Patient News

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The Surgery telephone lines will be CLOSED from 12.30pm on Thursday 24th November 2022 until 8.00am Friday 25th November 2022.

Doors will remain open for booked appointments only.

The Surgery will be closed on Wednesday 19th October 2022. Doors closed from 1.00pm until 4.00pm for booked appointments only. Telephone lines closed from 12.30pm until 8.00am Thursday morning. If you need a Doctor urgently, please call: 01926 857331. 
 

Please view the newsletter here.

As per national guidance to support the NHS to meet carbon emission targets and work towards a greener NHS, we have been asked to review inhaler prescribing for our patients. 

You are currently prescribed a MDI (Metered Dose Inhaler) which contains harmful greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. Dry powder inhalers however have a much lower carbon footprint and some brands are carbon neutral.  Therefore, we ask for your support to switch your current inhaler to a dry powder equivalent to reduce NHS carbon emissions and support our planet. Examples of metered dose inhalers include, Ventolin, Sereflo, Seretide Evohaler, Clenil, Fostair (excluding the NEXTHaler) amongst others.

For example, the use of just one Salbutamol Inhaler (Ventolin) has the same carbon footprint as a 175 mile journey in an average car and just 10 puffs of your MDI is the same as a 9 mile car journey.

For more information you can visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/

Please note if you are prescribed a Salbutamol/Ventolin Inhaler – This will change BRAND to a SALAMOL branded inhaler (although this is still a metered dose inhaler it has less than 50% of the carbon emissions of a Ventolin). We would eventually like your salbutamol inhaler to be a dry powder inhaler therefore during your next asthma/COPD review, you may be offered a carbon neutral Dry Powder Inhaler such as SalbutamolEasyhaler.

We also would like to remind you that if you are using your salbutamol for Asthma, you should be using your Salbutamol inhaler infrequently. If you are ordering your salbutamol inhaler >3 times a year or using it 3 or more times a week you may need a review of your preventative treatment as excessive salbutamol use is a sign of poor asthma control. We will therefore be removing salbutamol inhalers from repeat prescriptions moving forward to reduce the potential for overuse. Please note this does not apply if you have COPD.

If you are prescribed a MDI for your preventative medication – This may be changed to a greener option that works for you during your routine Asthma/COPD Review.

If you have Asthma and would like to proactively change your inhalers to support the NHS green initiative, we would appreciate this.

In addition, we would like to refer you to the ‘Recycle Now’ Website which advises to return used inhalers to your local pharmacy for disposal. This will be thermally treated to destroy the greenhouse gases. For more information please visit: https://www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/inhalers-0

Thank you for your support and contribution to make our environment cleaner and our NHS greener.

If you have any questions about your inhalers or this change, you can speak with one of our clinical pharmacist team via reception.

In February, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised a spring dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for:

• adults aged 75 years and over
• residents in care homes for older adults
• individuals aged 12 years and over who have a weakened immune system

The NHS will contact those who are eligible to make a spring booster appointment, so people should wait until they hear from the NHS. The NHS will prioritise those whose clinical need is greatest, as it has throughout, starting with those who have had a bigger gap since their last dose, then working through the cohort to invite others who have waited less time. Everyone who is eligible will be offered a top up between three and six months over the Spring and early Summer.

The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme supports adults living with obesity who also have a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension or both, to manage their weight and improve their health.

It is a 12-week online behavioural and lifestyle programme that people can access via a smartphone or computer with internet access.

There are two providers across Warwickshire which provides at least 12 weeks of weight management support.

Opening times:

Open various times, Monday – Sunday

Who is this service for?:

Anyone aged 18 years or above and registered with a Warwickshire GP.

Costs:

Free of charge

Eligibility:

• Aged 18+ or over with a body mass index of 30+ (or 27.5+ if you are black, Asian or an ethnic minority).

Use this calculator to check your body mass index (BMI) and find out if you are eligible.

Referral:

• There are two options to receive adult weight management support.
• Slimming World
• Everyone Health

Please select one and respond to your text message/email received from the surgery.

Once accepted you will be sent joining instructions via text or email.

Slimming World and Everyone Health all offer weight management support. All providers will have the same delivery model – 12 weeks of face-to-face service to support Warwickshire residents in leading a healthy lifestyle. Please see below for more information about each service.

Vaccinations for 5-11 year-olds at-risk

• The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that 5 to 11-year-olds who are either in a clinical risk group or are a ousehold contact of someone who is immunosuppressed should be offered two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with a minimum interval of eight weeks.
• This means around half a million children nationally will soon be invited to take up their jab.
• The JCVI has set out criteria for determining who should be offered vaccination within this group and clinicians will be responsible for identifying children in their care who are eligible.
• Information on eligibility can be found in the Green Book, chapter 14a in the section on children aged 5-11 years and tables 3 and 4.

How will I know if my child is eligible?

• GPs and hospital specialists have been asked to identify 5 to 11-year-olds who are eligible. For children eligible as a household contact, we will write directly to the person who is immunosuppressed.
• Parents and guardians will be notified if their child should get the vaccine and told how they can book an appointment. The NHS will be in touch in the coming weeks if your child is eligible, so it’s important that parents wait to hear from us and do not contact their GP.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Record (ICR) now active at Castle Medical Centre 

The Integrated Care Record is a way of bringing together all your separate records from the different organisations involved in your health and social care. It’s confidential and different to anything you might have heard of before. It will let health and social care professionals see relevant information about the care and treatment you’ve had across all services. We know you only want to tell your story and share information once when receiving care from any health or social care organisation across Coventry and Warwickshire. That’s why we’ve developed the ICR

For more information watch this sort video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKITgrC9hQA
or read the attached leaflets.

• Leaflet 1
• Leaflet 2
• Leaflet - Easy to Read

In order to protect yourselves, your families and the NHS please ‘grab a covid vaccine jab’.

You can book your booster jab …or indeed your first or second jab using the links below. You may also get a text message from your local GP offering appointments

Don’t delay …BOOK NOW

Book or manage a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Find a walk-in coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination site - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Following the government’s announcement on Sunday 12th December that everyone over 18 is to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the 31st December, we have been instructed to redeploy our GPs and ancillary teams to our vaccination centre at Stoneleigh in order to achieve this ambition.

This means that for the remainder of December we are only able to provide urgent care at our Practices whilst our teams continue to vaccinate our patients and protect our communities. 

We will still be open to our patients and do not want you to delay being treated if you feel you need urgent assistance. Our clinicians are best placed to inform you if your symptoms or needs are urgent and need treating or can be delayed until the New Year when hopefully the national focus will revert to business as usual. 

Cervical screenings (smear tests), dressings, and children’s immunisations will continue as normal during December. Please do call if you need to book in for these appointments. 

We understand that these continue to be unprecedented times. It is a very difficult time for both patients and staff but, as we have seen in recent years, we will rise to this enormous challenge together and protect our communities from this terrible virus.

It is imperative that you and your family are protected from Covid and flu this winter. We have invited everyone eligible by text message, please use the link on that text to book an appointment at Stoneleigh. If you have not received an invite from us, please call 119.

Thank you for your ongoing support in these challenging times.

From all at Castle Medical Centre.

The NHS vaccination programme will offer every adult the chance to book a covid-19 booster vaccine by the end of the year to protect the nation against the Omicron variant.

As part of the biggest and fastest vaccine programme in health service history, online bookings are available for all those in their 30s and above from today.

The best way to get your vaccine is by booking online at www.nhs.uk or by calling 119 – please do keep checking availability as appointments are loaded onto the system every day. The website and phoneline are understandably very busy and we thank you for your patience when booking.

The national booking service will then open up to everyone aged 18 and over from Wednesday this week.

The NHS is prioritising bookings for boosters and is urging people to book a slot to guarantee their vital jab. Some sites offer walk-in appointments where no appointment is needed. Please check here for clinics with walk-in availability and their opening hours www.happyhealthylives.uk/vaccinationdrop-ins

GP teams have been asked to clinically prioritise their services to free up maximal capacity to support the covid-19 vaccination programme, alongside delivering critical appointments such as cancer, urgent and emergency care. This might mean that for some people, routine appointments are postponed as part of the national mission to roll out boosters.

Scientists are very concerned about the spread of Omicron due to the speed with which it spreads and because two doses do not appear to provide much protection but thankfully, a booster dramatically improves this.That is why the Government has asked the NHS to prioritise boosters over other routine care.

We appreciate your support and understanding – and urge you to come forward for your vaccination as soon as possible.

EMIS Health have received reports from both Patient Access users and people who have never registered for the service, that they have received Covid passport emails purporting to be from Patient Access.

They would like to share the following guidance from Patient Access:

• EMIS Health advise users of Patient Access to check the name and email address of the sender; all emails from Patient Access will come via an email address that ends in @patientaccess.com.
• EMIS Health advise users never to click on any log in links that you receive via email but to visit the site via the address bar of your browser instead so that you know you are on the genuine Patient Access log in page. You can find more information and guidance on our information security page here: https://www.patientaccess.com/security
• EMIS Health strongly advise users to set up their Memorable Word security feature, as well as using biometrics (fingerprint ID) if they use the app.
• Email addresses used to register for Patient Access account are secure. They do not share any data and no data is ever saved or stored on any device you use to access Patient Access.

We are currently short of appointments due to staff sickness and absence. 

If your problem can wait, we would be grateful if you could phone us next week to arrange your telephone appointment.

Please bear with us during this difficult period.

The school flu vaccination programme is going ahead this year. All schools will have completed their flu clinics by the end of the year. Some clinics have been pushed back slightly to accommodate the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccination clinics that are currently taking place in schools. There is no need to contact your GP about the school flu vaccination programme – you will hear from your school as usual in due course.

You may have received a text from the NHS national booking service to book your Covid-19 booster vaccination. 

Please be assured your local vaccination team will also be providing this service and will be in touch very soon so there is no need to contact your GP practice. 

And don’t forget your booster will only be given six months after your second dose.

We look forwards to seeing you soon at your local vaccination centre. 

The government has announced that all children aged 12 to 15 in England will be offered one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Invitations for the vaccine are expected to begin next week (20-26 September). 

The vaccination programme for this age group will be delivered through schools, not via GP practices. Parents and guardians of those eligible will be contacted when it’s their turn to get the vaccine. 

Covid-19 booster jabs are expected to be offered to eligible groups in the coming weeks.   The booster jab should be given at least six months after your second dose of the vaccine. 

The NHS will contact you when it is your turn to get the booster vaccine, so please don’t contact the NHS. If you are invited, it is vital you attend so that you have the best possible protection against Covid-19.

A supplier to the NHS has advised us of a global shortage of some equipment used for taking blood tests.

Anyone who needs a test for urgent health problems will still get one, but where your clinician recommends that it’s safe to do so, then you may be asked to come back for a test at a later date, or your appointment may be rescheduled.

Given the nature of the shortage, we cannot give an exact date for when the test will be rescheduled, but please be assured that if your condition or symptoms require it, then you will get a test, and we will be re-booking your test when supplies become more easily available.

If your condition or symptoms change or get worse, please contact the NHS as you would normally.

You may have seen in national news items that the Government are considering extending the vaccine offer to 16 - 17 year olds.

There is nothing you need to do now - you will be contacted and invited for your vaccination as soon as the programme is up-and-running.

We are currently waiting for the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to update and publish. We are also currently awaiting guidance on the vaccination of 12 - 17 year old clinically vulnerable children and will be in touch as and when we have further information.

The Covid vaccination programme has been a huge success, which has seen the Kenilworth and Warwick Primary Care Network vaccinate over 70,000 people since the programme began on the 15th December 2020.

The government has now announced their intention for a third Covid booster vaccine to be given alongside the flu vaccine (subject to guidance) to the following patient groups:

• Those aged 65 and over
• Those aged 18 to 64 in an at risk category
• Those aged 50 to 64 not in an at risk category

Please check this page for further information and FAQs.

The current NHS Digital (NHSD) extract of GP data for Research purposes (known as the GPDPR) has been delayed due to NHSD wishing to review the way in which this data will be collected, to conduct more public involvement and information about the plans and change the way in which patients can opt out of the extract of their GP data.

Currently the only way to opt out is to complete a Type 1 opt out form and return this to the practice. There was a deadline of the 1st September but this deadline has been removed (see below):

However, this extract will not be taken until the NHSD have changed the way it will take the data and respect the patient’s choice for using their data.  NHSD are introducing the following changes to the opt outprocess which will mean that patients will be able to change their opt-out status at any time:

• Patients do not need to register a Type 1 opt-out by 1st September to ensure their GP data will not be uploaded.
• NHS Digital will create the technical means to allow GP data that has previously been uploaded to the system via the GPDPR collection to be deleted when someone registers a Type 1 opt-out.
• The plan to retire Type 1 opt-outs will be deferred for at least 12 months while we get the new arrangements up and running and will not be implemented without consultation with the RCGP, the BMA and the National Data Guardian.

This means that you can opt out at any time in the future and NHSD will delete data that they already have taken for research purposes, the deadline of the 01/09/2020 has been delayed until a new system of opt out is developed.  Hopefully, this will be a simple centralised approach via the NHS app or NHS website to avoid paper form and administration work for your GP.

We will update you when we know more about the NHSD plans to change how you can control who has access to your data.

For further information on this - please click here.

The highest priority for the NHS remains the safety of staff, patients and visitors. While COVID restrictions will end in many settings in England from 19 July, everyone accessing or visiting healthcare settings must continue to wear a face covering (unless they are exempt) and follow social distancing rules.

Public Health England’s infection prevention control guidelines and hospital visiting guidance are therefore set to remain in place for all staff and visitors and across all health services including hospitals, GP practices, dentists, optometrists and pharmacies to ensure patients and staff are protected.

Read the infection prevention control guidance for further details.

Patients wishing to register a Type 1 Opt out from the NHS Digital General Practice Data for Planning and Research collection which starts on 1st September 2021 should download this form and return it to the Practice.

More information on this data collection can be found here.

Video - How the NHS uses your patient data from GP practices to improve health and care

Dear Members,

We hope despite the long winter and somewhat slow arrival of Spring this year, the next few months will prove to be positive and active for us all. The vaccine programme has been progressing steadily and efforts are intensifying to tackle backlogs in waiting lists due to the pandemic.

A great deal has been happening organisationally in our health services with the merging of the three Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Groups - North Warwickshire, Rugby and our own South Warwickshire - with Coventry CCG to form one Coventry and Warwickshire umbrella organisation. This change has already come into effect. The four areas or "places" will still, however,  be responsible for 80% of service delivery.

At Practice level, Gail and I will next week discuss with staff the plans to resume our Patient Group meetings  and we have also been contacted about the resumption of patient representative meetings at the Primary Care Network level ( Kenilworth and Warwick Practices working together)

Meanwhile, we have been asked to complete this new survey needed to give patient views on Urgent and Emergency Health services. Please click here to access the survey.

The window for this is very short as the survey closes this Thursday, so apologies for not getting it to you sooner. It would be really helpful if you could forward the link to any other family or friends in South Warwickshire so that a good picture can be built up of where the services are working most effectively for patients, and where any improvements could be made. 

Thank you very much for your help with this.

All best wishes,

Jane and Gail.

The Government have announced that the NHS app will be available to use as a vaccine passport from Monday (17th May) 

The vaccine passport will only be available once you have received both doses of your vaccination. 

The NHS app can be downloaded here via a smartphone or tablet> https://www.nhs.uk/apps-library/nhs-app/

We understand the NHS app has a NEW update and will include a feature to display the coronavirus vaccine record. Please ensure your smartphone is running the app with the latest update. 

If you are not able to access the app then a paper version will be available by calling 119. We are not able to supply this, it must be requested through 119. 

More information on the vaccine passport can be found on the government website by visiting - https://www.gov.uk/.../demonstrating-your-covid-19...

Please do not contact us about your COVID-19 vaccination status. GPs cannot provide letters showing your COVID-19 vaccination status. 

Warwick Hall, Stoneleigh Business Park at the NAC, CV8 2LZ has replaced the Ramada Hotel  for the Primary Care Network Covid-19 Vaccination Centre with immediate effect.

If you are in touch regarding concerns about the Oxford Astra Zeneca, Public Health England have produced a patient information leaflet that is available here.

Second Covid-19 vaccinations will start from the 15th March 2021.  We will send a text invite for you to book your appointment in advance of the 12th week. We would like to reassure our patients that all second vaccines will be done as per the 12 week schedule.

We believe we have made contact with all patients in our 80+ cohort. If you are over 80 and have not heard from us, please call us to book in. 

If you are over 80 and housebound, we hope to have arrangements confirmed as soon as possible and we will make contact with you, please do not call us. As soon as we have information on this, we will update our patients. 

Please also remember The Warwickshire has a drive through vaccination facility available to patients who need it.

Please check the latest update on NHS Covid Vaccinations. Read More.

Please note that, if you are aged between 50 and 64 and are not in a clinical ‘at risk’ group, the earliest you may be offered a flu vaccination is November. This will be dependent on sufficient vaccines becoming nationally available. Please do not contact your GP practice as no appointments will be offered for people in this age group until then.\

This is to ensure that those who are most ‘at risk’ are vaccinated first. If you are aged 50 to 64 and are in a clinical ‘at risk’ group which is eligible for the flu vaccination you will have received an invitation from your GP practice. Please can we ask you only contact the GP practice regarding a flu vaccination if you have been invited to do so. We will publish further information as soon as further flu vaccines are available.

Please read this leaflet for advice on children going back to school.

From Monday 15th June 2020 we request that all patients attending surgery for appointments wear a face covering. Please check Government website for further guidance.

Advice in your region:

England | Scotland | Wales | Northern Ireland | Ireland

Get the latest NHS information and advice about coronavirus (COVID-19).

Check if you or your child has coronavirus symptoms

Find out about the main symptoms of coronavirus and what to do if you have them.

Self-isolation and treatment if you have coronavirus symptoms

Advice about staying at home (self-isolation) and treatment for you and anyone you live with.

Testing and tracing

Information about testing for coronavirus and what to do if you're contacted by the NHS Test and Trace service.

People at high risk

Advice for people at higher risk from coronavirus, including older people, people with health conditions and pregnant women.

Social distancing and changes to everyday life

Advice about avoiding close contact with other people (social distancing), looking after your wellbeing and using the NHS and other services during coronavirus.

GOV.UK: coronavirus – guidance and support

Government information and advice.

We have been made aware that scammers are posing as contact tracers acting on behalf of the Test, Track & Trace Service. Do not give out any information such as social media identities and credentials, bank account details, any password or pin. Also do not download any software on your computer, visit a non NHS website or make any payments or purchase asked.

If you are asked to do any of the above, please report the incident on the Action Fraud website. To see what the real contact tracers will ask you, please visit NHS website.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have launched a new helpline in response to disruption to normal diabetes services due to the COVID-19 pandemic and response.

The service is for adults living with diabetes who use insulin to manage their condition and require immediate clinical advice.

Whether you or a member of your household have caught the virus, or routine care has been disrupted, the helpline is available for immediate clinical advice to help you understand how to effectively manage their diabetes.

You can access NHS Diabetes Advice via Diabetes UK’s support line on 0345 123 2399 Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm.