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WINTER 2008
Please browse the links below for
more information:
FLU CLINICS
Flu jabs now
available by appointment.
Ring 770555 and ask for a 'flu
clinic' appointment.
We give flu vaccination to any patient aged 65 and over. We also vaccinate some
patients in certain risk groups as recommended by the department of health.
Please see latest news from September each year for clinic dates. If you are
under 65 and think you should be vaccinated, please speak to your doctor or
nurse for advice.
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New doctors
There are three new
doctors working at the Charter
Medical Centre during 2008. The
doctors are qualified doctors who
are training to become GPs. They
will be working under the
supervision of two of our partners,
Dr Dan Jenkinson and Dr Jens Petzold.
Dr Simon Hincks
started at the Charter in April and
will be with us until December 2009.
Dr Hayder Majeed will join the
practice in August for a year. Dr
Amit Varma is working at the
practice for four months from August
2008. He will then return to the
practice the following year for a
further year. We are very pleased to
welcome all three doctors to our
team.
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Stay well - stay working
RETAIN is a project
developed to help people
experiencing difficulties at work
due to anxiety, depression or any
other mental health issue. RETAIN
works with people to make plans and
find solutions to enable people to
stay at work or return to the work
place after a period of sickness.
RETAIN will advise on legal rights
regarding sickness, employment and
benefits, ensuring that people get
appropriate and accurate advice.
Contact RETAIN on 01273 571393.
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New
opening hours
From the beginning of
June, our opening hours will be
changing. On Tuesdays and Thursdays
we will be open until 8pm. We will
be offering doctor and nurse
appointments on these evenings until
7.30pm.
These appointments
are pre-bookable and are available,
as with all our appointments, one
week in advance.
Please note that,
although all services will be
available at the front desk,
telephone services will not be
available after 6.30pm and urgent
queries will still be referred to
our out-of-hours service, South East
Health.
If you book a late
appointment please remember that it
will not be possible to cancel or
change the appointment by telephone
after 6.30pm.
We are also offering
some lunchtime appointments,
available between 11am and 1pm on
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
We hope that our
patients will find our new
appointment times helpful. We are
responding to patient requests for
more flexibility with appointment
times. We have also been asked if it
is possible to book appointments
more than one week in advance. We
restrict booking in advance because
it reduces the number of missed
appointments. However, we are
currently considering extending the
time when appointments can be booked
to two weeks.
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Telephone consultations
Following a number of requests,
we have introduced a new service for
our patients. We now offer telephone
consultations with our doctors and
nurses.
The telephone consultations are in
bookable slots and are available
morning and afternoon. The doctor or
nurse will call you at the specified
time, saving you a trip to the
surgery and helping us to work more
efficiently.
We have set up this
service to offer more flexibility to
our patients. You can speak to a
clinician when you are at work, or
unable to leave the house.
Please call the surgery to make a
telephone appointment.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to
book these appointments on the
internet appointment booking site at
the moment.
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BLOOD PRESSURE MACHINE
We have now installed
a blood pressure machine in the
waiting room. Any patient can use
the machine to take their blood
pressure (not children please). The
machine prints out the result, which
can be handed to your doctor or
nurse, if you have an appointment,
or given to a receptionist, who will
pass it on to your doctor. Your
doctor will contact you if any
action is required.
Please use this
machine before you see the doctor or
nurse if you think they are likely
to need your blood pressure reading.
You can also use the machine any
time you are visiting the surgery -
the printed slip must be handed in
at reception with your name, date of
birth and the name of your doctor.
If you are over 45 years, and have
never had your blood pressure
checked by us, please drop into the
surgery in the next month or so.
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Display in the waiting room
We have displays in
the waiting room covering a number
of areas. We change the displays
regularly and try to make them as
informative as possible.
During the summer, our displays will
cover:
Carers' week - a display including
information on the young carers'
project, "looking after your
health", the Daily Living Centre
(for loan of equipment) and the
Carers' Centre.
Travel awareness - including
leaflets on sunsafety and children,
malaria, sunburn and an application
form for an European Health
Insurance Card.
Small changes, big difference - a
display with a focus on health
promotion, with leaflets on reducing
risk of cancer, smoking cessation
advice, eating well, ten top tips
for a healthy weight and information
on local "healthy walks".
Diabetes - information to help
understand diabetes and why weight
matters and a useful leaflet asking
"Are you at risk?"
Sexual health - including
information on where to get help,
sexually transmitted diseases,
contraception and details of the C
Card scheme (availability,
accessibility and acceptability of
condoms).
As well as our current displays, we
have leaflets available outside the
nurse’s treatment room in the
waiting room and in the lobby on
general health advice, giving up
smoking, local social services and
help for carers, the Patient, Advice
and Liaison Service and many other
relevant health and social services.
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CHANGES TO THE CHILDREN'S
IMMUNISATION CLINIC
From March, when you
receive notification that your
child's immunisations are
due, you will need to telephone the
surgery to make an appointment. The
immunisation clinic on a Thursday
afternoon between 1pm and 3pm will
no longer be a drop-in clinic, and
will be by appointment only. We have
made this change to provide a
quieter and less rushed clinic for
staff and patients. We hope our
patients find this beneficial.
If you are no longer
able to keep your appointment,
please cancel it to enable
us to use it for another child.
Please note that you can book and
cancel these
appointments on the internet. Ask a
receptionist for further details.
The drop-in health visitor clinic
will still be available between 1 pm
and 3 pm
on Thursdays.
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Expert patients programme
Are you living with a long-term
illness? Would you like help to
self-manage your illness?
Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust
are running free courses to help
patients with long-term illnesses
such as diabetes, depression, back
pain,
asthma, chronic headaches and
irritable bowel syndrome.
If you would like more information,
please contact Kim Day on 296590
Courses run for six weeks and are
free!
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Booking appointments on the internet
Don’t forget that you can book
appointments on the internet,
twenty-four hours a day.
You can take time to choose the best
appointment, and cancel and re-book
if your circumstances change.
Hundreds of our patients of all ages
use this facility.
PLEASE NOTE THAT, FOLLOWING MANY
REQUESTS FROM PATIENTS, BLOOD TEST
APPOINTMENTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR
BOOKING ONLINE.
Please ask a receptionist for a
registration form. You will be given
a PIN number and clear instructions
on how to use the service.
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New child immunisation schedule
Some parents will be aware that
there have been changes to the child
immunisation schedules.
This will be happening from 4
September 2006.
Pneumococcal vaccination (3
injections) has been added to the
routine programme and the schedule
for Meningitis C and Hib vaccines
has been modified.
There will be an additional
immunisation visit at 12 months of
age.
There will be some children who are
part way through their primary
vaccination schedule when the
changes are introduced. These
children will have a personalised
catch-up programme and one of our
practice nurses will advise parents
about this.
There will be a pneumococcal
catch-up programme for children
under the age of 2 years.
Please wait for your invitation
before attending for your child’s
immunisation. The practice nurse
will answer any questions then.
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Frequently asked questions
Q. Why do you play music in the
waiting room?
A. The main reason for playing music
in the waiting room is to protect
patient confidentiality.
Conversations at the front desk can
carry through the waiting room and
we find that the music masks
conversations as well as providing a
distraction.
Some patients do not like music
being played in public places, but
we hope they understand why we do
it.
Q. Is there a helpline
available for when I can’t speak to
a doctor at the surgery?
A. Yes, NHS Direct is available
twenty-four hours a day on 0845 46
47.
Trained nurses can help with your
queries.
Q. Why are your telephone
lines closed at lunchtime? Could
staff take a staggered lunchbreak?
A. Our appointment and enquiry
telephone lines are closed between
12.00 pm and 1.30 pm. However, we
continue to take calls on our
emergency and home visits line
during this lunchtime period.
We close the telephone lines at
lunchtime to enable staff to take
lunch breaks and carry out
administrative tasks. We do stagger
our lunchbreaks, to allow cover at
the front desk over lunchtime.
However, there are many
administrative tasks for the
reception team that we try to avoid
doing during busy telephone times.
These include booking hospital
transport, sending urgent faxes,
contacting patients, obtaining
results from the hospital etc.
Without a quieter time during the
day, it would be difficult to carry
out these tasks.
However, patients who are registered
to use our internet appointment
booking service, can book
appointments 24 hours a day. If you
are interested in this service,
please speak to a receptionist or
click
here for more information.
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Ordering a repeat prescription
There are several ways of ordering
your repeat prescription:
-
You can tick the
appropriate boxes on the right
hand side of your prescription
and hand it in to reception
-
You can write out
your request and hand it in
-
You can fax your
request to the practice
-
You can request
any repeat medications via the
internet if you have registered
to use this service (ask at
reception)
Please ensure that you give us as
much time as possible to process
your request. In emergencies we will
make every effort to issue your
prescription as soon as possible.
Otherwise, we ask for two working
days, as this ensures that we issue
your medication safely.
If you are requesting your script in
writing, please make sure we can
identify you exactly, by giving us
your name, date of birth and
address.
Thank you.
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Could you have diabetes?
Over two million people in the UK
have diabetes. It is estimated that
another
750,000 have diabetes but are
completely unaware of it. Could you
be one of
them?
Factors putting you at risk include
a close family member having Type 2
diabetes, being overweight or having
a large waist measurement and having
a
history of high blood pressure or
heart attacks or a stroke.
The symptoms of untreated diabetes
are:
• Increased thirst
• Going to the toilet all the time –
especially at night
• Extreme tiredness
• Weight loss
• Genital itching or regular
episodes of thrush
• Slow healing of wounds
• Blurred vision
If you think anything you have read
in this article applies to you,
please make
an appointment with one of our
practice nurses. Tell the
receptionist that you
want a diabetes screening
appointment. Please make sure you
have not had
anything to eat or drink for twelve
hours before the appointment and
bring a
urine sample with you.
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