When the practice is closed:
For medical advice telephone NHS Direct on (0845) 4647
For urgent assistance call South East Health on (03000) 242424

Prescription NEWS - Jan 2011

We have now implemented a secure online prescription ordering facility.

STAFF NEWS

We welcome Pauline Royer, our Nurse Practitioner.  Pauline has specialist training to deal with minor illness that traditionally only the doctor has been able to deal with.  She is able to assess and provide a range of treatment options including prescribing medications to referral to specialists.  Pauline works closely with the doctors and leads our team of nurses, healthcare assistant and phlebotomist.

We were sorry to say goodbye recently to Dr Lisa Scobbie, one of our GPs, who has been working with us for the past 8 years.   She has now moved on to pastures new at a practice nearer home.

PATIENT SURVEY

Since April 2009 the GP Patient Survey has been running as a quarterly survey.  This Department of Health survey, run by survey specialist Ipsos MORI, assesses patients’ experiences of local NHS services.  The survey is sent to a random sample of patients from each GP practice every quarter (a total of 1.4 million this year nationally).  The survey asks patients about a range of issues, such as how easy or difficult it is for them to make an appointment at their surgery, satisfaction with opening hours, the quality of care received from their GP and practice nurses, amongst other things, and is an opportunity for patients to have their say about how well their practice is doing at providing these services.   You can see all results on the website:  http://www.gp-patient.co.uk/surveyresults/

Overall, Len Valley results compare favourably against practices in the West Kent Primary Care Trust as a whole, particularly in overall satisfaction with the practice, where 61% of respondents in the latest survey said they were ‘very satisfied’ with the care they get, and the remainder said they were ‘fairly satisfied’ (PCT 56% and 35% respectively). 

However, we don’t do so well with appointment availability - our score for ‘ability to see a doctor on the same day or in the next 2 weekdays’ fell over the past year to 82%.  We have considered this carefully and have taken into account comments and complaints that we have received directly from patients and have taken action to address this issue………..    

ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES FOR MILITARY VETERANS

The Chief Medical Officer has recently confirmed that military veterans (somebody who has served at least one day in the UK Armed Forces) should receive priority access to NHS secondary care (hospital treatment) for any conditions which are likely to be related to their service.

Please let us know if you are a military veteran and would like this recording on your medical records. We will inform the hospital at the time of your referral, it is the responsibility of the hospital to prioritise your appointment.

CARERS

Do you look after someone who couldn’t manage on their own?

If you are providing help and support to a relative, partner, friend or neighbour who cannot manage because of disability, addiction, illness or frailty, then you are a carer.

Caring is a vital and important role in the community.  Life can feel demanding and isolating for carers.  Many carers have their own health problems, sometimes caused or added to by the physical and emotional demands of a caring role.

 The Maidstone Carers Project can support you in the following ways: 

• Involving you from the moment the person you are caring for is admitted to and discharged from hospital to ensure you have the correct support and information for a safe and happy return home.
• Advocacy and support
• Information on community care services and how to access them
• Opportunities to consider own health needs
• Encouraging you to seek out information to enable you to be more effective in your caring role
• Support group
• Access to and support from your carer support workers.

For  more information contact the Maidstone Carers Project, 39-48 Marsham Street, Maidstone ME14 1HH, or speak to Jane Pantony or Elayne Oxley on 01622 230729.

HEALTH PROMOTION ROOM AT LENHAM SURGERY

Lenham surgery now has a Health Promotion Room housing a self monitoring blood pressure machine and the new electronic weighing scales with height attachment which gives you your BMI (body mass index).  These machines provide printouts which are handed into the reception staff and acted on accordingly by the nurses.

The blood pressure machine is useful because you do not need an appointment, just report to reception staff, who will check that the room is free.  Self monitoring usually gives a lower reading because there is no waiting and the room is relaxed.

The scales can diagnose obesity providing information on your BMI. There are various leaflets to help with a healthy diet, 5 a day, healthy eating, portion sizes etc, along with diet sheets for lowering cholesterol and low fat diets.

Leaflets are also available for blood pressure, smoking cessation, alcohol advice, chronic obstructive airways disease, asthma, diet and healthy eating. Feel free to take these leaflets home and read at your leisure and if you have any worries about any aspect of your health make a routine appointment to see a nurse or doctor.    Jackie Hehir, Practice Nurse.

FREE PRESCRIPTIONS FOR CANCER PATIENTS

Cancer patients urged to apply for free prescriptions from today

People being treated for cancer are now eligible for free prescriptions.

The new scheme abolishes NHS prescription charges for everyone undergoing treatment for cancer, the effects of cancer, or the effects of cancer treatment.

All cancer patients are entitled to apply for a 5-year exemption certificate, which will entitle them to all their NHS prescriptions free of charge, not just those relating to cancer. The certificate can be renewed as many times as necessary and will not have to be returned if the patient's condition changes.

Application forms can be collected from GP surgeries and oncology clinics from today and must be countersigned by the patient's GP, hospital doctor or service doctor.

The scheme will be extended to include all patients with long-term conditions in due course.