Stockwell Lodge Medical Centre

January 2013

THE STAFF WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL PATIENTS FOR THEIR GENEROUS GIFTS AND GOOD WISHES AT CHRISTMAS, WHICH WAS VERY MUCH

APPRECIATED. STOCKWELL LODGE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WISH ALL PATIENTS A HAPPY 2013.

WE WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME TO THE PRACTICE DR KARTHIGEYAN MURUGAPPAN. HE WILL BE WORKING MONDAY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON SURGERIES.

Did not attend (DNA)

If you have experienced a delay in getting a much needed appointment for yourself or a family member, then it is worth noting an important fact.

The number of patients who do not turn up for their appointments in the last month was 159, 186 in the preceding month, and 193 in the month before that. These are all appointments that could have been offered to other patients, and quite often emergency appointments.

Cancellations and changes to appointments are sometimes necessary; and there will be a good reason for non appearance in a few instances. However the vast majority of patients who do not appear to make no contact with the surgery before their appointment. This can mean that doctors can be left waiting for around 50 patients each week!!

We can all help ourselves and each other by letting the surgery know if we can’t make an appointment or if it is no longer required. Patients as a whole will benefit and more of us can be fitted in at short notice by us doing so.

John Skitt

Chair, Stockwell Lodge Patients Forum

Nurses Survey –update

We are currently conducting a nurse survey, following the successful doctors’ survey last year. The survey questions were devised by the Patient Forum and approved by the wider Patient Reference Group (PRG)

The survey will end 31st January 2013. Please help us help you by completing a questionnaire available at the front desk. We will be publishing the results by 31st March 2013 on our website (www.stockwell –lodge.nhs.uk) Copies will also be available from reception.

If you have any questions regarding the survey, please leave your contact details with reception, and our Practice Manager will contact you.

Babu Samanta

Practice Manager

Update on WP re appointments

A working party has been set up to look at improving the front desk check in, since the checking in machine no longer works. The team comprises of I doctor, 1 receptionists and 2 Patient Forum members. The first meeting in December highlighted the need to improve quicker access at the front desk mainly in the mornings. A decision was made to have 2 queues at reception desk, with notices showing,

1 Check in and prescription collection

2. New appointments and any other queries.

A further meeting is scheduled for early February when the Working Party will discuss the findings.

We will keep you informed of the findings.

Patricia Curtis, Patient Forum member

Jenny Raine-Reception Manager

Homefirst Update

The Homefirst scheme as mentioned in our last Newsletter is now up and running.

A monitoring Group has been set up to monitor and review this pilot scheme which will run until July 2013. This scheme allows certain patients to be treated at home who would otherwise be admitted to hospital. If it proves to be a success it could be rolled out to all other areas. Eligible patients can be referred to Homefirst by their GP, District Nurse, the Ambulance services or the Out Of Hours service.

We will keep you informed of the progress.

Dr Navina Sullivan

Acute in hours visiting service (AIHVS)

This new service is a home visit service for patients who are assessed by their own medical practice as having an acute medical need.

The way in which the service will operate is as follows:

The patient rings their surgery, requests a home visit, the request is assessed by a GP or nurse. Where the decision is that a home visit is appropriate the case is referred to the Home Visit service and the patient will be visited the same day. A summary of the patient visit will be sent to the surgery within 2 hours.

The service will operate from 8.00 am-6.30 pm Monday to Friday.

The benefits should include: improved waiting times, improved patient care in their own environment, less A & E attendance and reduced ambulance use.

This service is not for patients with existing chronic illnesses or under palliative care, as these patients’ will still be seen by their GP.

Dr Navina Sullivan

Stockwell Lodge Patients Forum

The Patients Forum provides an opportunity for all of us who are patients at Stockwell Lodge to have our say and contribute in a real way to the service that all the staff-doctors, nurses, administrative and front of surgery-are there to provide. The regular meetings of the Forum involve patient representatives (all patients are entitled to put themselves forward as representatives) and a mix of Stockwell Lodge staff including the doctors, and focus on issues of interest and concerns to patients,.

Our views as patients can often be addressed by Stockwell Lodge. Where they cannot, your representatives can ensure that our voice is heard by the new NHS organisations, such as the Clinical Commissioning Group being set up in our areas and others across the country.

A list of Patient Forum Members appears in every Newsletter, and our names and contact details are on the Patient Forum Notice board in Reception.

John Skitt

Chair, Stockwell Lodge Patient Forum.

Patient Forum Member: John Skitt Chair, Helen Rouse vice chair, Patricia Curtis, Jean Byrne, Jean Gillespie. Mr Mohamed. Lea Ewing, Mr Akshay Patel.