We are pleased to announce that the new telephone system is live from Thursday 21 March 2024. This new system meets the standards required under the NHS and will also now have call recording enabled for all incoming and outgoing calls.

One of the most common complaints we receive is that patients don't want to or can't hold for long periods at our busiest time of the day. The new system will have a ringback facility which will enable you to select this option, retain your place in the queue without holding. This will address this issue but please be advised appointments levels will not change. Also note that the call back function is only available once the call queue reaches above 10, and is only available until 5pm. If you have not recevied a callback before the end of the working day you will need to call back as the system does not carry these over to the next day.

Other features will include improved management monitoring so that we can see extactly what is happening with our phone lines and adjust staff cover when required.

You can still cancel your appointments by leaving a clear mesage with your name, date of birth and appointment details by selecting option 2 from the menu. Although we have reduced wasted appointments from patients that do not attend, we still lose about 33 hours of clinical time a month, that is equal to approximaltey 198 appointments across the clinical team every month.

Our Patient Voices Group were involved in the selection of this system to get input form a patient perpesctive.

If you have any feedback on the system please let us know about your experience.

Our Patient Voices have been busy preparing our March newsletter with information about Womens health and celebrating woman.

We are looking to recruit new members please see the  informaiton on the newsletter or in the waiting room if you are interested.

Eligibility

People aged 75 years and over, those in care homes and those aged 6 months and over with a weakened immune system will be offered a spring dose of Covid-19 vaccine. These will be offered from mid April to the end of June.

If you are turning 75 between April and June you can attend and you do not need to wait until your 75th Birthday.

The NHS App gives you a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services. You can download the NHS App on your smartphone or tablet via Google Play or App Store. You can also access the same services in a web browser by logging in through the NHS website Access your NHS account - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

You will be able to order repeat prescriptipns, view you health record and test results ( you must have online access activated at the practice first), book and amange appointments and referrals, register your organ donation decision, choose how you the NHS uses you data, use NHS 111 online to answer questions and getinstant advice or medical help near you and access other NHS services.

About the NHS App - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

The practice has stored the old Lloyd George (paper) records off site for a number of years to free up space at the practice. We use an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and all data is added to this record. There are occasions when we need to review your older paper records, for private insurance reports or private medicals. Usually we would be able to request these within 2 weeks however due to problems with the previous storage company and rising costs, NHS England who fund this service, has changed our supplier. Whilst the transfer of notes is takiing place we are unable to access them. We were notified that this process has now started and it is likely to take 2-3 months before we will be able to request any paper records. We apologise for any inconvience this causes but ti si out of our control.

In some instances when we explain this to the companies involved they may be satisifeid with the EMR, especially as notes are now summarised when we receive them.

March

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month | Ovarian Cancer Action

Zero Discrimination Day 1 March Message from the UNAIDS Executive Director on Zero Discrimination Day 2021 | UNAIDS

Overseas NHS Workers Day 5 March DAUK launches Overseas NHS Workers Day on 5th March 2021 – Doctors' Association UK / DAUK

International Women's Day  8 March  International Women's Day 2024 (internationalwomensday.com)

Nutrition & Hydration Week 11-17 March N&H Week | Nutrition and Hydration Week

National No Smoking Day 13 March Understanding smoking - BHF

World Kidney Day 14 March World Kidney Day 2023

World Sleep Day 15 March World Sleep Day | (worldsleepsociety.org)

World Down Syndrome Day 21 March  Home - World Down Syndrome Day

World Autism Acceptance Week 25-31 March https://www.autism.org.uk/ 

Appointment data is published for all GP practices in England. The full statistics can be viewed by following the link below:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/november-2023 

In summary The Garden City Practice delivered 6591 appointments in April 2023, an average of 392.1 appointments per 1000 registered paitents:

82.1% were face-to-face 

46.0% were same day appointments

48.3% were with a GP

2.6% Did not attend equal to 173 "lost" appointments which equates to 28 hours of lost appointment time

The practice is committed to increasing access to GP, Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Practice Nurse appointments in 2024, as well as utilising the Additional Roles such as Clinical Pharmacists, Physiotherapists, Social Prescribers and Mental Health Practitioners through the WGC Primary Care Network (PCN).

We would appreciate if patients provide brief information to Reception about the reason for your appointment when you contact the practice in order that you can be booked with the appropriate healthcare professional; the GP isn't always the best person to help.

December 2023 data has not yet been published (13.02.2024)

Please also remember you can use NHS 111 online 111.nhs.uk  or call NHS 111 for urgent concerns, and 999 for serious emergencies.

For adults with mental health problems including depression and anxiety, you can refer yourself directly to the local wellbeing service, via their website.

If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, call this freephone number: 0800 6444 101.

HertsHelp: https://www.hertshelp.net/HertsHelp.aspx

Advice for childhood illnesses https://hertsvalleysccg.nhs.uk/application/files/1716/0941/0098/Help_your_Child_Stay_Well_This_Winter_FINAL.pdf 

We have a limited resources and limited number of appointments every day, please do not be rude to or shout at our receptionists; the practice will not tolerate offensive behavour or language and we will take steps to remove patients from our list if necessary.

Thank you very much for helping us all manage under these very difficult circumstances.

Patient data has been collected from practices for a number of years using the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES), the General Pracrice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) is replacing GPES and will help to support the planning and commissioning of health and care services, the development of health and care policy, public health monitoring and interventions and enable different areas of research.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research 

More information about how NHS Digital is processing GP data can be found in NHS Digital's GPDPR Transparency Notice:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/transparency-notice 

Opting out

There are two different opt-outs:

Type 1 Opt-out - prevent sharing of your practice data with NHS Digital; these were introduced in 2013. NHS Digital will not collect data for patients who are already have a Type 1 opt-out recorded. If you wish to regsiter a Type 1 Opt-out please complete the form available here

Data sharing with NHS digital has now been postponed a new start date has not been set; NHS Digital will need to be meet a varierty of stringent tests before going live. They are introducing three changes to the opt-out system which mean that patients will be able to change their opt-out status at any time:

1.Patients do not need to register a Type 1 opt-out by 1 September to ensure their GP data will not be uploaded

2.NHS Digital will create the technical means to allow GP data that has previously been uploaded to the system via the GPDPR collection to be deleted when someone registers a Type 1  opt-out   

3.The plan to retire Type 1 opt-outs will be deferred for at  least 12 months while the new arrangements are introdcued and will not be implemented without consultation with the RCGP, the BMA and the National Data Guardian

The Practice will continue process your opt-out forms when received; unfortuantley we will not be able to confirm processing of individual forms.

National Data Opt-out - opting out of NHS Digital sharing your data unless there is a legal exemption to do so. You can find out more and register a National Data Opt-out or change your choice on https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/  or call 0300 303 5678 if you do not have access to the internet.

You must do the National Opt-out through NHS Digtal, this cannot be done at the practice.

Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using Type 1 or National Data Opt-out.