Heart to Heart
April 2017
Patients’ Newsletter for Northway Medical Centre
Welcome to the first of our quarterly Newsletters which aim to keep you informed about
what’s going on with regard to providing you with great health care services at the Northway
Medical Centre, and within the Dudley CCG overall.
Our Patient Participation Group, which has run for several years, has recently reviewed what
we are about and what we want to achieve over the coming year. One of those things is to
find ways to better communicate with you and to make sure that:
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you hear about new developments in local health care and key messages from your GPs
you know how to access useful information about local health services
you can have your say - ask questions and get answers - about your GP services
if you are interested in joining in, you know how to participate in the Patient Participation
Group meetings
We hope that you will find these newsletters informative and we welcome any suggestions you
may have for future content.
Keith Tomlinson
Chair – Northway PPG
EMIS Online Services
Just over 26% of our patients at Northway Medical Centre are signed up to use the electronic
medical information system (EMIS) which is available to all GP patients in Dudley. We want to
encourage as many patients as possible to use the online services to order repeat prescriptions
and book appointments to see GPs and health nurses. This frees up the phone lines so that you
can contact the surgery more easily when you need to, and frees up more time for the surgery
staff to do other medical work. We are therefore actively promoting online services via the
practice website; with posters and the television in reception; in new patient medical packs and
change of circumstances details at the front desk. We will also be organising training sessions at
the surgery on Friday afternoons from 15:00 to 16:00 from April to July to show patients how to
set-up their online access and use the EMIS system. If you’d like to come along, please phone the
surgery on 01902 880825 to arrange a time.
Our recent Patient Survey showed that:
41% of the survey respondents said that they would like to use the EMIS online services.
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Of the 27% of the survey respondents who said that they did use the online services, 45% said
that they used it for ordering repeat prescriptions and 38% said they used it to book
appointments.
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Of the respondents who commented about the new repeat prescription ordering service, only
8% were negative: more than 50% said they had no complaints about it – many comments
included ‘it’s a good idea; it’s quick and easy; it saves time’.
Full analysis of the Patient Survey 2017 can be accessed via the PPG Noticeboard in the reception
at the surgery, or a copy can be e-mailed upon request.
Saturday Surgeries
Over the winter months, Northway Medical Centre participated in a CCG programme with 22
other GP surgeries in Dudley to provide extended opening hours on Saturday mornings. The
programme aims to reduce pressure on hospital A&E departments during the busiest time of the
year, allowing them to concentrate on more urgent cases. Under this scheme, patients can be
offered appointments at the weekend at one of the 23 practices participating in the scheme – if
there is no appointment available at your own surgery you could be offered an appointment at
one of the other surgeries. The appointment has to be made via your own surgery as your patient
records have to be released for your appointment.
The scheme has proved to be very successful as not only does it help to relieve pressure on
hospital A&E, but also in providing extra GP appointments and greater flexibility for those patients
working throughout the week. We are therefore delighted to hear that the CCG is proposing to
extend the funding for this initiative and the Saturday appointment programme will continue to
be available until June 2017.
What’s Up Doc? - Training Centre for future GPs
At a recent PPG meeting, we asked Dr Pritchard about why the
appointments offered were usually with a GP registrar or a student doctor –
are we being short-changed by often not being able to see him in person?
Dr Pritchard explained that he is the named doctor for all 5,753 patients at
Northway Medical Centre and it would be impossible for Dr Moran, himself
and Dr Chandegra to see all patients .
In addition, Northway Medical Centre is a Training Practice and as such,
both he and Dr Moran are training and mentoring young newly qualified doctors to become
future GPs. The benefit to the patients in seeing these GP registrars is that there is a longer
appointment time allocated (20 minutes instead of 10) and that each of the cases is reviewed and
discussed with Dr Pritchard or Dr Moran, so patients are having two sets of expertise applied to
their diagnosis and treatment plan. Also, any test results that come back into the surgery are
always seen by Dr Pritchard, Dr Moran or Dr Chandegra – they are never left just to the GP
registrar to review: there is no fear of something important not being picked up.
So, if you have an urgent problem and an appointment is not available with the doctor of your
choice, an appointment will be offered with whichever doctor is free. Also, if it is an emergency
you can ask to see a doctor urgently, on the same day.
Staffing Update:
Dr S Banday – GP Registrar to Dr Pritchard (from February for 10 months)
Dr L Milverton – GP Registrar to Dr Moran (from February for 12 months)
Dr H Ferrington – FY2 Doctor to Dr Pritchard (from April 2017 to August 2017)
Georgina Abbot – Reception Apprentice (from February 2017)
Mussamat Rakhi – Health Care Apprentice (from March 2017)
Patient Participation Group (PPG)
Each GP surgery has a PPG and our group has been operational for many years. We recently
invited the CCG to run a training session for us to help us to review our function and purpose, as
the Health Service has changed so much over recent years. At our next meetings we will be
reviewing what we learned from this session and agreeing the way that we will develop the role
that our PPG will play in helping Northway Medical Centre to continue to provide great medical
services.
Communication about what is going on – at the practice level as well as at the borough and
national level – will continue to be an important focus for the PPG. When our members attend
various meetings relating to health issues we feed back this information to the other members of
the PPG to share the information we have gleaned. One of the things we want to do this year,
and as soon as possible, is to get a webpage available from the Northway Medical Centre site to
post this information so that more people have access to this information – so it’s a ‘watch this
space’ for news about that.
Some of the feedback articles we will post include:
MCP Consultation (CCG public consultation meeting held 2nd August 2016) – regarding the
proposals to develop a new way of commissioning the contracts for all health care services.
The Multi-Specialty Provider approach puts each GP practice at the hub linking to district
nurses, practice pharmacists, community physical health and mental health workers,
therapists, voluntary sector workers to develop a network of integrated GP led services across
health and social care.
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Public Health Forum 1st December 2016 – providing an update on the MCP Commissioning
and Procuring process and information about the Black Country & Birmingham Sustainability &
Transformation Plan – the NHS 5 Year Forward View to achieve improved public health and
service quality, with financial stability.
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Exploring the Future of Patient Participation Groups – a CCG event held on 1st March 2017
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Consultation on proposals to change Prescribing medicines of low or no clinical value a Public Healthcare Forum meeting held on 23rd March 2017.
Alzheimer’s Awareness event at Northway Medical Centre
Each year our PPG organises one or two events with guest speakers on topics that we know are of
concern to our patients. We can however only accommodate up to 50 people for these events, so
we have to ask for patients to sign up for a place if they are interested. We have in the past held
an event for Carers, with a speaker from Dudley Carers’ Forum, and an event focusing on Diabetes
with Clare Dolan, our Nurse Practitioner, leading the discussion.
We are delighted to have secured a guest speaker from the Alzheimer’s
Society who is coming to talk to the group on Tuesday 9th May 2017 at 7pm
If you are interested in attending this event, please the surgery on 01902
880825 to book a place.
Bilston Street Surgery Closure
The Bilston Street surgery will close when Dr Shather retires at the end of May 2017. Northway
Medical Centre welcomes newly registered patients transferring from there.
Other dates for your diary …
Northway PPG Meetings:
Our PPG meetings are held roughly every two months and dates for the next meeting at Northway
Medical Centre) is Monday 24th April 2017 at 2.00pm
If you are interested in joining in, please feel free to attend or send an email to
[email protected]
CCG Public Meetings:
Forthcoming events for your diary – book your place via Keren Hodgson at the CCG on
01384 321730:
COPD Support Group Board Meeting – Thursday 11th May from 13:00 to 15:00 at Brierley Hill
Health & Social Care Centre
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Health Care Forum Meeting – Thursday 18th May from 18:00 to 20:00 at Brierley Hill Civic Hall.
Useful Information
Blood Tests:Corbett Outpatients Centre – Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm (no appointment needed)
Guest Outpatients Centre – Monday to Friday 8am to 1pm (no appointment needed)
Russells Hall Hospital (no appointment needed), open at the following times:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Morning
8am to 12 noon
Open
Closed
Open
Closed
Closed
8am to 10 am
Afternoon
12 noon to 5pm
Open
Closed
Open
Open
Open
Closed
Evening
5pm to 7:30pm
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Closed
Sedgley – Ladies Walk Clinic – (by appointment only): Tel 01902 575957
Cross Street Health Centre – (by appointment only): Tel 01384 366257
Netherton Health Centre – (by appointment only): Tel 01384 2444330
X-Rays:Telephone 01384 456111 ext 5517 for appointment at Guest Hospital (Mon to Fri 9:00 to 16:30)
or Corbett Hospital (Mon to Fri 8:45 to 16:20)
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Northway Medical Centre
8 Alderwood Precinct, Sedgley, Dudley, DY3 3QY
Telephone: 01902 885180 / 01902 880825
Website: www.northwaymedicalcentre.nhs.uk