Borough Green Medical Practice
PATIENT NEWS
www.boroughgreenmedicalpractice.co.uk
Issue No 7
Welcome to the Newsletter on behalf of your
Patient Participation Group, The Friends of the
Surgery and the Practice.
PPG way forward
Our PPG has now been operating for 3 years and
works to ensure the best services for all Patients of
the Borough Green Medical Practice. Meeting 4 or
5 times a year together with the Doctors and
Practice staff, we discuss any new, changed or
planned services. This enables us to keep abreast
of the direction of services that are the
responsibility of our local Clinical Commissioning
Group, West Kent CCG, and how they may affect
our patients. We also have a direct route to the
CCG to raise any issues experienced that cannot
be dealt with locally. To ensure patients are kept up
to date with changes and useful information we
produce a Newsletter 3 times per year. This is
available as a hard copy in the waiting rooms and is
also sent by e-mail to the patients who have signed
up on the Practice Website.If you wish to be
included on the e-mail distribution please register
at:www.boroughgreenmedicalpractice.co.uk
We have also run 2 patient surveys which have
identified a number of concerns that have been
addressed by the Doctors and Practice staff.We are
very conscious that meeting during the day restricts
the make-up of the Group, and are now looking at
how best to get the profile of our patients reflected
in the members of the Group. In particular we
would like to see representation from teenagers,
young Mums and Dads and commuters.One
potential way could be the introduction of a ‘Virtual
Group’ to work alongside our existing meetings.
Spring 2015
This would involve patients agreeing to the PPG
using your e-mail address to keep you updated with
meeting topics and points raised in order to get
your input. We would very much welcome your
views on how we can best expand the
representation of our PPG Group. If you would like
to
join
either
Group
please
e-mail
[email protected] - this
e-mail address is only used by the PPG.
Alternatively you may leave your contact details
with the Surgery Reception.
Your chance to have an input into
your Patient Services
Join us at the Patient Participation Group (PPG)
and Friends of the Surgery joint AGM
To be held at the Borough Green Surgery at
7:30pm on Wednesday 10th June
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Minutes of Friends’ last AGM
Financial and Chairman’s report for the
Friends
Chairman’s report for the Patient
Participation Group
Dementia support services –
JennyJolliffe, Admiral Nurse
Diabetes support and Services– Lou
Simone, Practice Nurse
Open Question and Answer session
AOB
Finish 8:40pm
Borough Green Medical Practice
Admiral Nurses
Admiral Nurses are specialist dementia nurses who
give much-needed practical and emotional support
to family carers, as well as the person with
dementia. They offer support to families throughout
their experience of dementia which is tailored to
their individual needs and challenges. They provide
families with the knowledge to understand the
condition and its effects, the skills and tools to
improve communication, and provide emotional and
psychological support to help family carers carry on
caring for their family member. They are able to
take on complex cases and provide specialist
support and advice.http://www.dementiauk.org/
Need to know more? - An Admiral Nurse comes
to the Surgery every 2nd Tuesday of the month
at 2.30pm - just turn up.
Waste Medicines
The biggest cost to the NHS is waste medicines.
Medicines that are either unused or partially used
account for approximately £300 million per year.
 You can help by only ordering what you need
and not ‘stockpiling’ medicine.
 If you have stopped taking any medicine let
either your Doctor or Dispenser know.
 Check what medicines you still have at home
before re-ordering.
 Discuss your medications with your GP or
Dispenser regularly (you can ask for a DRUM –
Dispensing Review of Use of Medication - to be
carried out with a Dispenser, this only takes a
few minutes of your time).
 Only tick those medicines which you really need
on your repeat medicines list.
 If you don’t need the medicine then please don’t
order it – you can always request it in the future.
Even if you don’t open the medicine, it cannot be
re-used once it has left the dispensary. If your
medicines change, please return your old
medicines to the Dispensary for safe disposal and
to prevent them getting mixed up with your new
medicines.
You may return any unused medicine
dispensed
by
us
for
safe
disposal.
Unfortunately
medicines
obtained
from
elsewhere, e.g. a pharmacy, need to be returned
there for destruction. Do not dispose of
medicine at home. We donate any unused
medicine, with a shelf life of at least 15 months, to
Intercare - a recognised agency who supply
medical aid to Africa.
Practice Update
Dr Sonia Alg has now left the Practice. We wish her
well in her new post on the South Coast. We are
pleased to announce that her replacement will be
Dr Maxwell Simons. Dr Simons has worked at the
Practice before as a Registrar and we are excited
that he has chosen to come back. He will be joining
as a Partner and will take over DrAlg’s list when he
comes in early August. Until then, DrAlg’s patients
may make appointments with any of the existing
Doctors as they wish.
After more than 20 years at the Practice, Mrs Jane
Owen, our Practice Manager, will be retiring at the
end of May. We will miss her organisational skills
and calm sense of perspective enormously. We
would like to welcome Mrs Sue Howe as Jane’s
replacement. Sue is already in post and working
closely with Jane during the handover period this
month. We are also conducting interviews to fill two
Nurse vacancies.
Thank you for using the new
blood pressure machine.
Situated in the waiting room all
patients are welcome to come
and take their own blood
pressure. No appointment is
needed. Many ‘fit’ patients never
have their blood pressure taken,
but high blood pressure is difficult to detect and can
cause strokes which can be catastrophic. Why not
take 5 minutes to pop into the surgery and check
yours.
Travel vaccinations
Don’t forget if your planned holiday destination
requires that you have vaccinations these need to
be given at least 2 months in advance!