PCN SURVEY SERVICES WEBSITE BLURB 2 (atherstone surgery version).docx

PCN Services Survey

Welcome to Atherstone Surgery

Healthwatch Warwickshire Surgery Report

We are confident that our website will provide clear and concise help and give our patients the information they require in an easy and convenient format. It has been designed with the patient’s needs at the forefront of everything, from checking surgery times to letting us know what you think of us.

Serving You

Our dedicated team are here to treat those minor ailments that occur as well as providing specialist management of long-term conditions and clinics covering a wide range of healthcare issues. The technology also means you can now do a lot of things from the comfort of your home such as order a repeat prescription or cancel an appointment.

Partners in Care

Once registered, patients and healthcare professionals work together to ensure the most appropriate care is provided. This partnership philosophy extends even further and our active patient group exists to make sure that patient needs and the practice offering are always heading in the same direction.

Access

The building complies with all aspects of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). For more information please contact the practice.

Important Notice

Please note all patients have been allocated an accountable GP. You can continue to see other clinicians however you should be aware of your registered GP's name. If you are unsure of this information please contact the surgery and we will happily inform you.

COVID VACCINATION NEWS

VACCINATIONS ARE BY INVITATION & CONFIRMED APPOINTMENTS ONLY AND WILL BE GIVEN AT ATHERSTONE SURGERY, RATCLIFFE ROAD, ATHERSTONE, CV9 1EU

As I’m sure you will understand, all GP Practices are currently under a great deal of pressure ensuring that we book our patients in for their vaccination as soon as possible after we have deliveries of the vaccine.  We usually get a maximum of one week’s notice of the date of delivery and quantity of vaccines that will be delivered; this then leaves us with three to four working days to book in around 1200 patients.   Our cohorts are dictated by a national mandate.  Our clinical systems have searches in place that determine which patients fall into which cohorts.  While you may have heard in the news or on social media that the vaccine is only being offered to particular age groups or cohorts, this may vary on a local basis.  If certain cohorts have already been exhausted, we still have a duty and a moral obligation to utilise the vaccines that we have delivered to us in a timely manner.

Atherstone Surgery are proud to be the vaccination hub for four North Warwickshire Practices, which includes Spring Hill Medical Centre, Chancery Lane Surgery and Station Street Surgery. Working together, staff from all surgeries have vaccinated several thousands of our eligible cohorts and will continue to call patients as quickly as the vaccine is delivered to us.  

If you have any queries about your appointment, please contact the designated email address or call centre for advice, through the details given on the invitation letter.  Please avoid contacting the practice. 

We can only administer vaccines at the proposed site. A separate home visiting service will be contacting housebound patients.

PATIENTS MUST BRING THE LETTER WITH THEM TO THE BOOKED APPOINTMENT AND COMPLETE THE SAFETY INFORMATION PRIOR TO ATTENDING.

If you have received a letter from the NHS inviting you to book an appointment at a Large Vaccination Centre such as Millennium Point in Birmingham for a coronavirus vaccine please note that you do not have to take up this option, it is one of the ways you can get a vaccination that is being offered by the NHS.

Q&A

Q: What are the different ways members of the public might be contacted to get their vaccination?

1. Local hospital services – you might be contacted either to have the vaccine as an inpatient or at an outpatient appointment.
2. Local GP services – practices in your area are working together to contact and offer the vaccine to as many people as possible. This may be at a different surgery than you usually go to, or at a venue we have set up specially to deliver vaccines.
3. Through your care home – GPs and their teams are also arranging to vaccinate care home residents directly, in their homes.
4. A letter from the NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service to book online or by phone. Booking through this service will give you the option of having the vaccine at a special Vaccination Centre, or potentially a community pharmacy depending on whether these are available locally.

Q: Which members of the public are being offered the Covid-19 vaccine at the moment?

The NHS is currently in the process of offering the vaccine to people aged 80 and over, those who live or work in care home, and frontline health and social care staff. When everyone in these groups has had the chance to get their first dose of the vaccine the programme will expand to other people that are at risk either due to their age group or medical condition in line with the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations.

Q: I’ve already had my first jab, how do I get my second?

If you have had your first jab already through a hospital or GP services, the local NHS will contact you in the course of the next few weeks about getting your second.

If you have received a letter from the national booking service and you have already had your first dose of the vaccination, please ignore the letter. The national booking service will require you to book appointments for both doses of the vaccination at the same time so because you have already had your first dose this service does not apply. 

Q: I’ve contacted the national booking service but I can’t travel to one of the locations that are available, what should I do?

More locations will become available in the coming weeks so you could try again later.

Alternatively, you can choose to wait until your local GP service invites you for the vaccine.

If you are housebound and unable to leave the house to travel to any appointment, and cannot arrange for someone to help you, your local NHS services will be in contact with you.

Q: I have received a letter but I have already booked or attended an appointment at a local GP service. What should I do?

If you already have a vaccination booked through your GP please ignore the letter – there is nothing you need to do.

Q: I have the letter but don’t understand how I book my appointment?

If you have received a letter from the national booking centre inviting you to book your Covid-19 vaccination you can do this online or on the phone using the details on the first page of the letter.

You will need your name, date of birth and NHS number to book. Your NHS number is on the top of your letter. Please do not call your GP practice.

At the time of booking you will be asked to book your first vaccination and your follow up vaccination for 11 to 12 weeks’ time.

Q: I have received a letter about booking my appointment. Can I contact my GP to do this?

No, please do not contact your GP surgery. We cannot help you to book into the Vaccination Centre.

Please use the details in the letter to book your appointment directly.

Q: I have received invites to get vaccinated from both a local GP service and the national system, but haven’t booked with either yet. Can I choose where to go?

Yes. Please choose the location that is most convenient and safest for you.

Q: Will people who have had their vaccination through a hospital, GP or care home still receive a letter to book through nhs.uk or by ringing 119?

This may happen in a small number of cases. 

If people have had their first vaccination through a hospital or GP service, of if they are in a care home, this information will flow through to the national NHS system.

If this is recorded on the national system before the national booking letter is printed then it will flag not to send that person the national booking letter. There are likely to be cases where the letter is printed to be sent and then person subsequently has their vaccination recorded and therefore is sent the national booking letter. The booking letter explains this and says that if people have already had their first dose to not book through the website nhs.uk or 119.

Q: My neighbours / friends have received a letter from the national vaccination centre to book their jab. Why haven’t I received mine?

The NHS is inviting people for vaccinations based on expert advice on who would benefit most. This has been set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). At the moment we are focusing on people aged 80 and over, people who live or work in care homes, and health and social care staff.

If you are in one of these groups you will be invited to book your vaccine soon.

A vaccination programme of this size and scale will still take some time to roll out in full. Please be assured that everyone who needs the vaccine will be offered it.

The NHS will be in touch with you when it is your turn to be vaccinated. Please don’t call us before you are invited.

Q: What if I can’t get to the Vaccination Centre?

People who are housebound will be contacted by their GP services about alternative ways to get vaccinated. People can also wait until more locations closer to where they live become available. The NHS will follow up with people that haven’t booked their appointment, as a reminder.

Q: I’ve received a letter but someone I live who is the same age hasn’t yet. Can we get vaccinated together?

The NHS is inviting eligible people in a phased basis as supplies of the vaccine allow. It is important that you wait for your letter from the NHS, and you will not be able to book without one.

If you have received a letter and live with someone who is also eligible but has not received a letter, it is likely that theirs will follow shortly. If you like you can wait and book at the same time.