For the patients of The Roseland Surgeries
Happy New Year to all our patients and their families! We wish you a happy and healthy 2017.
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.
Ear Syringe Equipment
Some of our patients will be aware that we have had dreadful problems with our ear irrigators in the last few months, with all three machines breaking down regularly. In December, when our newest machine broke down (only a couple of months after purchasing) we contacted our medical equipment supplier to find that they have taken a decision to refuse to buy from the manufacturer until such time as the fault is permanently rectified. We have sent a formal complaint to the manufacturers directly, but have yet to have a response.
Each ear irrigator costs almost £200 and we regrettably can’t afford to keep buying equipment that is faulty. There is only one manufacturer of ear syringing equipment which rather puts us in a difficult position in that we are left waiting now for the fault to be rectified.
In the meanwhile, if you are troubled with ear wax, you should use ear drops three times a day for a minimum of 14 days consecutively. You may find that this softens the wax and resolves itself. However, if you have any ear pain or discharge from your ears, please book an appointment to see the doctor.
We will keep you updated with news.
Medication Reviews
From time to time, you may get a message from the surgery asking you to come in for a review, before we issue further medication.
The GP must check repeat medications to ensure that we are prescribing appropriately and safely for each individual patient. Often, this review is just a check of what you are having and how often, and it is re-authorised for a further 12 months with no other action needed. Occasionally, your doctor may wish to see you to have a chat about your medication, how you are doing and whether there are any alterations he/she may wish you to consider. However, patients on some drugs require annual blood tests for monitoring and for this reason, we would ask you to see the Practice Nurse to have this done.
If we contact you to come in for such a review, it is really important that you book the appropriate appointment before you need your next prescription so if we need to alter your medication, we can do so quickly.
Abuse of reception and dispensary staff
It is with a very heavy heart that I must inform you of the rise in verbal abuse towards members of staff. I know that there are times when the service we can offer does not meet your expectations. Occasionally, we have let you down with our response times for getting your medication ready, or we might have accidentally sent it to the wrong branch site for collection. We may not be able to offer you an appointment with the doctor of your choice on the day you want to see them, at the surgery you prefer to visit. However, if we do make a mistake, it is not done with intent. We are not deliberately obstructive and the reception and dispensary team are working under the remit of the doctors, to their instructions.
We are incredibly lucky here that we can offer patients appointments to see a GP within 48 hours and often, we can get you seen the same day. We offer a service that is not replicated in many other surgeries and we are very proud that we can continue to do this, despite the pressures we are all under.
If we cannot offer you what you want, when you want it, there is a reason for that. We would respectfully ask that patients do not verbally abuse the staff if something has not been to their satisfaction. If you need clarification on why something has not happened the way you expected it, please ask for more information. Often, it is simply a matter of miscommunication, and this can be rectified swiftly. If the receptionist or dispenser cannot help you, the Practice Manager will certainly do her best to do so.
If you feel that you have no alternative but to complain officially, please either ask to speak to Nicola directly, or drop her a line giving as many details as possible. We will respond to any complaint within two working days, and offer an apology where it is appropriate to do so, and an explanation of what went wrong and why by getting back to you within two weeks. This can all be done without the need to abuse staff, and we are very grateful to our patients who are respectful of this request.
Walking in Company – RSPG
The benefits of exercise are well known for physical and mental wellbeing. As a result the RSPG have set up a walking group for the Portscatho area and also in other areas. Below is some information from John Clelland who runs the Portscatho Walking Group.
“We are a small friendly group meeting up every 2 weeks to do walks taking about 1.5 to 2 hours. We explore our beautiful coastline, via a number of short walks, between Nare Head and St Anthony Head at a fairly relaxed pace, giving plenty of opportunity to chat. We also go a bit further afield to, for example, St Just. During the ‘season’ we generally stop at one of the many excellent beach cafes for coffee and further chat. We therefore aim to combine physical exercise with socializing.
Our walks for the next few weeks are on January 24th, February 7th and February 21st. Meet at Gerrans church at 10.30am. Although the walks suit the current group, we are aware that there may be some people who would prefer shorter and/or slower walks. We are happy to accommodate such people by setting up a 2nd group”.
If you would like to know more please contact John Clelland directly on 01872 501014. Accompanied walks are also available in St Mawes and Tregony – do ask for details.
Have you had investigations at the hospital?
We have had a number of calls from patients recently checking up on results of investigations they have had taken at the hospital. If you have had an investigation in hospital organised by a specialist, the result will be forwarded to that specialist and will not come back to your GP automatically. Your GP will eventually be informed of the results in a letter from your consultant after the hospital has communicated the result to you themselves.
If you are keen to find out your results and it has been more than 2 weeks since the investigation it would be reasonable for you to phone the hospital switchboard and ask to speak to your consultant’s secretary.
Patients who do not attend for appointments
In the week leading up to the Christmas break, we had a total of 15 patients who did not turn up for a pre-booked appointment with the doctor. Unfortunately, these patients did not contact the surgery in advance to cancel the unwanted appointments.
Those lost appointments are equal to 150 minutes of GP time, or put another way 2½ hours of consulting time – which is a whole morning surgery wasted. Whilst we are very lucky to be able to offer appointments very quickly for our patients, if you can’t make your appointment or find you no longer need it, do please contact us as soon as you can – we can almost always offer it to someone else. Many thanks for your help and co-operation with this.
Nicola Hayward
Practice Manager
Dr. Mike Black MB ChB MRCGP DRCOG FP Cert
Dr. Will Hynds MA MB BChir MRCGP DRCOG DCH
Dr. Terese Tubman BMed MRCGP DipFFP
Dr Jonathan Jacoby MB BCh BSc (Hons) MRCGP