PRACTICE INFORMATION

Transcription

1 PRACTICE INFORMATION

2

3 Telephone: PRACTICE INFORMATION 1

4 CONTACT DETAILS HARTFIELD SURGERY Old Crown Farm, High Street Hartfield TN7 4AD Telephone: Fax: (for prescriptions ONLY) GROOMBRIDGE SURGERY Withyham Road, Groombridge, Tunbridge Wells TN3 9QP Telephone, fax and as above SURGERY OPENING HOURS Hartfield Surgery Monday Tuesday Wednesday AM 8.00am 1.00pm 8.00am 1.00pm 8.25am 1.00pm PM pm pm pm The 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th Wednesday of the month Hartfield will close at 8.00pm Thursday Friday 8.25am 1.00pm 8.00am 1.00pm CLOSED pm Saturday 8.00am 9.30am (1 st Saturday of each month) Car Parking: Adequate car parking, including space for the disabled, is available adjacent to the surgery. The Surgery is fully accessible for disabled patients. Groombridge Surgery AM PM Monday 8.00am 12.30pm pm Tuesday 8.25am 12.30pm pm Wednesday 8.25am 12.30pm pm The 1 st, 2 nd and 4 th Wednesday of the month Groombridge will open at 7.00am Thursday 8.25am 12.30pm pm Friday 8.00am 12.30pm pm Saturday 8:30am - 10:00am (3 rd Saturday of each month) Car Parking: Limited car parking is available in the lay-by opposite the surgery. A parking bay for disabled patients is available on our driveway immediately adjacent to the surgery. It would be helpful if patients with mobility difficulties make this known when making an appointment so that any necessary arrangements can be made. 2

5 OUR STAFF Partners Dr. Andrew Wolfle, MB BS, MRCGP, DRCOG Dr. Matt James, MBChB, MRCGP The practice is a non-limited Partnership with Dr. Wolfle and Dr. James being only partners. Sessional GPs Dr. Helen Barnaby MB BS MRCGP DCH Dr. Sara Beattie MB ChB DRCOG MRCGP Dr. Karen Whichello MB BS DRCOG MRCGP Practice Nurses - Helen Hutley RGN, Julie Ginman RGN Health Care Assistant - Kelly Taylor Dispensers - Nicola Vickery, Jane Lazarus, Trina Ranger, Sheila Johnson, Andrea Fitzgerald Practice Manager - Julie Tullis Assistant Practice Manager - Zena Cooper Secretary - Eva Richards Administration/Reception Shift Leader - Sue Pilson Patient Services Team - Lynn McQueen, Emma Darrington, Nina Sibley, Dawn Lockyer, Louise Rousell, Lorna Harris, Jess Lee, Alison Harrold Clinical Administrator - Diana Sotak 3

6 MAKING AN APPOINTMENT You should first decide if you need to see a doctor or whether a consultation with one of our qualified and very experienced Practice Nurses would meet your needs. The Practice Nurses are able to treat minor injuries as well as provide a wide range of other services (see below). You usually have the choice of being seen either at Groombridge or Hartfield surgery. In either case you should ring the Surgery on during surgery hours and as soon after opening (see above) as possible to request an appointment. We operate a system of some booked in advance appointments, and some book on the day urgent appointments, which can be booked by ringing the surgery at 8.30 a.m. and 2.00pm. We strive to meet national standards under which you are guaranteed an appointment with a Health Professional within 24 hours, or with a Doctor within 48 hours. BOOKING/CANCELLING APPOINTMENTS AND REQUESTING REPEAT MEDICATION ON-LINE Vision Online Services provide the facility to enable you to book or cancel an appointment on-line and also to request repeat medication using the internet. You will need to register with the Surgery to access this service. Once you are registered and your account has been activated you will be able to book, view and cancel appointments on-line, as well as request repeat medication. Should you wish to cancel an appointment please make sure that you let us know, either via the on-line service or by telephone, as soon as possible so that we can offer the appointment to another patient. REQUESTING A VISIT BY A DOCTOR The time taken up by a doctor in visiting a patient at home is much longer than that needed to see a patient at the surgery. You should therefore only request a visit when it is absolutely essential and you are unable to get to either of our surgeries. If you feel that you need a home visit please telephone the Surgery as soon after 8.30 a.m. as possible. It would be very helpful if you could give the receptionist an indication of the nature of the problem so that the doctor can be advised accordingly. 4

7 TELEPHONING THE DOCTOR Your doctor will usually be pleased to speak to you on the telephone, although due to the nature of the job this may only be possible at certain times. If you wish to speak to a doctor on the telephone you should ring the surgery during normal opening hours, preferably in the morning. You should give a telephone number where you can be contacted during the day, and a doctor will return your call. Please do not send requests by . TRAINING PRACTICE The Practice is accredited by the GP Deanery of Kent, Surrey and Sussex as suitable for the training of doctors intending to become general medical practitioners. These doctors are known as GP Registrars and are employed by one of our partners who will act as their trainer. If you are seeing one of these Registrars, you may be assured that s/he is a fully qualified doctor and you can expect the same quality of care from a GP Registrar as you would from your own GP. If you have any concerns in this regard, please ask to speak to the Practice Manager or his Deputy who will be pleased to discuss the matter with you. GP Registrars are assessed on their consulting skills by specially appointed assessors who view a video of the Registrar s consultations. You may be asked to have your consultation recorded for this purpose. If you agree, you will be asked to sign a written consent form. You may be assured that complete confidentiality will be maintained and that the video recording will be used for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about this, please ask to speak to the Practice Manager or his Deputy. DIABETES Dr Matt James and Nurse Helen Hutley have undertaken extensive training in Diabetes prevention, identification and monitoring. We hold special clinics for people with Diabetes which includes a review with both the Nurse and Doctor where a plan is agreed for the forthcoming months. If you do not have a diabetes diagnosis but have concerns about this disease please book in to see either Dr James or Nurse Helen. 5

8 OUT OF HOURS SERVICES If you need to contact a doctor in an emergency during lunchtime closing you should ring NHS 111 If you need an emergency doctor after the surgery has closed (between 18:30 and 8:30 a.m.) or at weekends or Bank Holidays, you should ring NHS 111 A recorded message on the Surgery number will give you these numbers. General health information and advice is also available by calling NHS Direct, a nurse-led 24-hour service, on In the event of an emergency involving serious injury, loss of consciousness, chest pains, etc. you should dial 999 and ask for Ambulance. In addition there is a 24-hour Accident and Emergency unit at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Tonbridge Road, Pembury, (switchboard), as well as a Minor Injuries unit at Crowborough War Memorial Hospital in Southview Road. The telephone number is and the unit is open between 08.00hrs. and hrs. every day. A new national non emergency number is available by dialling 111 PRACTICE NURSES The Practice employs two qualified nurses who provide a range of services including: blood pressure checks, ear syringing, wound and ulcer care, suture removals, immunisations, cervical smears and blood tests. They are also closely involved in the management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and asthma. We also have a Health Care Assistant who provides a range of services including phlebotomy, blood pressure checks, new patient medicals etc. A phlebotomist (bloodtaker) also does one session per week at each of the Groombridge and Hartfield surgeries. DISPENSARY We are a dispensing practice and employ five dispensers. This means that provided you live outside a one-mile radius of a dispensing chemist you can have your prescription filled for collection either at Groombridge or Hartfield surgery 5 days a week. 6

9 Prescriptions may be collected at any time when the surgery is open. All prescriptions are computerised. Patients on regular medication will receive a print-out of all drugs prescribed. When a repeat prescription is needed you should submit the print-out, or any written request stating your name, date of birth, and medication required, to the surgery by hand, post, fax or . If you wish the prescription to be posted back to you, you must enclose a stamped addressed envelope. Please note: Repeat prescription requests must be collected at the surgery the request has been made to.if posting, faxing or ing your prescription request please state where you wish to collect your medication from. For safety reasons prescription requests are not normally accepted over the telephone. You must allow two working days between handing in your prescription and its collection. If you have a prepayment or exemption card you will be asked to produce it at the time of collection of your medication. If you are collecting medication on behalf of a friend or relative you will be asked to produce written authority from the patient. MATERNITY SERVICES A Community Midwife is available to provide antenatal and postnatal care. She can be contacted at Crowborough Birthing Centre on HEALTH VISITORS Health Visitors aim to promote good health in people of all ages but take a special interest in the expectant mother and in families with children under five years of age. Health Visitors carry out routine development checks and run baby clinics. The Health Visiting Service for Groombridge & Hartfield Surgery can be contacted at Grove House in Crowborough on or Ashdown Forest Health Centre on , depending on where you live. 7

10 DISTRICT NURSES District Nurses provide treatment in patients homes following discharge from hospital or after a GP has asked for nurse support for a particular patient. They may be contacted via the surgery or at Grove House on COUNSELLING - Caroline Watson My services at Groombridge and Hartfield practice are open to any patient registered with the practice who feels that counselling or a period of informed personal guidance may be of benefit to them and is easily accessible either by self-referral or through your GP. I see clients for individual appointments at either surgery in an environment of privacy, safety and assured confidentiality. Professional counselling helps an individual to examine the cause of any internal conflict that may be spoiling your enjoyment of life and impeding your progress. I offer help to resolve such difficulties. For an informal chat and to access me directly for an appointment for self referral, please caroline.watson9@nhs.net or call NEW PATIENTS We welcome new patients who live within the Practice area (see map). Registration forms are available from reception. When you register, we require proof of identity, e.g. passport/driving licence with photo, and proof of address. You will be invited to make an appointment for New Patient Medical when you first join the Practice. This allows us to check your general health as well as providing an opportunity for us to meet you. NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES Please let the surgery know as soon as possible if you change your name, address or telephone number. Please advise us of any mobile telephone number you have. 8

11 CONFIDENTIALITY We respect your right to privacy and keep all your health information confidential and secure. It is important that the NHS keeps accurate and up-to-date records about your health and treatment so that those treating you can provide the best possible care. As well as prescription details, your medical records are also computerised and the Practice is registered under the Data Protection Act. GPs, Practice Nurses and Practice ancillary staff, together with attached staff such as Health Visitors and Community Midwives have access to the medical records of our patients. All these people are well aware of the crucial importance of patient confidentiality and are contractually bound to maintain it. Under provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998, patients may apply for access to their own medical records or authorise a third party (such as a solicitor) to apply on their behalf. The Act covers all computerised and manual records of living patients. Formal application for access must be made in writing, although there is nothing to prevent a doctor from informally showing a patient their records. The patient is entitled to a copy of the records, which may be a photocopy or a computer print-out. Access must be provided promptly and, in any event, within 40 days of the request for which a fee is payable. Further information is available on the BMA website If you are referred to a hospital specialist you are also welcome to request a copy of the referral letter. NHS Connecting for Health is currently developing the National Care Records Service, which will create a Summary Care Record (SCR) for each individual patient to be held centrally. Eventually the aim is to enable healthcare staff jointly involved in your care, such as your GP and your hospital consultant, to easily access and share information through this national record. You have the right to withdraw your consent to information being shared. In future you will be able to access your own record online at A copy of You and your Medical Records is available at reception and is handed out to all new patients. This fully explains the NHS Policy. 9

12 PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP (PPG) Chairman David Butcher OBE Vice Chairman Margaret Williams Secretary Jo Stovold The Group was formed in February 2011 with members drawn from a representative cross section of patients. It is entirely independent however it works closely with the Practice Manager, the GPs, the Health Professionals and assistants within the Practice. Its purpose and aims are: to listen to patients views, opinions and concerns and refer these to the Practice Management. to assist and support the Practice in providing and delivering an effective service to the community it serves. to receive and have an understanding of the Practice s view, concerns and desire to maintain and continuously improve its service provision within the resources available and assist in achieving these objectives. All Members of the Group are unpaid volunteers, they bring expertise, skills and experience from a broad variety of professional and practical backgrounds. The Committee meets monthly to monitor and discuss how services are delivered or might be improved; to consider the likely impact on the Practice and its patients of proposed changes to the NHS. The Group has a number of small working parties which have evolved to deal with specific subjects which might benefit from more detailed consideration. They report to the main Committee. There is a virtual PPG to give the patients who may not be able to commit to membership of the Group but wish to contribute to and follow its activities. Further details of this can be found at: If you have an interest in joining the Group and /or wish to know more, we should be delighted to hear from you. Telephone

13 SERVICES FOR WHICH WE CHARGE All general medical services provided by this Practice remain of course free under NHS regulations. However, certain services which may be requested by patients fall outside NHS provisions. These include: Private Medical Certificates Insurance Reports Legal Reports Driver Examinations To whom it may concern letters Certain vaccinations for travel abroad. While in most cases the doctor will be pleased to provide these services, there will be a charge. A list of all such charges is displayed in our Reception area or is available from the Secretary. REMOVAL FROM LIST In accordance with NHS guidelines the Practice adopts a zero tolerance approach to patients who are violent or abusive to the doctors or any other members of the Practice staff or anyone else who may be on the Practice premises and will request that the Primary Care Trust removes them from the Practice list with immediate effect. COMPLAINTS If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service provided by the surgery you should, in the first instance, ask to speak to the Practice Manager who will endeavour to resolve the problem informally with you. In the event that the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, a formal complaints procedure is available and full details will be supplied on request. If you feel unable to raise any matter directly with us then you should contact: East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT friars Walk Lewes East Sussex BN7 2PB Telephone:

14 LOCATION MAPS PRACTICE AREA 12

15 Printed August 2014 Design and layout:

16