West Walk Surgery

Patient Newsletter

Winter Edition 2015

21 West Walk, Yate, Bristol

01454 272200

EMIS Access

Have you registered for EMIS Access yet? So far 1,194 of our patients can now access their summary record, order prescriptions and book appointments on line. We really want to encourage as many patients as possible to be able to do this as it will undoubtedly helpyou. To register for this service please ask at reception who will print off the form you need that will contain the passcodes that you need to allow you to register. All patients must have an email address to access this service.

Consult our doctors from home

Visit the surgery website to get treatment and feedback from a doctor, without seeing us in person.

How does it work?

  1. Send us details about your condition
  2. A doctor decides on the best treatment for you
  3. We ring you back with advice, a prescription or an appointment.

Our duty doctor system - help us to help you each day….

Our Duty Doctor system enables all patients who need urgent care to speak to and/or see a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner on the same day. It’s a great and highly-valued service, but with well over 100 calls a day (and 150 plus on a Monday), we need your assistance to make the most effective use of this facility. It is always worth thinking about seeking the advice of your Pharmacist. We hope the following guidance will be helpful.

When you ring our receptionists will:

  • Ask for some details in order to assist the Duty Doctor with prioritising the calls
  • May suggest that you speak to someone else in the Practice Team who can help (e.g, Medical Secretary regarding referrals, Nurses regarding nursing matters etc)
  • May advise you that your usual or referring Doctor will deal with your query as a routine matter

Please note that:

  • It really helps if you ring as early as possible in the day.
  • All calls are triggered according to priority and there is, unfortunately, no facility to ‘book’ a convenient time
  • All calls from the surgery are shown as “Number Withheld” and the Duty Doctor will leave a message for you to contact us again if we cannot get hold of you

Virtual Patient involvement group

Following on from the success of our Patient Involvement Group we are looking to set up a “virtual group”. This will allow us to involve patients who are not able to attend the surgery for quarterly meetings. If you would like to join, please complete a form at reception. Your details will not be passed on to any third parties but remain confidential in the practice.

Clinical research update

We are currently involved in a number of interesting studies which include: CANDID which is trying to find which symptoms are best at predicting lung and bowel cancer; FAST which is aiming to discover if increasing certain inhalers reduce flare up’s of asthma; PANDA is studying whether antidepressants in mild depression are beneficial; BATHE which is looking to see if emollients added to the bath help in childhood eczema;TAMSINH4 is looking at how monitoring your blood pressure at home compared to the surgery might differ; BARACK-D looks at whether a medication, that is currently used for other conditions, can help reduce the risk of heart disease in people with Chronic Kidney Disease’

We have a dedicated team for our Research projects, led by Dr Davies, with Nurse Practitioner Sandra Batstone, Nurse Jane Deacon and Vicky Hawkins who is running the Administration. Contact Vicky with any queries you may have about new studies or if you’d like any further information. Please keep an eye on our new waiting room notice board for further details.

Carers Support Centre

We have worked closely with the Carers Centre for many years and have now introduced a new service. Neil is an experienced Carer’s support volunteer who will offer advice and assistance to carers by holding a monthly surgery, usually on one Wednesday afternoon each month. If you would like to see Neil to talk about any issues to do with your role as a Carer please ask at Reception and they will be able to make you an appointment. If the appointments at the Surgery are not convenient you can always make an appointment at The Carers’ Support Centre. We can help you do that.

Practice website

We have just arranged to make some big changes to our Practice Website. It’s hoped that patients will find the information on our website easier to follow. Why not take a look We would welcome any feedback about the layout and information available, as we are really keen to make the Website as helpful as possible to patients.

Unwanted medication

The best way to dispose of medicines that are no longer needed is to return them to your local pharmacy. Try to return the unwanted medicines in their original packaging when possible as some medicines may need special handling. Never dispose of medicines down the sink or toilet because they could become a hazard to the environment and water supply. If in doubt, ask your local pharmacist, who will be able to give you the right advice.

Contact details

If you move house or change your telephone number please advise reception of your new contact details. This is so if we need to speak to you urgently, we can ensure there are no delays. Forms are available on reception for patient’s convenience – many thanks

SMS Text messaging

We are keen to keep up with technology! It’s not for everybody, but for those that have mobile phones, we are now able to confirm your appointments that you make at the surgery, and also send you a reminder 2 days before. Hopefully you’ll find this helpful. If you realise you have an appointment that you no longer need, do please take a moment to contact us and cancel so that somebody else can have it.

Staff Update

It is with great sadness that we have to tell you that one of our secretaries, Gill Bailey, died suddenly and unexpectedly at the end of August. Gill had worked with the practice for a number of years and will be missed enormously by us all.

We have now appointed a new Secretary, and we are delighted that it will be Georgina Smith, who joined us as an Apprentice at the beginning of 2015. I don’t think any of us expected to be in the position of needing to make this appointment, but the fact that it’s Georgina is something that demonstrates the big impression that she has made since joining us. Georgina is also going to still do some hours as a Receptionist, and also undertake some Phlebotomy training.

We have welcomed two new Registrars who will be with us for a year. Dr Clare Farrington and Dr Natalie Hallam are spending their final year of GP Training with us, and I know they’re looking forward to meeting and getting to know lots of you.

We have also just welcomed back Helen Golledge after a year’s maternity leave. She has been a key member of our admin team for many years and provides an essential service, mostly behind the scenes, along with Vicky Hawkins.

Our doctor team and their normal working days

  • Dr Andrew Moncrief - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
  • Dr Nicola Lloyd-Powis – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
  • Dr Robert Palmer – Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Dr Harriet Delap – Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

  • Dr Rebecca Fowler – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
  • Dr Cyril Kamya – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
  • Dr Samuel Davies – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
  • Dr Helen Pyke – Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday,
  • Dr Rosemary Ginns –Thursday and Friday

Our doctors rotate the on-call clinician, the Coalpit Heath doctor and our extended hours surgery.