PRACTICE NEWS
With the majority of GP Practice Staff (78%) facing threatening behaviour, racist or sexist abuse from patients, and 83% reporting having called the police for help, the Institute of General Practice Management (IGPM) launches a campaign to end all abuse towards general practice staff.
If I die it will be your fault - YouTube
Online Access
Accessing your GP held records via the NHS app or NHS website.
Call Statistics
In October 2023......
The Practice received 8370 inbound calls, up from 6,603 inbound calls in August & 7795 in September.
The average queue time was 3m 45s.
The main pressure on phone lines was on:
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays 8am - 11am
If you are trying to book a non-urgent appointment, we recommend phoning outside of these times to reduce pressure on the phone lines and to decrease your queue time.
Please remember you can also use our call back feature so you don't have to hold and wait.
Feel Good Suffolk
Feel Good Suffolk is a completely new approach to support people in Suffolk to improve their health and wellbeing.
Services include support to stop smoking, manage weight and be more active.
Self referral can be made on the Feel Good Suffolk website by clicking here
Services you can access directly
Most health and care services are accessed via your GP team, who will either treat you or refer you to a hospital or other medical service. However, some services allow you to refer yourself to them directly. Use this page to find services you can access directly.
Services you can refer yourself to - NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB
- Carer support Services
- Dementia services
- End of life, palliative care & bereavement services
- Healthy lifestyles and diabetes managment services
- Home from hopsital & home nursing services
- Learning disabilities and autism services, and neurodevelopmental services
- Maternity, reproductive and sexual health services
- Mental health services
- Ophthalmology and audiology services
- Physiotherapthy services
- Podiatry services
- Respiratory services
- Social prescribing and community outreach services
- Specialist paediatric services
NHS East of England Gambling Service
The NHS East of England Gambling Service launched 24th July 2023 to support people living in the region who are experiencing the negative impact of gambling. The service, which is a collaboration between the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust and Inclusion (Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust), brings together two NHS trusts with extensive experience and expertise in providing specialist gambling treatment. The service is keen to offer an ‘open-door’ approach and welcomes both self-referrals
Email Requests
There has been a recent rise in email requests for clinical advice or queries.
Unfortunately we are unable to accept email requests for GP advice or queries. Please use E-Consult or phone into Reception to make a telephone appointment with the GP.
Missed Appointments (DNA)
Missed appointments waste NHS resources and can cause serious delays in treatment for other patients.
Between 1st October & 31st October there were 286 missed appointments at Framlingham Medical Practice.
Added to the 157 in September, 142 in August, 142 in July, 176 in June, 121 in April & 147 in May that’s 1171 in 7 months.
This equates to 195 hours of clinical time over 7 months averaging 28 hours of missed appointments every month.
Chickenpox
How to contact us
Care Navigators
Incoming / Outgoing Calls
Please be aware all incoming and outgoing calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes.
ReSPECT
Compassionate Companion
Guidance Regarding Strep A
Group A Strep (GAS) is a common bacteria which causes a range of infections including scarlet fever. These infections are usually mild. However, it can cause a rare, more serious infection called Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS). This occurs when GAS bacteria gets into part of the body where it causes serious disease, like the lungs or bloodstream. For more information regarding Strep A please see the posters below and the link to the NHS guidance and the UK Health Security Agency guidance
Online Access to Medical Records
The BMA says a decision by NHS England to halt the automatic, blanket roll-out of a scheme that would have given all NHS patients in England prospective online access to their GP-held records by the end of the month, is the ‘right thing to do’ for patient safety.
The decision comes after a series of talks between the Association and NHS England, in which the BMA made clear many practices would not be ready to roll out the programme in a safe way for patients, and that it didn’t comply with their data protection obligations.
Before now, every practice in England would have seen the mass roll-out occur on October 31st, which gives patients the ability to view their prospective GP medical record via the NHS App. While some practices were ready to implement this, many expressed concerns over safety aspects and that it wasn’t fit for purpose at the present time.
As data controllers of the patient record, GPs need to be sure the right safeguarding measures are in place to protect certain vulnerable patients who might access their records – for example, for those living with an abusive partner, or patients with particular health conditions.
Practices that have written to their IT clinical software supplier to ask that they do not turn on the functionality, will not see the programme switched on automatically on the October 31st, as had been planned.
Those that have not sent such a letter will be contacted by their system supplier to discuss what happens next, and when switch on will occur for them. These practices can still opt-out at this stage by sending a letter to their suppliers. The BMA will be in dialogue with IT clinical software suppliers on the next steps.
Patients can still request access to their digital records on an individual basis, as is the case now.
The BMA’s GP England committee (GPC England) is committed to working with NHS England over the coming months to ensure that progress on the programme going forward will be safe for patients, streamlined for practices and comply with data protection regulations.
Dr David Wrigley, deputy chair of GPC England at the BMA, said: “We’re pleased to hear that NHS England has decided to review the pace and timing of the automatic, mass roll-out of the Citizens’ Access programme. This is, without doubt, the right thing to do for patient safety.
“We want patients to be able to access their GP medical records, but this must be done carefully, with the appropriate safeguards in place to protect them from any potential harm. The deadline of November 30th was, for many practices, just too soon to do this, and removing it will come as a huge relief to GPs and their teams across the country.
“We’re pleased that our members’ concerns have been listened to and are open to working with NHS England to revise the programme accordingly to find a way forward that works for everyone.”
ENDS
Pulmonary Rehabilitation
You can self refer to pulmonary rehabilitation when:
- you have a diagnosed respiratory condition
- you experience breathlessness as part of your everyday life
- you are registered with a GP in Suffolk or North East Essex
- you are able to commit to a twice weekly course of education and exercise
Call 0333 0433 966
Online Services
To use our online service to book appointments, order medication and access your coded medical record please click on the link below. Please note you must have registered with reception to use these services.
Serving You
Our dedicated team are here to treat those minor ailments that occur as well as providing specialist management of long-term conditions and clinics covering a wide range of healthcare issues. The technology also means you can now do a lot of things from the comfort of your home such as order a repeat prescription or cancel an appointment.
Partners in Care
Once registered, patients and healthcare professionals work together to ensure the most appropriate care is provided. This partnership philosophy extends even further and our active patient group exists to make sure that patient needs and the practice offering are always heading in the same direction.
Opportunities at the Surgery
Please look on our recruitment page.
Fitness to Work (Sick Note) Updates
Fit notes are available after 7 days of self-certification and are requested by completing an e-consult.
For more information, please visit the GOV.UK website.
Armed Forces Veterans
Framlingham Medical Practice is an armed forces veteran friendly accredited GP Practice. The Veteran Gateway puts veterans and their families in touch with organisations best placed to help with the information, advice and support they need – from healthcare and housing to employability, finances, personal relationships and more. Please click this link to access the gateway.
Correspondence
All correspondence sent to the surgery or handed in at the surgery is opened by staff, including letters addressed to a particular GP. This allows correspondence to be scanned onto the patient record and forwarded to the most appropriate clinician. It also ensures that any urgent matters are dealt with immediately.
All our staff are required to preserve the confidentiality of patients and all matters connected with the Practice at all times.
Additional Hours Appointments
Don’t forget that you can now book a routine GP appointment to be seen at Wickham Market as part of the Enhanced Access service which offer appointments as follows:
- Weekdays: 6:30pm – 9.00pm
- Saturday: 9:00am – 13.00pm
- Bank Holidays: 9:00am – 13:00pm
To book an enhanced access appointment please contact Framlingham Medical Practice Reception during our normal surgery opening hours.
Patient Participation Group
Have your say – join our Patient Participation Group
Feedback
We value your feedback - take the Friends & Family Test
Contact Details
Do we have your correct contact details? Are you happy to share your email address and or mobile phone number with us? Please complete a slip at reception if so to consent us to communicate with you in the most appropriate way.