Armadale Group Practice – Summer
2013 Newsletter
Issue 10
June 2013
Dorothy Conn, Practice Manager
Welcome to the new issue of our Newsletter; designed to keep you up-to-date with
developments in the Practice.
Contact Details
Please remember to advise us of any change of your address or contact details; this
is very important as we may need to contact you urgently or, if you have been
referred to hospital, they may need to be in touch with you. We now need proof of
address when you change your address – this can be a utility bill showing your new
address, a lease agreement, mortgage paperwork, etc.
Fund-raising
Dr MacGillivray’s fund for the RideLondon 100 mile challenge cycle is mounting up.
He is raising funds for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh (Sick Kids) in
memory of Hannah Bostock. Hannah suffered from Congenital Melanocytic Naevus
(CMN). This is a condition that causes large birth marks all over the body. It can
also cause serious internal problems.
Sadly Hannah developed a malignant melanoma in her central nervous system that
proved fatal despite the best effort of Dr Kinsler in Great Ormond Street Hospital
London and the cancer specialists in Sick Kids in Edinburgh.
Hannah never complained. After extensive surgery and treatment she returned to
school and published her first novel.
Following a sudden and unexpected
progression of her disease, she died peacefully with her loving and devoted mum by
her side on the 17 April 2011 aged 10 years.
You can donate in the Surgery or alternatively via his website –
www.justgiving.com/Douglas-MacGillivray.
We will keep you updated with his
progress.
Immunisations
As you may have heard in the Press, the Health Service is introducing some new
vaccinations:
1.
Shingles – a shingles vaccination will be given to 70 year olds from September
2013 to protect against herpes zoster.
2.
Seasonal ‘flu – from Autumn 2013 phased implementation of the ‘flu
programme is being extended to healthy children aged 2 to under 17 years.
You do not have to do anything regarding these at this stage; we will advise when
further information from the Health Board becomes available.
Appointments
For some time now, we have been writing to patient to fail to keep appointments or
cancel them if not required, advising that they could be removed from our list unless
they attend or cancel; in fact, we have actually removed some. We have adopted
this policy with the expectation that more appointments would be available.
In March 2013 we offered 3,282 GP appointments (excluding urgent appointments
for the Duty Doctor) and 133 appointments were not kept nor cancelled.
This
equates to over 22 hours of GP time wasted!
All we are asking of our patients is to cancel an appointment that you no longer
require; someone else may be able to use it.
Some amusing medical snippets!
On average 300 Americans have their buttocks surgically lifted every year.
At a hospital in Tokyo, Japan, 30 percent of the patients suffering from throat polyps
gave the cause as singing karaoke
During the Middle Ages everybody thought that the heart, not the brain, was the
seat of intelligence.
Blue Cheshire cheese was once used by doctors for treating sores and wounds
Coca Cola was originally sold as a brain tonic.
Tomato ketchup was originally used to treat diarrhoea.
When you sneeze, every one of your bodily functions stop momentarily,
even your heart.
There is enough hydrochloric acid in your stomach to dissolve a nail.
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
Our noses and ears never stop growing.
Most people produce enough saliva in their lifetime to fill two swimming pools.
Surgeon John Kellogg created cornflakes with the intention to lessen
sex drive.
The average person passes about 8,800 gallons of urine during their lifetime. This is
equal to 500 full bathtubs.
During the course of a lifetime a person will grow over 6ft of nosehair.
The muscles in the jaw work longer than any other muscle in the body without tiring.
Dates for your Diary
The surgery will be closed on the following afternoons to allow for staff training:
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
It’s anticipated that there will probably be another 2-3 sessions arranged to
these but as yet we have not been advised of the dates. We will, of course,
keep you updated.
Public Holidays:
Monday, 6 May 2012 – May Day
Monday, 16 September 2013 – Autumn
Holiday
Wednesday, 25 December 2013 – Thursday, 26 December 2013 – Boxing
Christmas Day
Day
Wednesday, 1 January 2014 – New Thursday, 2 January 2014 – Public
Year’s Day
Holiday