Staff News
We are very pleased to welcome two trainee GPs; Dr Matthew Brimfield, ST1 and Dr Habib Rahmanzai, ST3. Dr Brimfield will be with us until the end of January and Dr Habib will be with us until the end of July. Dr James Cook, ST2 will be joining us mid-February.
Carol Lester, Stephanie Dredge, Amanda Chapman, Charlotte Hegarty, Jodi Brook (Business Apprentice), Dee Lambert and Tiff Major have also joined our reception team. Vicki McLaurie has joined our administration team. Skye and Gemma have also joined us to help our reception team.
Rhona Griffiths has now completed her training as an HCA.
Dr Marcus Stevens and Dr Nuria Vila Hernandez have completed their training with us and have moved on to the next stage of their careers. Sadly, Rebecca Gordon and Rebekka Smith have also left and Sue Dampier and Jenny Attwood have recently retired.
Rachel Witcombe, Practice Manager retired at the end of October. All the staff wish her a very happy retirement and thanked her for all her hard work whilst Practice Manager.
Ann Loxton and Teresa Cawsey have taken over her role as joint Practice Managers.
Covid-19 and Visiting the Surgery
Please see our website for further information.
We continue to ensure the safety of our patients, visitors and staff, especially those who are more vulnerable to infection. Therefore, we ask you to continue wearing a mask when visiting the surgery, these are available at the surgery. Please do not attend if you are experiencing any Covid symptoms including cough, sore throat, loss of taste and smell etc. We would ask that you telephone the surgery in advance for advice.
Our staff will be wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) including face masks during face-to-face appointments.
If you are concerned that you may have Covid or need advice, please visit the NHS 111 online coronavirus service on: 111.nhs.uk/COVID-19 or call 111
AskmyGP
Many of our patients will already be aware that in May 2020 we introduced a new online system to contact our GPs. The system is called askmyGP and has been very successful and our patients are reporting lots of positive responses.
We would like to encourage as many of our patients as possible who have access to the internet to use the system because it is effective and much more efficient both for the patient and for the surgery. Please be reassured that if the doctor feels they need to see you they will arrange an appointment for you and you will be seen.
Requests sent when the surgery is closed will be processed the next working day.
The system can be accessed through our website –https://www.grovehousesurgery.nhs.uk/
If you need any help using it, our receptionists will talk you through the process – once you have done this once you will find it very simple to use in future. There is also a short video on our website home page explaining how to use it. Of course, if you do not have access to the internet our reception team are here to help on the end of the phone.
It is a good idea to check we have your up to date contact details i.e telephone number, mobile number and email address – and to let us know if these change. You can do this through our website using the “Update your Details” link or by phoning our reception.
Chronic Disease Recall
The disruption of the Covid pandemic has given us the opportunity to look at the way we review patients with long term conditions. We have made some changes which we hope will enable us to better prevent long term problems for this group of our patients. We also hope it will be more convenient for our patients as it should mean that generally (unless the clinical condition specifies otherwise) we should be able to get everything done in one annual visit. You should now expect to be invited for an ‘Annual Review’ appointment around the month of your birthday. This will generally involve at least blood tests, a urine test and a blood pressure and take approximately 20 minutes with one of our nursing team. We hope you find this more predictable and more convenient than our old system and would, of course, welcome any feedback.
Online Services
We would also like to remind all our patients that we also offer other online services – not just to order repeat prescriptions but you can also get access to your records including test results – for more information visit our website
or telephone the reception team. We would like to remind patients that it is quicker and
easier to order repeat medication online rather than using the paper repeat order slip.
Patient Participation Group
We are keen to recruit new members to our Patient Participation Group. If you are interested in becoming a member and would like more informtion please contact the surgery.
Mobile Numbers
Please remember to let us know if you change your mobile telephone number so that we can update your medical records.
We have our own Facebook page. We are using this, as well as our website, to keep our patients up to date with news about our surgery, as well as articles and information about health issues and local news – please like and follow us.
Minor Ailments – Advice
We would like to remind our patients that the local pharmacists are happy to offer patients advice regarding minor ailments all year round.
Advice regarding lots of other minor ailments can also be found on the NHS website: (www.nhs.uk)
Christmas Bank Holiday – Surgery Closed
Monday & Tuesday 26th & 27th December – closed
Monday 2nd January 2023 – closed
If you require advice during these times please contact 111
Christmas Opening Times
Boots, Townsend:
Sun 25 Dec closed
Mon 26 Dec closed
Tue 27 Dec closed
Wed 28 Dec 9am-7pm
Thu 29 Dec 9am-7pm
Fri 30 Dec 9am-7pm
Sat 31 Dec 8.30am-6pm
Boots, Park Medical Practice:
Sun 25 Dec closed
Mon 26 Dec closed
Tue 27 Dec closed
Wed 28 Dec 9am-6pm
Thu 29 Dec 9am-6pm
Fri 30 Dec 9am-6pm
Sat 31 Dec closed
Sun 1 Jan closed
Mon 1 Jan closed
Tesco Pharmacy, Glastonbury:
Sun 25 Dec closed
Mon 26 Dec closed
Sat 31 Dec 6.30am-6pm
Sun 1 Jan 10am-4pm
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
We would like to wish all our patients and their families a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year and to thank you for all your support during 2022.
