Providing a safe service - update - 12 May 2021
As we are still in the Covid pandemic, the NHS recommends that we triage or phone back every patient who wants advice from a nurse, doctor or other healthcare professional.
We ask many of the patients we have telephoned, to then come to the Practice for a face-to-face appointment, but due to infection control measures and social distancing, we can only let patients into the Practice if they have a planned appointment.
We are keen, as we are sure you are too, to avoid transmission of infection and so to ensure social distancing we are closely monitoring how many patients are in our building, including sitting in the waiting room. We need to take more precautions than shops, pubs, etc., due to the vulnerability of some of our patients.
We know that some of these measures are frustrating for you as they are for us. We are facing unprecedented demands with a huge increase in the number of calls we are receiving and the need for us all to catch up with the health monitoring of patients which was not possible in the height of the pandemic.
We all look forward to lockdown measures continuing to ease but in the meantime, many thanks for your patience and understanding.
Notice of Road Closure - 29 April to 10 May 2021
Carisbrooke High Street will be closed from Priory Road to the roundabout at the bottom of Cedar Hill 6.30pm overnight from 29 April to 10 May. Unfortunately this may mean diversions for patients attending Covid vaccination clinics at Carisbrooke.
eConsult - 19 April 2021
eConsult has been fixed.
eConsult - 16 April 2021
eConsult have advised that they are experiencing periodic downtime for both patients and Practices, and you may not be able to access eConsult at the moment. They are working to fix the problem as soon as possible.
Lateral Flow Tests - 16 April 2021
Tests can be ordered from Gov.uk. A pack of tests contains 7 tests. You can order one pack per household each day. Click on the link below to order lateral flow tests.
Order coronavirus (COVID-19) rapid lateral flow tests - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Alternatively, you can collect a pack of Lateral Flow tests from your local pharmacy.
Covid Vaccinations - 16 April 2021
We continue to invite patients due their second dose as they become eligible. If we have any spare vaccines we are directed to give these to patients 45 to 49 years old.
Covid Vaccinations - 26 March 2021
We are inviting patients due their second dose as they become eligible.
If you are age 50+ and have not had a first dose, please contact the Practice to arrange an appointment.
Covid Vaccinations - 17 March 2021
The European Union's medicines agency has said there is "no indication" that the Oxford/AstraZeneca's vaccine is the cause of reported blood clots. In the UK, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devises and blood components for transfusion, including the Covid19 vaccines being given. The MHRA remains clear that there is no evidence to support any concerns about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and people should continue to attend their appointments when asked to do so.
Covid Vaccinations - 11 March 2021
We are now inviting patients aged 50+ to our vaccination clinics for their first dose, and inviting patients due their second dose as they become eligible.
For patients who had their first dose earlier this year, we will be contacting you to make an appointment for your second dose.
Plasma donation programme - 2 March 2021
If you have needed to receive care in hospital for Covid-19, the antibodies in your blood plasma that helped you recover could help save others. If you are interested in donating your blood plasma call 0300 123 2323 or www.nhsbt.nhe.uk and search donate plasma. Our nearest donation centre is: Southampton Donor Centre, Coxford Road, Southampton, SO16 5AF.
Covid Vaccinations - 16 February 2021
GP Practices have been asked to focus now on Priority Group 6 - who are adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group. We are now contacting these patients. Please be aware that this is a large group and will take time to invite everyone.
Group 6 adults aged 16-65 in an at risk group includes:
- Patients with severe lung disease
- Patients with chronic heart disease or valve disease
- Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD 3-5, nephrotic syndrome and renal transplant)
- Patients with chronic neurological disease - for example Stroke, TIA
- All patients with Diabetes mellitus
- Patients on immunosuppresion
- People with morbid obesity - BMI > or = to 40
- Patients with serious mental illness
- Patients with asplenia or dysfunction of the spleen
- Asthma which requires continuous or repeated use of systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission
- Adult carers - those who are in receipt of a carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill
- Younger adults in long-stay nursing and residential care settings
Social care workers are now able to, for a limited period until 28 February, to self-book on-line a vaccination at the Riverside Centre. Health and social care staff will have to produce some work ID when being vaccinated.
Covid Vaccinations - 1 February 2021
We are inviting 70+ years of age, and the clinically extremely vulnerable (as defined by the Government) to attend clinics this week. If you have been invited and have not been able to attend due to illness or isolating we will continue to invite you to future vaccination clinics.
A central NHS service is also inviting patients to attend the Riverside Centre, you can either book on-line to attend the Riverside Centre (details are in the letter) or we will contact you when you are eligible.
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
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.