NOVEMBER 2011

New doctor!
I am delighted to tell you that we have a new doctor who will be joining the surgery in the New Year. Dr Mike Barstow is currently a GP in Derbyshire but wishes to move to Suffolk to be closer to family members. Dr Barstow and his wife have two young boys and are looking forward to the move. I am sure you will join us in welcoming Dr Barstow and his family to Framlingham in January.

Dr Moffatt
Dr Robbie Moffatt has asked me to pass on his thanks for the good wishes and generosity towards his retirement gift – he is planning to buy something for his boat!

Medication wastage
Every year a great deal of money is wasted on drugs that are not used. There are a number of ways that you can help to avoid waste:
• Only order repeat prescriptions that you need
• Buy non-prescription medications such as paracetamol or ‘calpol’ over the counter
• Arrange for regular reviews of your medication – your repeat slip will tell you when you need to make an appointment for a medication review.

Cervical screening
In Suffolk, many women aged between 25 and 50 years old are not attending for their routine cervical smears. This quick, easy and painless test is a vital part of process of detecting abnormalities of the cervix and the doctors would encourage EVERY woman to take part in the screening programme. We recognise that many of you may be working and find it difficult to get to the surgery during opening hours – we have therefore started a late Practice Nurse clinic on a Monday evening to offer appointments. Please phone 01728 723627 if your cervical smear is overdue.

Are you a carer?
We are interested in identifying carers, especially those people who may be caring without help or support. A ‘Carer’ is someone who provides or supervises a substantial amount of care on a regular basis to a child, relative, partner or neighbour who is unable to manage on their own due to illness, disability, frailty, mental distress or impairment.

If you believe you may be a carer, please ask at Reception for a Carers Questionnaire and let us know about your caring responsibilities.

And finally….Self referral to physiotherapy
The NHS physiotherapy service has changed the way you can get an appointment. You no longer need to visit your GP for a referral. Physiotherapy may be particularly beneficial if you suffer from:
• Low Back Pain
• Neck Pain
• Recent strains and sprains
• Joint Muscular pain

Visit the website for direct contact with a physiotherapist and assessment
www.ahpsuffolk.co.uk
 

SEPTEMBER 2011

Dr Moffatt's patients - registration information

Dr Moffatt retired from Framlingham Surgery on 31.8.2011. We have not yet been able to recruit a new GP to take over from Dr Moffatt.

Until we recruit a new partner the following arrangements will apply to patients who were previously registered with Dr Moffatt:

1) You will be registered with ‘Framlingham Medical Practice’
2) If you want to make a routine appointment, you will be able to see any of the other doctors of your choice
3) If you want a ‘same day’ appointment, you will be offered an appointment with the Duty Doctor if your doctor of choice is not available.

As soon as we have recruited another GP we will let you know.

Flu!

I am writing this newsletter in the middle of August and it seems rather premature to start thinking about the Winter Flu campaign. However, many of you may remember the shortages of Flu vaccines across the country last year following the outbreak of Swine Flu. We have ordered our vaccines and want to ensure that all of our patients who are in the Department of Health’s ‘priority groups’ are vaccinated.

The ‘priority groups’ are:

People with a serious medical condition:

• long term chest conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchitis or emphysema;
• heart conditions such as heart failure, angina or atrial fibrillation
• kidney disease;
• liver disease such as cirrhosis or hepatitis;
• chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson's disease or motor neurone disease;
• diabetes;
• a weakened immune system due to: a disease such as HIV; or treatment for some conditions such as cancer; or people taking special medicines for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis.

People living in long-stay residential care homes

People aged 65 or over

All pregnant women

People who are in receipt of a carer’s allowance, or those who are the main carer

If you are in one of these groups, it is recommended that you have a ‘Flu vaccination. If you have got any questions about your eligibility, please telephone the surgery and ask to speak to one of our Practice Nurses.

We will be holding special Flu clinics which will be starting in September, and will also hold a ‘Flu Saturday’ on Saturday 8th October 2011 - 9am to 12.30pm at the surgery. No need to book an appointment. Please check our website or posters around the town for further information.

Screening for Patients with Diabetes
If you have diabetes, you will know that you need to have regular checks on your eyes or ‘retinal screening’. In the past, James Paget Hospital has provided its mobile clinic and patients have attended Framlingham Medical Practice for the screening. From April 2011, Health Intelligence Ltd has been awarded the contract in Suffolk to provide retinal screening. Health Intelligence Ltd will also hold clinics at the surgery and invite patients to attend by appointment. You should not therefore notice any change in the service that is provided. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the practice and ask to speak to one of our Specialist Diabetes Nurses.

Hearing Aid Recycling Scheme
Do you have any old hearing aids tucked away in a draw that you don’t want and never use? If so we want them! Private hearing care specialists, The Hearing Care Centre have recently launched their new ‘Suffolk Hearing Aid Recycling Scheme’, and need your help. They are collecting old unused hearing aids, which can then be refurbished and sent away to the third world, to help those in developing countries with hearing impairments.

How to Donate: A collection box has been set up at the Framlingham GP Surgery for you to drop off any unwanted hearing aids. Please ask at reception. All types of hearing aid can be accepted, no matter what the condition. For more information visit www.hearingcarecentre.co.uk/recycle

Sally Kitt
Practice Manager
 

JULY 2011

Prescribing budget
I reported a couple of months ago that the surgery had been asked by Suffolk PCT to make significant savings from its prescribing budget. Many of you will have been contacted recently and had your medications reviewed, possibly changed. The doctors would like to pass on their sincere thanks to you for being so supportive of the actions that have been taken to save NHS money.  Our prescribing is now coming in line with other practices in our local commissioning group. 

New members of staff
Many of you will have noticed that we have a new dispenser at the surgery. Paul Kitchener works at both the Earl Soham branch and Framlingham Main Surgery. Paul is the only male dispenser amongst the team of nine and is enjoying his new role! We also have a new Audit Clerk, Debora Stephan who joined us at Easter and works in the ‘back office’ providing vital administrative support.

Dr Moffatt
As some of you will know, Dr Robbie Moffatt will be retiring as our Senior Partner at the end of August. Dr Moffatt has been a doctor at the practice since 1988 and will no doubt have seen nearly all of our patients at least once during his time here! Dr Moffatt will be sorely missed by patients and staff alike, and I am sure that you will join me in wishing him all the very best for his retirement. A number of patients have asked to contribute to a retirement present for Dr Moffatt – please drop any contributions into the reception if you wish to contribute.

With regards to Dr Moffatt’s replacement, I am sorry to tell you that we have been unable to recruit another doctor. There is currently a national shortage of GPs, and this is particularly the case in Suffolk. We are therefore especially grateful that Dr Moffatt has kindly offered to continue to help the surgery. Additionally, each of the other five GPs at the surgery will be doing extra clinics in the short term. Our aim is to try to recruit again in the New Year and I will let you know what happens…..

Sally Kitt
Practice Manager

JUNE 2011

A review has found that only around eight patients collect their medication from the Earl Soham Branch Surgery each Thursday afternoon. As patients can collect at other times, we have decided that from 18 July 2011 the Branch Surgery will be open from 8.30am until 1pm on Thursdays and not re-open on Thursday afternoons. This will also mean that our Chest Clinic, which is run by our Nurse Practitioner, will be held on Thursday afternoons at the main surgery, Pembroke Road, Framlingham.

From Monday 18th July 2011 the Earl Soham Surgery opening times will be as follows:

Monday 8.30am to 1pm 2pm to 6.00pm
Tuesday 8.30am to 1pm Closed
Wednesday 8.30am to 1pm Closed
Thursday 8.30am to 1pm Closed
Friday 8.30am to 1pm Closed

Framlingham Surgery will continue to be open as usual Tuesday to Friday until 6.00pm, and Monday until 7.30pm.

MAY 2011

I am sure that you will all have heard about the financial ‘efficiencies’ that are being made across public sector organisations. The same is true of the NHS, and includes a requirement on us at the surgery to try to reduce costs.

Suffolk PCT has asked us to stop prescribing medication that patients can buy over the counter. This is because many of these things are cheap to buy and are readily available from the supermarket. In common with all other practices in East Suffolk, the doctors at the surgery are supporting the PCT with this request.

In many cases we are going to stop prescribing the following items:

• Pain killers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen for minor aches and pains;
• Hay fever preparations;
• Cough and cold remedies like codeine linctus;
• Creams, gels and tubigrips for sprains and sports injuries;
• Creams for nappy rash like sudocrem;
• Herbal remedies like Nytol;
• Moisturisers and bath additives.

The list is not exhaustive but gives examples of things that we need to stop prescribing. Last year in Suffolk, the NHS spent over £5 million pounds on these types of medicines that people can easily buy. The doctors at Framlingham Medical Practice are supporting the PCT in trying to ensure that this NHS money is spent on more serious conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

I am sure that you will support us in this exercise, and indeed many of you are already purchasing these items. Should you have any concerns you can of course always discuss the matter with your GP.

Sally Kitt
Practice Manager

FEBRUARY 2011

Dispensers and our dispensary
A very belated Happy New Year! I thought that in 2011 you might be interested to hear a little bit more about each of our ‘teams’ at the surgery. For February, I am going to focus on our dispensary. The surgery dispenses to nearly all of our patients who live more than a mile from the chemist, and our staff dispense a large number of ‘items’ per month.

We provide medication to patients who require it immediately following an appointment with the GP (an ‘acute’), as well as to patients requesting a ‘repeat’ supply of their medicines. Due to the volume of ‘repeat medicine’ requests, we ask that patients allow 48 hours before your request is ready for collection.

Our dispensers at both Framlingham, and our Branch surgery Earl Soham, are always flat out processing orders - there are four of them working each day. Although they are extremely busy, we are enrolled in the Primary Care Trust’s ‘Dispensing Quality Standards Scheme’ which ensures high standards in the dispensary. We also have a number of the team working towards NVQ Level 3 in Pharmacy Services.

We receive deliveries from our suppliers twice a day but many of you will be aware that we are increasingly experiencing difficulties with obtaining particular medicines. This is part of a national problem of the supply of some medications. When the bad weather affected much of the transport system before Christmas, our supplies were further disrupted. If you were affected by the difficulties we encountered, I would like to thank you very much for your patience and understanding. I am sure that you will join the doctors in saying ‘well done’ to our dispensers in coping with a particularly difficult, and very busy, time! By all means get in touch with me if you would like further information.

Safe disposal of needles
Unfortunately we have had a recent incident with a member of staff being scratched with an unprotected needle which was handed over the reception counter. Patients who are using needles should be provided with a ‘sharps’ receptacle in which to place a needle once it has been used. Please speak to one of our nursing team if you need to arrange for safe needle disposal – we can arrange for a ‘sharps’ box to be prescribed to you.

Thank you from Dr Getting
Dr Getting has asked me to pass on his "sincere thanks to everyone who wished me well for the future. I was overwhelmed by the messages and cards that I received. I was planning to buy a new watch with the proceeds of the collection but so much money was donated I will now be buying a new watch and a laptop as a memento of my time in Framlingham!" Many thanks to Eve and Ray Pettitt for their help with the collection.

And finally…we are constantly trying to juggle our appointment system to ensure that patients can both ‘book ahead’ (up to four weeks) and get an appointment on the day if you need one. We have made some changes to the system – can you tell our reception team if you think it is easier (or more difficult) to book your appointment? Thank you.

Sally Kitt, Practice Manager
sally.kitt@gp-d83026.nhs.uk