appointments were missed for the Practice Nurse. One of these appointments was for a 30-minute annual check-up. As you can imagine, this is hugely frustrating.
We have the facility to send you a text message to confirm your appointment is booked, and you should get a reminder a day before (please remember to let us have an up to date mobile number for you if at all possible). If you no longer need your appointment, or you just can’t make it and need to re-book, please contact us as soon as you can. We can almost always offer that appointment to someone else – it won’t then be wasted!
Technology and the NHS
Many years ago, the only way to contact your surgery was to either come into reception or pick up the telephone. Now, there are more and more ways that you can connect with us without doing either. Many patients use our dispensary email address to order their medication and we are very happy to receive requests this way. This email is linked directly to our dispensary and messages are collected twice a day. If you email us this way, you should get a ‘bounce back’ message that tells you we have received your request. The email address is: prescriptions.portscatho@nhs.net
You can also email the surgery – letters.portscatho@nhs.net Note, though you should not use this for urgent medical matters.
Online access is available to the surgery via our website and here you can book/cancel appointments, request medication and view your medical records. In order to set this up, we need patients to complete an application form and provide appropriate identification.
eConsults are now available – again, the link for this is via the surgery website. This allows you to complete an online form where you can ask admin questions (for example, if you needed a continuation sick note, or advice regarding immunisations) or you can request advice from a doctor or nurse. The form takes you through particular algorithms and these will adapt to the query that you raise. Once completed, this form comes through to our trained admin team who will direct your request appropriately. We must respond to any eConsult within two working days and for routine matters, it is a convenient way of contacting us, without trying to get through on the ‘phone. It also ensures you get the right advice, from the right person at the right time. The eConsult service also offers information on a wealth of health matters. Please do not use this service for urgent clinical issues.
The NHS App was launched recently as another way of contacting the surgery via an online link.
To use the app, you must have a smartphone or tablet and download the app via the Google Playstore or the Apple playstore. There is a registration process that the App takes you through and you will need to verify your identity. However, once set up, you can book appointments and order medication via the app as well.
None of these technological media will replace you speaking to a real person on the telephone – and if you prefer to do this, we are more than happy for you to call us. However, we appreciate that sometimes it can be difficult to get through, or it might not be convenient for you to try and call. These other methods of contacting us might be a more time-efficient way of accessing the surgery for routine, non-urgent issues when you potentially might not need to speak to someone at the desk. Please remember that 8.30 am to 10.30 am and 4 pm to 6 pm are our busiest times for telephone ‘traffic’. Contacting us via other routes for non-urgent matters enables the phone lines to remain clear for those patients who do need us urgently.
Data sharing Many of you will be aware that we are able to share your medical records with your consent, with other healthcare professionals. This might be sharing between your GP and your consultant, or your GP and your District Nurse, and vice versa of course. None of this happens without your consent.
If you have not already let us know your choice regarding consent to share medical data, please fill out a form a reception or alternatively, you can email the admin team (letters.portscatho@nhs.net) with your choice. This choice will be respected and you can change your mind at any time.
The National Data Opt Out Programme – this is a relatively new programme and asks for consent from patients to share their medical data to assist in research and planning. You are NOT obliged to consent to share your data for these specific purposes. However, to opt out, you must complete a form either online or by post. More information can be found at: www.nhs.uk/you-nhs-data-matters
More information about the opt out programme, sharing your medical data and the eConsult service can be found on the surgery website: www.roselandsurgeries.co.uk
Review of Mental Health Services in Cornwall
Cornwall Council are undertaking a survey to help them understand what social support is needed in communities to improve mental health and wellbeing in Cornwall.
Social support is provided by voluntary and community organisations and can help you to
- Manage your mental health and wellbeing
- Develop skills to live independently
- Access employment, education and training
- Prevent crisis and support you in crisis
Please go to the Cornwall Council website for more information and the link to the survey:-
www.cornwall.gov.uk/mentalhealthsurvey
If you would rather have a paper copy, please call the team on 01872 327888. The survey closes on 14th February 2020.
Travel Vaccinations
Now that we’re all clear of the Christmas Festivities and the temperature has dropped again, our thoughts are turning to holidays. Travel operators are usually quite good at giving information as to whether vaccinations might be required for certain destinations, but if you are unsure, or want to check your vaccination status, please remember to complete a Travel Questionnaire form (available either in reception or via the surgery website). You can either hand the form in at any of the surgery sites, or email it over to the letters.portscatho@nhs.net account.
The form will be passed to one of the Practice Nurses and she will review what immunisations you have had in the past, and what you might need for your holiday.
Please bear in mind, the ideal lead in, to ensure you are fully vaccinated, is eight weeks before you travel. This gives plenty of time, especially if you need a course of two or three vaccines. A small number of vaccines are not available on the NHS (i.e. yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rabies) and we can provide you with information on these, if necessary for your travel.
Roseland Surgeries Patient Group
All activities are back up and running (some of them didn’t stop for Christmas!!) – activities include Walking, Art, our two cafés (Roseland and Veryan), Drama, Ping Pong, Singing……..
Please check local noticeboards, Roseland Online and the surgery website for more information.
Nicola Davies
Practice Manager
Dr. Will Hynds MA MB BChir MRCGP DRCOG DCH
Dr. Terese Tubman BMed MRCGP DipFFP
Dr Jonathan Jacoby MB BCh BSc (Hons) MRCGP
Dr Mark Stephen MB BCh BSc MRCGP DRCOG