Covid Vaccinations - 26 January 2021
We are pleased to say that we are now vaccinating our housebound patients, and hope to have completed this within the next two weeks.
Covid Vaccinations – Saturday, 23 January 2021
To save our patients having to travel to the vaccination hub in Carisbrooke, we set up a Saturday clinic as we had Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which is transportable.
While we had additional staff on hand to support the clinic on Saturday, we did not anticipate the number of enthusiastic patients who arrived very early, which lead to a long queue in the morning. Our afternoon clinic ran smoothly with very little queuing.
We are very sorry that patients had to wait outside in the cold, and we will of course do our best to ensure this does not happen again. We would like to remind patients that it is really important they arrive no earlier than five minutes before their booked slots.
To date our practice team have done an excellent job running over 20 vaccine clinics at Carisbrooke, and one trail run here at Cowes, which have run smoothly and have received really positive feedback.
Covid Vaccinations - 15 January 2021
We have vaccinated most of our patients aged 80 and over, and are now inviting patients aged 75 and over. If you have been invited and have not been able to attend due to illness or have been unable to get to Carisbrooke, we will invite you to future vaccination clinics.
We are looking at how we might be able to run some vaccination clinics here at Cowes without causing too much disruption to our services.
Patients who are housebound will be offered the vaccine in the next couple of weeks.
Thank you to our patients for agreeing to attend a clinic at short notice; vaccine deliveries are unpredictable at the moment, and therefore we cannot book clinics too far ahead.
Please do not telephone us to ask when you are going to get a Covid vaccine. We will contact eligible patients individually, and will keep this website updated.
Please continue to abide by all the social distancing and hand hygiene guidance, which will still save lives.
Covid Vaccinations - 11 January 2021
To avoid any confusion - it is our Nurses and Admin staff that have been working long hours at Carisbrooke Surgery to give all the vaccines allocated for Cowes patients.
We expect to receive another small amount of Covid vaccine this week, and are planning to run another clinic on Friday for our over 80s patients yet to receive their first vaccine. We will contact patients about this, please do not ring us or the Newport Practice.
Covid Vaccinations - 5 January 2021
Good news - the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.
This afternoon we received a small amount of Covid vaccine, and we are expecting another delivery on Friday afternoon. There will be just enough vaccine for the care home residents as they are top priority. Our Nurses & ANPs will be visiting the care homes tomorrow and Saturday morning to administer the vaccines.
Priority groups for vaccination have already been identified, starting with care home residents, the over-80s, and health and care workers.
Covid Vaccinations - 14 December 2020
We are excited to tell you that we will give the first dose of Covid vaccines to some of our highest risk patients this week.
The approved vaccination centre for our patients receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine is Carisbrooke Health Centre. We have been allocated a small number of vaccines, and plan to give 300-400 patients their first injection this week, with their second injection scheduled for the first week of January. We wait to hear about future deliveries.
FLU VACCINES - 31 December
It is not too late to have a flu vaccination. Please contact the Practice if you have not had yours yet. Click on this link to find out if you are eligible:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/?
CALLING THE PRACTICE, 25 November 2020
There has been a huge increase in the number of calls to the Practice and we know many of you are experiencing difficulties getting through. The team are doing their best to answer as many calls as quickly as possible. We know this is hugely frustrating for our patients and we hope that by installing a new phone system in the New Year this will improve ease of access.
We encourage patients to contact the Practice via eConsult (see link above), rather than by phone. This helps free up the phone lines for patients who cannot contact us via the internet. We also suggest patients sign up to the NHS App so you can easily request repeat prescriptions.
PROVIDING A SAFE SERVICE, 25 November 2020
General Practice is responsible for the majority of NHS services and has a huge role in providing the care patients need, and this has not stopped.
To keep everyone safe we had to make some major changes for both patients and staff:
all Practices we were instructed by NHS England to implement ‘total triage’ (phone call or eConsult first) - only patients who needed face to face appointments were to be invited to attend the Practice
we made sure patients were safe when they did need to visit the Practice
annual check-ups became a phone call when possible
we were told to stop some services to focus on patients who may have Covid-19, those patients shielding, and Care Home residents
we participated in the Island-wide service for patients with Covid-19
we introduced video consultations, which has proven popular with patients at it saves the need to travel to the Practice
we have promoted eConsult to help patients contact us about concerns about their health and general enquiries 24/7
we implemented 2m working rule and set up remote working
we tried not to use paper forms as much as possible - we now use SMS test messaging and email to send advice, test forms or appointment information, which patients are finding really helpful
we supported patients worried about postponed hospital appointments
we responded to a huge increase in prescription requests
we are completing a much larger flu vaccine programme, and getting ready for Covid vaccinations
Over the last few months, there has been an exceptional increase in patients needing our support, at a time when it takes longer to help each one. We still need to ask patients to only visit the Practice if they have been asked to do so to keep everyone safe.
We continue to look at new ways of doing things quickly and safely. Our recent flu drive-thru was extremely well received, with patients saying how safe they felt, how quick it was, and how much easier it was for carers bringing those they cared for. We could not have done this without the brilliant support of BAE Systems who allowed us to use their car park.
Part of the Community
During the early stages of the pandemic we appealed for help with PPE, and had a great response from the local community. Our thanks to ‘For the love of Scrubs’ for providing scrubs for our clinicians, A.B. Cooke Motor Body Repairs, BAE Systems and Vestas for providing high quality masks and coveralls. At such a difficult time it felt amazing to be given this support.
Like other key workers, the Practice team has quietly and diligently worked long hours, in difficult circumstances, with everything changing around them, to care for our patients. We are here and will continue to work tirelessly to support our patients just in a different way. We look forward to the day when we can fully open our doors again safely.
NHS England - Advice on how to access GP services:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXHPWbEmp5s&feature=youtu.be
eCONSULT - IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Please note any digital image submitted as part of an online consultation, will be stored within your clinical notes.
Please do not visit the Practice without making a prior arrangement.
Exemptions for wearing a face covering - guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own
Phlebotomy (Blood Tests):
Patients registered at this Practice will continue to use the walk-in service at St Mary's hospital between 7.30am-4pm and 8.30am-4pm the first Wednesday of every month.