Summer 2008

Threats to Patients Services, GP Extended hours, and much more..
A meeting was held recently with the Focus Group to explain the background and the effect of the Government’s pressure to extend GPs’ hours but, more importantly, with more information regarding the wider agenda of this government.
To read the notes of the meeting please click here (opens a PDF file)

Welcome to..
Nicky Gell and Wendy Humphris who have joined our Dispensary team.  Lesley Cocks who joined us as an administrator has also joined the reception team. Registrars, Dr Claudia Walker and Dr Tariq Ahmed are both working in the practice to complete their GP training.  Our SHOs in practice training in Obs & Gynae are Dr Katrina Darker and Dr Brendon Moran.

Goodbye to..
Donna who left after having her second child, to move to the colder climes of Scotland with her family.

Dispensary News
Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, in line with advice from the Department of Health, has introduced a policy which recommends that the length of a prescription should normally be for 28 days. This is to improve patient safety and reduce wastage. If you pay for your prescriptions it may be more cost effective to apply for a pre-payment certificate which currently costs £35.85 for 4 months and is cheaper if you have more than 6 medicines in 4 months. A year’s pre-payment certificate costs £98.70 and is cheaper if you have more than 15 medicines in a year. Please ask at reception for details.

Please allow 2 full working days when ordering repeat prescriptions.

Security at car park entrance
May we remind everyone that the back door entrance from the car park will be locked every day from 1 p.m. Patients and staff members will be able to gain access by use of the intercom system which is located to the left of the door. Please bear in mind that there may be a delay in answering the intercom if the receptionist is busy.

Obtaining medications out of hours
Whenever possible please order medications in advance and collect during surgery hours.

Either West Street Surgery or White House Surgery surgery is open (for emergency surgery) on a Saturday morning. Boots & Co-op Chemists are open in Chipping Norton on Saturdays between 9.00 – 5.30 p.m. on a rota system (no rotas on Sundays). One or other chemist is open on Bank Holidays between 3.00 – 4.00 p.m. Sundays – Sainsbury’s in Banbury covers between 10.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. The out of hours service in Banbury do have a small supply of the most widely required out of hours medicines. A prescription fee would normally be due and stocks are subject to availability. Otherwise supermarkets and 100 hour chemists are available in Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon at other times.

Non-NHS administration
As you can appreciate there have been increasing demands on doctors for non-NHS administrative paperwork. We would appreciate it therefore when requesting insurance claim forms, travel claims etc if patients would allow at least one week before collecting these forms. All non-NHS administration will incur a fee and this will be mentioned by the reception staff at the time of the request.

Practice Nurse surgery appointments
We now have nurses who, in addition to general nursing care, specialise in certain areas. It would help them to allow the appropriate length of time, if when you book an appointment you tell the receptionist what the appointment is for. They can then allocate the right number of appointments.

Podiatry
There is now a podiatry service being held at West Street Surgery Thursday afternoons by Registered Podiatrist, Dan Houlton. Dan runs his clinics privately and for advice and appointments you can contact him on 07989 569645.

Charities

Marie Curie
Annette Pinfold tested her driving skills on various transport including a police car and HGV to raise £110.00 for Marie Curie.

Anthony Nolan Trust
The surgery is hosting a drive for The Anthony Nolan trust to find suitable donors to keep on a register. A session to take blood will be held at the Town Hall on Tuesday 20th November 5-8pm. The Trust will accept most people on to the register, but the age group particularly suitable are 18 -40 year olds.

A session to take blood will be held at the Town Hall on Tuesday 20th November 5-8pm. The Trust will accept most people on to the register, but the age group particularly suitable are 18 -40 year olds.

Wear It Pink Day
The surgery will be supporting Wear It Pink Day on behalf of the Breast Cancer Campaign on 26th October.

Cathy Elliott and her son Richard have tackled the Lyke Wake Walk in August. This is a 42 mile trek across the Yorkshire Moors which has to be done in 24 hours. They started at midnight and by the time they finished 21 hours later were fairly exhausted! However they managed to raise £510.00 for a charity in memory of two close friends who had recently died of cancer. They are really grateful to everyone for their help and support (particularly the rest of the family who brought them bacon butties at 8 a.m!). Well done Cathy and Richard!