SURGERY NEWS

CQC inspection

In February 2016 we were inspected by the Care Quality Commission, and our report was published on 19 September. We were very pleased to be rated GOOD overall, and OUTSTANDING in being responsive to people's needs. The full report is available HERE.

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MINOR AILMENT SCHEME - PHARMACIES

Somerset CCG Minor Ailments Scheme (MAS) is now commissioned from 88 community pharmacies in Somerset.
MAS enables people with minor health conditions to access medicines and advice that they would otherwise visit their doctor for, reducing pressure within GP surgeries.
The scheme covers the supply of prescription-only medicines under Patient Group Directions (PGDs) for the following:

treatment of acute superficial bacterial eye infections including conjunctivitis, blepharitis, stye, and infected meibomiam cyst

topical treatment for minor localised impetigo treatment of uncomplicated acute urinary tract infections in females aged between 16 years and 65 years

Boots Townsend and Boots Park in Shepton Mallet are commissioned to provide these services.

Also Boots High Street and Priory Park in Wells are commissioned.

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 Directory of local groups and services 

If you would like to find groups and services in the local community which can help and support you in improving your health, click on the link below

https://healthconnectionsmendip.org/mendip-directory/

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Improved Access Clinics

Grove House Surgery, Oakhill Surgery, Park Medical Practice, Wells City Practice and Wells Health Centre.

The five practices in Shepton Mallet, Oakhill and Wells have come together to provide clinic time until 8pm Monday to Friday and also on Saturday mornings. Each surgery will take turns in offering a clinic throughout the week. The clinical team will have access to your records wherever you are seen and who ever your GP is - if you are seen by a GP from another practice they will ask for your consent before accessing your records.

Please call your own surgery for details and booking.

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Stop Smoking

We are pleased to advise that Smokefreelife Somerset are offering group support sessions for people who want to quite smoking, here in Grove House Surgery on Wednesday evenings.

If you are interested in quitting, please contact smokefreelife Somerset on 01823 356222 or email smokefreelife@somerset.gov.uk

See their website for more details at https://www.healthysomerset.co.uk/smokefree/

There is also a face book page and a twitter account.

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TEXT MESSAGE REMINDERS

We introduced text message reminders for appointments a few months ago. This is a service provided to us by the software company who provide our clinical computer system. If you have a mobile phone please ensure we have your up to date contact information so that we can contact you in this way. We hope that our patients will find this a useful service.

You may like to check the details that we have for you as some patients have given us mobile numbers for phones which are used by other family members.

We also send text messages to patients who are eligible for flu (adults) vaccinations. These messages just advise that someone may be eligible for the vaccination, and to contact the surgery to get more information or to book an appointment.

Please contact us if you have any queries about these services.

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Infection Prevention and Control

The surgery takes its responsibilities for infection prevention very seriously.  To read our 2017 annual statement explaining our approach to this, please click on the link HERE.

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Free NHS health checks

Patients aged between 40 and 70 and who do not have a long term condition, may be entitled to a free NHS health check. These are provided at various locations in the Mendip area - click here for further information.

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Telephone System

We would like to inform everyone that telephone calls are recorded for monitoring and training purposes.

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Friends and Family Test - results from April 2018

Since December 2014 all GP practices must operate the Friends and Family Test. The precise wording of the question has been set by government and is intended to give patients the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience at the practice. Practices must submit data on the results to NHS England.

Feedback is collected from Website, hard copy form in surgery, iPad, notification on telephone answer message advising of opportunity via website or in surgery.

The question asked and the number of answers for each category was:

Please consider your recent experiences of our service. How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?

Extremely Likely	5
Likely	0
Neither Likely nor unlikely	0
Unlikely	0
Extremely unlikely	1
Don’t know	0
Total responses	5

Our thanks to all the patients who have taken the trouble to complete the feedback. We are always disappointed to receive negative feedback - we would like the opportunity to address any problems patients experience, or any concerns they may have so please help us to improve by providing us with some detail so we can investigate. The Practice Manager Rachel Witcombe is always happy to discuss any issues; please feel free to contact her. 

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Last patient survey results

Please see HERE for the last patient survey results, together with patient comments and our responses. This survey was done in October  2016 and focused on our reception service.

Please see HERE for the latest patient survey done in October 2017 which focused on our clinical services.

Please see HERE for the results of our survey following our children's flu party 2017

 

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ACUTE COMMUNITY EYE CARE SERVICE (ACES)

ACES is a free service available to all patients registered with a Somerset GP. The service is designed for the assessment and treatment of recently occurring medical eye conditions.

The service is designed for recently occurring medical eye conditions such as: 

• Sudden or recent reduction in vision in one or both eyes
• Red eye(s) or eye lids
• Pain and/or discomfort in the eyes, around the eye area or temples
• Recent onset or sudden increase of flashes and/or floaters in one or both eyes
• Mild trauma, for example a scratch to the outer surface of the eye(s) or lid(s)
• Suspected foreign body in the eye
• Recent onset of double vision
• Significant recent discharge from or watering from the eye
• Eye conditions which cannot be treated by ACES

The conditions below cannot be treated by ACES - If you have any of the following eye conditions you should go direct to Accident & Emergency:

• Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
• Considerable eye pain
• Significant trauma such as a penetrating injury or lacerations to the eye(s) or lid(s)
• Chemical injury or burns
• Recent eye surgery

You can refer yourself to the optician - ask to be seen under ACES, you do not need to contact your GP first. You will be seen within 24 working hours.
Contact one of the participating opticians for further information and advice

The service is provided by local optometrists with the specialist knowledge and skills to carry out this work at locally approved opticians.
Opticians locally offering this service are:

• Christopher Young, Shepton Mallet: 01749 345259
• Robert Frith, Castle Cary: 01963 351948
• Boots Opticians, Frome: 01373 471974
• Eyetech opticians, Frome: 01373 462573/466391and Street: 01458 442178
• Specsavers, Street: 01458 449400 and Wells: 01749 673694
• Eyetech opticians, Street: 01458 442178 
• Mansfield opticians, Wells: 01749 672229
• Millicans eye centre, Wells: 01749 673991 
• Specsavers, Wells: 01749 673694

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HOW TO GET THE BEST FROM YOUR GP APPOINTMENT?

Top Tips ….

• Ask yourself: How important is it that I’m seen quickly, or would I be better waiting for an appointment with a particular GP?  If you have a long-term condition you’ll probably benefit from a GP who knows you.
• Don’t be put off by a GP who runs late – they may be spending needed time with patients.  One day you may appreciate them running late for you.
• It’s tempting to bring a list of unrelated problems, but consider what is achievable in 10 minutes.  Four problems in 10 minutes? That’s 150 seconds each.  It is often better to come back again and spend more time on a problem rather than squeeze as many as you can into one 10 minute appointment.
• Before you see the GP, work out in your own mind what you are worried about, and highlight any particular concerns.  Consider preparing short notes, including how you would describe your symptoms.
• Get to the point: don’t beat about the bush and don’t keep important issues until the end.
• Wear accessible clothing if you are likely to need to undress for examination.
• Make sure you understand what happens next, if you are not sure ask to go through the plan again.
• Have your say and get your views heard; join our Patient Participation Group.

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Register office opening times:

Shepton Mallet is open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 4pm and is located in Mendip District Council offices

Glastonbury is open Monday to Friday 9.20am to 2pm and is located in The Library, Archers Way

Frome is open Monday to Friday 10am to 2.30pm and is located in The Library, Justice Lane

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NHS 111 SERVICE

This is now an NHS telephone number introduced in April 2013 to help make it easier for patients to access local health services. You can now call 111 when you need medical help fast, but it's not a 999 emergency. You will be assessed, given advice and directed straight away to the local service that can help you best. It may be A & E, an urgent care centre, minor injuries unit, an out of hours GP, community nurse, emergency dentist or a late opening pharmacist. You can ring the 111 number 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Calls from landlines and mobiles are free. You should use the number if:

• you need medical help fast but it's not a 999 emergency
• you think you need to go to A & E or another NHS urgent care service
• you don't know who to call for medical help, or you don't have a GP to call
• you require health information of reassurance about what to do next

Visit the NHS 111 website by clicking here.

For less urgent health needs you should still contact your GP of local pharmacist in the usual way.

For immediate life threatening emergencies, continue to call 999.

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Monthly education and training mornings

We constantly strive to provide the best care and experience for our patients. To help us achieve this, essential training, education and updates must be undertaken by Doctors, Nurses, Administrative and Management staff. Ten sessions are held each year, when we will provide a reduced service for one mornng only whilst we have our training session. The next one will be held on 17 MAY 2018 from 9am to 12.00pm. We will still have our phone lines and doors open, and will deal with emergency appointments only during that period. We appreciate your support and co-operation during this short time. (We don't hold training sessions in August and December)

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MINOR INJURIES UNIT - SHEPTON MALLET COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
TELEPHONE NUMBER - 01749 342931 OPEN 8AM TO 9PM EVERY DAY (note last registration at 8.30pm)

If you have an illness which is not life threatening, you should always contact the surgery first. If we are closed (ie night and weekends) we will have a message giving details of telephone numbers to the out of hours service, NHS 111 etc.

If you have an injury that is not serious, you can get help from our local Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) which is based at Shepton Mallet Community Hospital. They are open every day from 8am to 9pm with last registration at 8.30pm. They can help with injuries such as strains and sprains, broken bones, minor burns/scalds, minor head injuries, lacerations and wound infections, minor eye injuries, and insect and animal bites. Minor injuries unit is staffed by nurses, and no appointment is necessary. Both children and adults can be treated. X rays are done between 9am and 5pm and they can also refer (adult) patients to a Fracture clinic which is also held at the hospital.

For more serious injuries or life threatening illnesses you may be directed to an accident and emergency department of a larger district general hospital in Bath, Yeovil or Taunton.

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STAFF NEWS

We recently welcomed Jon Cole to our reception team. We are delighted to have him in our team.

Our GPs are Drs Ken MacLeay, Philippa Girling, Emily Mathews and Robert Weaver and our nurse practitioners are Lizzy House and Lisa Quenon.

Our currect registrar is Dr Sophie Stevens who will be with us until July 2018.

Practice nurses are Perdita Stone and Jan Richards, and our Health Care Assistant is Bev Cox.

Phlebotomists are Jude Bright and Louise Butler.

We are now helping to train medical students. These are students who have not yet decided what path to take in their medical career, so they may or may not become GPs in the future. The students are mainly from Bristol University and tend to come here to spend about two weeks with us.

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Named Doctor

Patients are registered with the surgery and not with a specific doctor, although we do have a facility to record who a patient’s “usual”  or "named" doctor is. Every patient here has a named doctor. This is something we encourage as this can improve continuity of care which is important for both patient and doctor perspective, and can help with the administrative aspect of care also. If a patient feels affiliated to a particular doctor, they can let the receptionist know and we will ensure it is entered on the patient record. However, any patient can book an appointment with any of our doctors at any time. For anyone who has not visited the surgery recently, the receptionists will advise and assist where required.

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Opening Hours

We offer early morning appointments with a doctor from 7.30am on Thursdays. All these are bookable in advance and on line.

In addition we also have some nurse appointments available early and also later in the evening too - mainly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Ask a receptionist for details - they will be pleased to advise.

Our telephone lines open at 8am and close at 6.30pm Monday to Friday as normal.

Please also see item above about the improved access clinics we provide with other local practices.

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Appointment Cancellations

We would ask again to please call us on 01749 342863 as soon as possible if for any reason you cannot attend your appointment. If you are registered to book appointments on line, you may also use the system to cancel.

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Appointments and Prescriptions on-line

This is a service available for all our patients.  Click here to download a form to register for this service. Fill it in, drop it into the surgery, and we will write back with details of how to sign up and start to use the system. You need to fill out a form for each person you wish to register. You can also ask at reception for a registration form. Alternatively, since we upgraded our computer system, you can now actually register for the service electronically. This will allow you limited access initially, and you will be requested to bring some form of ID to the surgery. The surgery will then complete the registration process for you.

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Earnings for GPs

All GP practices are required to declare the mean net earnings (eg. Average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.  This is required in the interests of the greater public accountability recognising GP pay is ultimately funded from tax paid by the public.

The average pay for GPs working in  Grove House Surgery  in the last financial year was £66,092 before tax and national insurance.  This is 4 part time GPs.

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Patient Participation Group

The Surgery has had a PPG since 2008. The group meets bi-monthly, and have a post box in the waiting room should any patient wish to communicate with them directly. The Chairman of the Group checks this regularly.

There is also a patient suggestion box in the waiting room and the group considers any correspondence left there. The members of the group are:

• Tony Blaker - Chairman
• Neville Jeremiah - Vice Chairman
• Neville Everett
• Elizabeth Farmer
• Ruth Green
• Christopher Jones
• Jeannette Marsh
• Albert Owen
• Linda Stalley
• Sheila Wilkins

If you are interested in becoming a member of the PPG please contact any of the members, or Rachel Witcombe the Practice Manager.

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Patient Reference Group

We also have a Patient Reference Group, which is a larger number of patients who have offered to help us by completing a survey occasionally. This group does not meet, and we communicate by email or by post. Again, if you are interested in being part of this group we would be pleased to hear from you - please contact Rachel Witcombe, the Practice Manager for more information.