Tamar Medical Centre
Newsletter – December 2015
A big thank you….
to Philip and Linda
Sargeant from Perton who
have generously provided
Tamar Medical Centre with
a CoaguChek machine. It’s
used to take finger prick
samples from patients who
are on warfarin and need to
have regular blood
monitoring tests. The new
machine also allows the
dosing schedule to be
drawn up while the patient
is still in the surgery rather
than have to wait for results
to be phoned through from
the lab at New Cross
Hospital.
The machine will make
life a lot easier for warfarin
patients.
Mr & Mrs Sargeant say
the gift is a thank you’ to
Tamar Medical Centre for
the care they have received
over the years.
***
Ready for Christmas?
Don’t forget to leave
enough time to order your
medication so you don’t run
out over the holiday period.
The surgery closes at
3.00pm on Thursday 24th
December 2015 and reopens Tuesday 29th
December 2015 at 8.00am.
The practice closes at
3.00pm on Thursday 31st
December 2015, re-opening
at 8.00am on Monday 4th
January 2016.
***
Did you know?
In the UK around
83 square kilometres of
wrapping paper is sold each
Christmas!
Health Visitor
There will no drop-in
baby clinic at Tamar
Medical Centre on Thursday
24th December and
Thursday 31st December
2015. Instead there will be a
drop-in session at Perton
clinic on Wednesday 23rd
and Wednesday 30th
December between 9.30am
– 11.30.
From the week beginning
6th January 2016 there will
be no further drop-in clinics
at Tamar Medical Centre.
Instead the baby clinic will
be at Perton Clinic every
Wednesday from 9.30am 11.30 am where there will
be two health visitors on
duty for parents wanting to
drop-in.
Anyone wanting to
contact a health visitor
should ring 01902 758150.
***
EPS
It’s now nearly six months
since Tamar Medical
Centre went live with
electronic prescribing!
Under the scheme
patients don’t have to call
into the practice to
collect their prescription,
it will be sent
electronically to the
pharmacy of their choice.
The pharmacy can be
near home, a place of
work, or where a patient
does their shopping. A
pharmacy can be
nominated by calling
reception on 01902
755053 or contacting the
chosen pharmacy.
***
Cold or Flu?
A reminder that
antibiotics won’t work!
They’re not effective
against infections caused
by viruses and in recent
years incorrect use has led
to the spread of antibioticresistant bacteria. Doctors
are worried that in future
antibiotics will no longer be
available to fight bacterial
infection.
The advice if you have a
cold or flu is
-Take plenty of rest
-Drink plenty of liquids (to
stop dehydration)
- Use non-antibiotic
treatments (such as
paracetamol or ibuprofen)
to relieve symptoms like a
stuffy nose, sore throat or
cough
Doctors say a middle-ear
infection will last about 4
days, a sore throat 7 days, a
common cold 10 days,
sinusitis 18 days and a
cough or bronchitis around
21 days.
If your symptoms don’t
improve within that time or
get worse, get in contact
with the doctor as you may
need to be re-assessed.
If the doctor decides
antibiotics are needed, it’s
vital that they are taken
exactly as instructed. Not
finishing the course or
taking a lower dose can
also cause bacteria to
become resistance to
antibiotics.
70,000
That’s how many
outpatient appointments
were missed at New
Cross Hospital and that’s
just in 2014! The cost of a
hospital outpatient
appointment is reckoned
to be £120 which means a
waste of more than 8
MILLION pounds at just
one NHS hospital in one
year.
Here at Tamar Medical
Centre there is a still a
big problem with missed
nurses’ appointments.
Many nursing
appointments are 20
minutes long which
means a lot of time can
be wasted if patients
don’t show up.
On the 11th November
four diabetic
appointments were dna’d
in the same clinic –
meaning nearly an hour
and half of clinic time was
lost.
Altogether in November
55 appointments were
missed at Tamar Medical
Centre – a waste of more
than 9 hours of clinical
time.
Please don’t forget to call
and cancel if you can’t
make an appointment
either at the surgery or at
the hospital.
***
Did you know?
It’s estimated here in the
UK we munch our way
through about 25 million
Christmas puddings each
year at a cost of around 48
million pounds!
Test Results
Waiting for test results?
If you’ve had a blood
sample taken, please allow
3 – 4 days after the sample
was taken before
contacting the surgery.
Other tests, for example nail
clippings may take a bit
longer.
Results will only be given
to the patient or in the case
of a child under the age of
16 their parent or guardian.
If you’d like someone else
to collect results on your
behalf, please make sure
you let you reception know
the name of your nominee
so your records can be
marked accordingly.
***
Going Privately?
Don’t forget to let us
know who the appointment
is with and when it is so that
the referral letter can be
prepared!
Anyone seeing a
consultant privately needs
to make the appointment
direct and then contact the
surgery.
Please also let us know if
you want to collect the
referral letter or whether
you want it sent direct to the
consultant.
***
Flu
If your little one hasn’t
been vaccinated against the
flu yet, there is still time!
For youngsters aged
between 2 and 4 years old
protection against the flu is
given via a nasal spray.
Contact reception to
make an appointment.
***
Online Booking
If you find it difficult to get
through to the practice on
the phone – why not try
online booking?
A number of
appointments are set aside
for the service.
To access online
booking, patients need to
register first.
Call into reception and
ask for a ‘patient access’
letter. This will give you a
unique registration number
and a step-by-step guide to
registering. A separate
account is needed for
everyone in the family who
wants to use the facility.
***
Changed your
number?
Don’t forget to let us
know!
If we don’t have an up-todate phone number we may
not be able to get hold of
you if we need to urgently.
Occasionally the booking
office at New Cross Hospital
rings the surgery if they are
trying to get hold of a
patient for an appointment
at short notice.
***
Finally
A ‘Merry Christmas and a
happy and healthy
New Year’ from everyone
at Tamar Medical
Practice!