Dr. Carpenter going on Maternity Leave

All the staff at the surgery wish Dr. Carpenter good luck with the birth of her new baby.  Dr. Carpenter will be on maternity leave from the 20th May 2013 and returning in December 2013. 

Please welcome Dr. Rebekah Twomey to the Practice who will be temporarily covering Dr. Carpenter.  

Patient Participation Group (PPG) at the Surgery

St Katherines Surgery has an active patient group which is looking for new members.  Do you want to have an input into the deevlopment of new services at the Practice?  Do you want to get involved with organising events to promote health?  Do you want to act as a communicative link between the Practice's patients and their clinicians?  If so then read on....

The St Katherines Surgery PPG is a longstanding group set up to encourage communication between the patients of the Surgery and its staff.  The aim is to start and continue a dialogue to help in the development of new services and to promote good health and a healthy lifestyle.  The PPG aims to complement the Practice and other elements of the NHS by ensuring that patients are kept informed about issues that may affect their Primary Care and that issues common to groups of patients, or to all patients, are brough to the attention of the Practice.

The St Katherines Surgery PPG is affiliated with the National Association for Patient Participation (NAPP).

The PPG are involved in all sorts of activities in the Practice which include:

• Organising health promotion events
• Running surveys and questionnaires
• Contacting other agencies, organisations, charities where necessary
• Canvassing for new PPG members
• Acting as respresentatives for the patient population
• Updating and maintaining the PPG noticeboard
• Manning the tea and coffee stand at the annual influenza clinics

The PPG meets every 2 months with members of the Practice which includes a GP representative, an administrative/reception representative and the Practice Manager.  The PPG also runs a Virtual Forum to provide patients with the opportunity to speak directly to PPG members via email and other Virtual Forum Members to make suggetsions, complete surveys and questionnaires and organise any up and coming events.

If you are interested in  joining the PPG or the Virutal Forum then please contact the group's Chair Alasdair by emailing the PPG: stkatherines.PPG@nhs.net or leave your contact details at reception.

Click the link below to be directed to the PPG pages on the website....
Patient Participation Group

Local Patient Participation Annual Report Published...

The St Katherines Surgery Patient Participation Group have completed a survey on the Nursing Team here at the Practice.  The annual report is available to view by clicking the link below. 

Local Patient Participation Annual Report 2012/13

For more information on the Patient Participation Group at St Katherines Surgery see the news article above.

MMR Vaccinations: Local Measles Outbreak

There have been several confirmed cases of Measles in Herefordshire, in paricular Ross-On-Wye, and the GPds are strongly recommending that all patients are fully immunised against measles, mumps and rubella, particularly children. 

To be fully immunised against measles, mumps and rubella, you need to have 2 MMR vaccinations.  These vaccinations are now part of children's immunisation schedule: the first at 12-13 months and the second at 3 years 4 months.  If you are concerned that your child has not been fully immunised please contact the Surgery who will check the medical records and arrange any appointments with the Practice Nurses.

The vaccine is also being offered to any adults who may not be fully immunised.  The immunisation schedules have changed several times historically and due to this, depending on the year of you birth, there is a likelihood that you are not fully immunised:

• People born between 1970 and 1970 may only be vaccinated against measles and not mumps and rubella
• People born between 1980 and 1990 may not be protected against mumps
• People over the age of 45 are consider4ed to have immunity; although you are still eligible to receive the vaccine if you should wish to.

By ensuring that you have had 2 doses of MMR vaccine in your lifetime you are protecting yourself against all 3 diseases.  If you would like to know your immunistation status, or would like to book in to have the vaccination, please contact Reception who will arrange any necessary appointments and liaise with our Practice Nurses.

Please click the link below to view the NHS Herefordshire News Release:

MMR News Release

Travel

If you are thinking of travelling abroad over the summer you may need to talk to a travel nurse who can advixse on any vaccinations you may need and also provide information on the risks present in the area you are travelling to.  Even if you are travelling to Europe there may still be some vaccinations that are advised.

Please note that some vaccinations are available on the NHS routinely and therefore incur no charges.  However, many travel vaccinations are not provided by the NHS and are given as part of a private service run by the Surgery so therefore do incur charges.  You may also need to be prescribed items on a private prescription, such as Malaria tablets, which will incur a charge for the issue of a private prescription item.  Click the link below to view the associated charges:
Clinics and Services: Vaccinations

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO FILL IN A TRAVEL FORM AND RETURN IT TO THE SURGERY AT LEAST 3 MONTHS BEFORE YOU ARE DUE TO TRAVEL.  Some courses of vaccinations can take up to 3 months to complete, so if you leave it to the last minute you may not be fuly protected before you travel. 

Travel forms are available by clicking the link above or from the reception desk, and once you have filled in a form a nurse will telephone you to arrange any necessary appointments.  This is why it is essentual that you provide an up to date day time telephone number.

Musculo-Skeletal Clinics (MSK)

Herefordshire's new MSK clinics are now up and running across the county in various General Practices.  St Katherines Surgery now hosts a clinic every Friday morning with Kevin, an expert physiotherapist.  The introduction of this service will provide a local community based clinic which will reduce pressure on Secondary Care and result in a shorter wait for patients who need to access MSK services

Patients suffering from MSK problems such as joint problems will continue to be treated by their GP who can make referrals to other local services such physiotherapy.  Patients usually find that their MSK syymptoms usually settle after a few weeks to a month, but for those whose don't a referral will be made to the MSK service.  The MSK administrative team will then direct the patient to whichever service is best suited: for example, a patient requiring a hip replacement will be referred to the Orthopaedic surgeons in Secondary Care, whereas, a patient with a long term sports injury may be directed to the local clinics held at the various GP Surgeries to see an Orthopaedic practitioner (expert physiotherapist).

Fasting Blood Tests

If you have been asked by your doctor to have a fasting blood test it is most likely to be because they want to test your blood sugar and your cholesterol.  This type of test relies on no food or drink being consumed for 12 hours before the test.
For example, if you have a fasting blood test at 08:30am you must eat nothing and drink only water from 08:30pm the PREVIOUS evening.  If you have eaten or drunk anything within this 12 hour period (except water) you will be asked to rebook your blood test.

Unfortunately that means no cup of tea or coffee in the morning!  Sorry!

Join our Virtual Patient Forum

The surgery is now running a Virtual Patient Forum which provides a positive link between the surgery and its patients.  You must have access to the internet to join the forum as the communication will be via email addresses only.  Joining the forum will involve you in discussions about the services at the surgery as well as you taking part in practice surveys and questionnaires.  Forms for the Forum are available at the reception.

Over 25 hours of Clinical Time wasted on Missed Appointments!

During the month of February 2013 over 150 appointments were missed at the surgery, this amounts to over 20 hours of clinical time that has been wasted.  If you are unable to attend an appointment please phone reception and let us know as we are often able to fill appointment slots very quickly.  Similarly if you alter or rearrange an appointment please ensure that you let reception know that you already an appointment booked.