What to do when we are closed

 We will be closed on 1st January 2015     If there is a life threatening emergency please ring 999.   Please do not attend Accident and Emergency with routine problems or problems that can wait until we reopen.    If you need any medical assistance that cannot wait until we reopen please ring 111.

GP appointments are now available on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from Devon Primary Link at Honiton Hospital.  To book an appointment please phone 01392 269486.  The bookable appointment line is open Thursday and Friday 0800 to 1800.

We wish all our patients, staff and friends  a happy New Year.

News update about Dr King

Dr King has recently been away from work.  We are very sorry to announce that he has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour.   Unfortunately this means that he will not be returning to the practice for the foreseeable future.  We appreciate that this is distressing and difficult news not only for Dr King’s immediate family and friends but also for those of us who work with him, his own patients and our wider community.  We hope to be able to publish updates from time to time but would ask that you respect the family’s privacy and not ask our staff for further details at this difficult and uncertain time. 

In our newsletter we highlighted that we are, like many other GP practices, struggling to cope with demand for appointments and recruit and retain doctors.   Please be assured that we are actively recruiting for permanent doctors and in the meantime engaging temporary ones to help with the workload. 

From 1^st February 2015 and with immediate effect for Dr King’s patients, you will be asked to book with the doctor who you will then continue to see for that episode of care.  Our web site and newsletter give further details of this new system and how to access GP appointments at weekends and on bank holidays. 

Please also note that pharmacists can offer advice and often treatment for minor ailments and self limiting illness such as coughs, colds, aches, pains, sore throat, blocked nose, diarrhoea and vomiting. 

We would like to thank staff, patients and colleagues for your continued support and hope that you will continue to bear with us through this challenging time.

Ebola update

You may be aware of the patient currently undergoing ebola tests at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, as well as the confirmed Scottish case.    If you need more information about Ebola please go to the Public Health England’s online question-and-answer sheet at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ebola-public-health-questions-and-answers

Staff training 1.00pm - 2.00pm Wednesday 24th December 2014

The surgery will be closed between 1pm and 2pm on Wednesday 24th December 2014 for staff training.  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you need medical assistance when we are closed you can:

• phone the  NHS 111 service for medical advice by dialling 111.
• pop in to your local pharmacy for advice and over the counter medication.
• If your problem is urgent phone the NHS 111 service by dialling 111. To avoid putting undue pressure on this service, please only phone  if your problem cannot wait until we reopen.
• phone 999 immediately in the event of a life threatening, medical emergency.

Staff training 1.00pm - 2.00pm Wednesday 17th December

The surgery will be closed between 1pm and 2pm on Wednesday 17th December 2014 for staff training.  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you need medical assistance when we are closed you can:

• phone the  NHS 111 service for medical advice by dialling 111.
• pop in to your local pharmacy for advice and over the counter medication.
• If your problem is urgent phone the NHS 111 service by dialling 111. To avoid putting undue pressure on this service, please only phone  if your problem cannot wait until we reopen.
• phone 999 immediately in the event of a life threatening, medical emergency.

Christmas and New Year opening times plus weekend GP appointments

We will be closed on 25th December and will reopen on 29th December.  We will close again on 1st January 2015 and then reopen as usual after that.     If there is a life threatening emergency please ring 999.   Please do not attend Accident and Emergency with routine problems or problems that can wait until we reopen.    If you need any medical assistance that cannot wait until we reopen please ring 111.

Dont forget to order  your repeat medication and stock up on over the counter medicines.

GP appointments are now available on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from Devon Primary Link at Honiton Hospital.  To book an appointment please phone 01392 269486.  The bookable appointment line is open Thursday and Friday 0800 to 1800.

We wish all our patients, staff and friends a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Changes to the way we look after you

Over the past few years we have been subject to a number of  retirements and changes to our GP team.  We know this has significant impact, not only on the practice team, but also on our patients.  We are particularly aware of those of you who have had to re register a number of times with new doctors. 

We have been discussing ways to make sure we continue to provide a safe service to you and better manage changes to our doctor team so that patients are less affected.  We would like to take this opportunity to describe a new way of working which will be implemented from 1st February 2015.

Our practice is committed to patient centred care, to provide a high quality medical service and make sure every patient has a named GP who oversees their care.  We also have a duty of care to ensure that an individual doctor’s workload is sustainable.

From February 2015 all GPs will:

· consult with patients (face to face, telephone and visits). 

· make referrals to and action letters back from other healthcare providers including hospitals.   

· request, follow up and action results for tests and investigations

· follow up and manage on going conditions

In addition GP Partners, that is Drs Chris Dilley, Simon Kerr, Kate Gurney, Matt King, Nigel de Sousa and Emma Stuart will:

· divide 16,000+ patients between them on a ratio dependent on the number of sessions they work

· oversee the care of patients on their list and delegate on-going care and consultations to non partner GPs

· also be responsible for medication reviews, carrying out quality and safety audits including prescribing and quality and outcomes framework. 

· carry out non clinical work and other management functions

What does this mean for you?

In the past we have asked you to  see your own GP.  From February 2015 you will be asked who is dealing with your problem.  If it is a new problem you will be asked to see your registered doctor or one of the other GPs.

This model allows for:

· an increase/decrease in GPs and GP Partners. 

· a direct line of care management to be followed even if a GP partner does not do the consultation.

 · continuity of care and improved access through delegation to non partner GPs.

· time to manage paperwork for an increased list size and clinical responsibility.

· the national difficulty in recruiting GPs as well as changes in general practice culture

In addition our clinical team will continue to provide care as follows:

Nurse Practitioners

Philly Evans and Chris Hellier work  autonomously to see, treat and prescribe medicines for patients with acute minor illnesses and conditions.    

Practice Nurses

We have six qualified and experienced practice nurses who will work closely with patients to manage long term and chronic disease.  They also provide a wide range of additional nursing services including vaccines and immunisations, travel, contraception, stop smoking and treatment room services. 

Healthcare Assistants HCA)

HCAs work under the guidance of the Practice Nurses to provide blood tests, INR, health checks, dressings, ECGs, swabs, inhaler techniques, spirometer and blood pressure testing (for patients who are not suitable for self monitoring).

Local Pharmacists

Confidential (and in a private consulting room if available/requested) expert advice and often treatment for minor ailments including coughs, colds, high temperature, blocked nose, sore throat, aches, pains and headaches, hay fever and allergies, insect bites and stings, indigestion and diarrhoea, constipation and haemorrhoids, heartburn, contact dermatitis and minor skin infections, warts and verrucas, athlete’s foot, mouth ulcers, cold sores, conjunctivitis, earache, thrust, cystitis, nappy rash, head lice and threadworms.  Pharmacists also advise on wellbeing and prescription queries and concerns including a review of your current medications.

News about our doctors…….

We are very pleased to announce that Dr Sally Caswell and Dr Sarah Fletcher have joined our team on a permanent basis. We look forward to working with them both.

We recently said goodbye to Dr Tom Owens, who has taken up a partnership position in a mid–Devon practice.  We will also say goodbye at the end of January to Dr Michelle Bailey.  She will leave us to be closer to home in an Exeter practice.  In the meantime we are maintaining our service with a dedicated and experienced group of locum doctors.

Wheezy Chesty Coughs, colds, earaches and sore throats

We are currently experiencing a high number of children with wheezy, chesty coughs and croup.  Please access the patient information leaflet "When Should I Worry" to see if your child needs an urgent appointment for a cough, cold, earache and or sore throat.  Further information can be found on our Family Health pages and the leaflet can be downloaded here

Honiton MIU

The opening hours of Honiton Minor Injuries unit will be reduced to 10am to 6pm tomorrow, Friday 5th December. This is due to vacancies and staff sickness.

Put Patients First (RCGP Campaign)

We have just marked the first anniversary of the College’s “Put Patients First: Back - General Practice Campaign”, calling for an increase in the proportion of the NHS budget going to General Practice from 8% to 11% by 2017 and an extra 8,000 GPs for England by 2022. We are also just five months from a General Election so it is crucial that we keep up the momentum.

GPs have the most varied role in the NHS. We value the relationships we develop with patients over time and we put the quality of care that we deliver to our patients above anything else. We have a special role to play in the NHS because of our expertise as generalists and our location in local communities. Patients, especially the elderly, prefer to be cared for in the community, avoiding, wherever possible, trips to A&E or costly hospital admissions. We are experts in managing long-term conditions and multi-morbidities.

If we invested in General Practice, over three million patients a year could be treated more cost effectively by GPs in the community rather than in A&E. Vulnerable patients could be cared for at home, where they prefer to be treated, and the pressure on Secondary Care would be eased in the process. But at a time when we should be spending more on general practice, we are cutting back. The share of the NHS budget going to general practice fell from 10.7% to 8.4% between 2005 and 2012.

At the same time, demand for GPs’ services has increased. GPs manage 90% of all patient contacts in the NHS and we make a mammoth 360,000 patient consultations a year - 60,000 more than even five years ago. With a growing and ageing population, patients with multiple and complex illnesses are growing in number, yet the chronic shortage of GPs is making it difficult for us to care properly for our patients.
Around 80% of GPs say they are insufficiently resourced and even lack enough GPs to provide high quality care for their patients. The pressures have become so great that many talented, dedicated GPs are retiring early, going abroad or taking up other careers. More than 1,000 GPs will leave the profession each year by 2022 – and we are not attracting sufficient numbers of medical graduates into General Practice to stem the flow.
Despite the problems currently besetting our profession, we must ‘big up’ General Practice for the fantastic career that it is and encourage more medical students to become GPs. We also need to make it easier for GPs who have spent time away from practice to return by reducing the amount of red tape with which they are currently confronted.

Our proposals to increase the NHS budget for General Practice are winning support in high places. NHS England’s ‘Five Year Forward View’ published recently assesses how to set the NHS on a financially sustainable footing for the future. It calls for funding to be shifted from hospitals back into GP services in the community, for the number of GPs in training to be expanded and for incentives to encourage more GPs into under-doctored areas.

The three main political parties must now get behind this and make it happen. They are making noises in the right direction, but we need firm commitments - professional and public pressure on them can have an effect. We have already handed in a petition of over 300,000 signatures in support of Put Patients First: Back General Practice to 10 Downing Street and the three devolved governments. But we can still do more.
We ask you as medical professionals – and your patients - to support our campaign so that we can give patients in Devon the care that they need and deserve. You can find more information about the campaign here: http://www.rcgp.org.uk/campaign-home/about.aspx

by Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the Royal College of GPs Council (extracted by the Devon LMC Newsletter December 15)

Friends and Family Test

You can now complete a Friends and Family Test questionnaire online or in the practice.  Tell us if you are likely to recommend us to your family and friends and tell us why you gave your response. Results from the Friends and Family Test will be published on our web site.