PATIENT NEWS LETTER –  Patient Angel Hill News September 2020

AFTERNOON CLOSURE – The Surgery will be closed from 1.00pm on Tuesday 22nd September 2020 for important Clinical Education. If you have a medical condition that cannot wait until we re-open on Wednesday 23rd September 2020, please call 111.

APPOINTMENTS – To safeguard our staff and other patients, all appointments will be triaged on the telephone first, please phone the surgery on 01284 753008. Alternatively use e-Consult on our home page. Please do not attend the surgery.

SOCIAL DISTANCING/FACE MASK – Please do not attend the surgery unless you have spoken with a clinician who has booked you an appointment. When attending the surgery, please wear a face mask or covering and observe all social distancing rules.

SERVICES – Due to the current pandemic, Angel Hill Surgery will be concentrating on catching up with the backlog of patients that now need to be seen for core Primary Care Services. To allow time for this, from 1st August 2020 we will no longer provide a travel vaccination service. Ear syringing and Phlebotomy appointments will be reduced.

Please see Ear Care Leaflet for further information on self care.

GOVERMENT SUPPORT – The government have launched a new website for patients to use in finding out what help they can get if affected by coronavirus. This service is available to all patients who are seeking advice and guidance on the topics such as: feeling unsafe, going in to work, paying bills or being unemployed, getting food, having somewhere to live, mental health and wellbeing.

PRESCRIPTIONS – We are receiving very large numbers of requests for medication – much more than we would normally expect. Many of the requests are a long way ahead of when they are due.  Please DO NOT order medication too soon and please do not stockpile. Patients who are ordering too much or too early are putting the health of others at risk. We are receiving a lot of medication requests on paper – we want to reduce that as much as possible to protect our staff.  We would prefer online requests or email to wsccg.angelhill.dispensary@nhs.net – obviously our staff shortages mean that answering the phone to take medication requests will take them away from other tasks.

IMPORTANT CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) INFORMATION

The NHS and Public Health England (PHE) are extremely well prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of all patients and NHS staff while also ensuring services are available to the public as normal.

The advice issued by the Chief Medical Officer is to stay at home and self isolate if you or any members of your family have either:

• a high temperature
• a new continuous cough

DO NOT go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital

You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you are staying at home.

Read advice about staying at home.

Use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service if:

• you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms
• your condition gets worse
• your symptoms do not get better after 7 days

NHS 111 online coronavirus service

If you require a note for your employer, please use the following link – isolation note

Everyone is being reminded to follow Public Health England advice to:

• Always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze. Then bin the tissue, and wash your hands, or use a sanitiser gel.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using public transport. Use a sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

Coronavirus: no need to stockpile medicines

Guidance from the Public Health department discourages medicines stockpiling related to coronavirus concerns as stockpiling can put a strain on the supply chain and exacerbate any potential shortages.  Patients on repeat prescriptions should continue with their usual current repeat prescription durations, ie, a month’s supply.

Further information and details of how to self-isolate are available on nhs.uk.

Accessibility is important to us. Angel Hill Surgery is close to the centre of Bury St Edmunds with a public car park directly outside. There are some spaces for disabled users.

We want you to able to contact us as easily as possible. We have online and telephone access to appointments. Our reception staff are specially trained to be able to help you find the most appropriate service to meet your needs.

Our extended opening hours give you more opportunities to see a doctor or nurse around your other commitments.

Urgent medical conditions can be seen within 24 hours by a Doctor or Practice Nurse.

We work with a number of different specialist services within the surgery so you can have blood tests, specialist diabetic community nurse appointments and mental health link worker reviews at Angel Hill Surgery.