Save our Surgery - address by BMA General Practice Committee Chairman Dr L Buckman
Dr Laurence Buckman, Chairman of the BMA`s General Practitioners Committee (GPC) addresses the 2008 Local Medicine Committee (LMC) Conference - the annual gathering of GPs from across the country.
In his speech, Laurence discusses the key challenges and issues that have faced the profession in the past 12 months, as well as looking forward to next year.
GPC keynote address
SAVE OUR DISPENSARY SERVICE
The Government has recently published a document (The Pharmacy White Paper) which outlines its intention to STOP doctors being able to dispense medicines from their surgeries. This means that you will no longer be able to collect medication from our dispensary which WILL HAVE TO CLOSE.
This Government proposal is supposed to increase patient’s choice!
What will happen, however, is that your choice will be reduced – you will have to collect medication from one of the two pharmacies in town (Boots or the COOP). This will mean one trip to see the doctor and a further journey into town to collect the medication that your doctor has prescribed. No more “one stop shop” which the Government is so keen on promoting.
The income from our Dispensary subsidises the medical services that The Galletly Practice provides. If the Dispensary is shut down by the Government, we will have to consider reducing the range of clinical services that we provide. This could mean having to travel to Stamford or further afield for blood tests, hearing tests or ECG heart tracings for example. We may also not be able to provide a minor injuries service so all patients with a minor injury may have to travel to Stamford casualty department. We will also have to make our highly experienced and valued dispensers redundant.
We believe that the Dispensary provides a professional, safe, efficient and friendly service which is valued by our patients. Indeed, in a recent satisfaction survey, commissioned before the threat to dispensing was announced, 99 percent of responders rated the Dispensary service good, very good or excellent.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
We believe that the Government has under estimated the impact that closing dispensaries will have on rural general practice.
Please help us to save your Dispensary by writing to or emailing your local MP outlining the impact that closing it will have on your choice and the detrimental effect that it would have on local health services. Please copy the letter to Mrs Dawn Primarolo MP (Health Minister responsible for The Pharmacy White Paper) and Mr Gordon Brown (Prime Minister). Contact details are listed on the other side of this document. Letters and emails need to be submitted by the end of May.
THANK YOU – WITH YOUR HELP WE CAN SAVE THE DISPENSARY
Contact Details
Quentin Davies MP (Bourne and Stamford) Email: daviesq@parliament.uk
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dawn Primarolo MP (Health Minister) Email: primarolod@parliament.uk
PO Box 1002
Bristol
BS99 1WH
Gordon Brown MP Email: privateoffice@no10.x.gsi.gov.uk
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Galletly Pharmacy application
An application was made to open a pharmacy on the Galletly site here. This was turned down by the PCT as being neither necessary nor desirable for patients. An appeal was lodged but this was tured down without further discussion with us. We are obviously disappointed as this service would have enabled us to increase the size of the waiting room and re-develope services within the surgery. This cannot now happen.
PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP
Our Patient Participation Group have succeeded in raising sufficient funds to purchase a new phlebotomy chair for the Rippingale Room. The new chair is much more comfortable for patients, especially those less mobile.
Non Attenders
Between Jan and March this year 453 people did not attend for their appointments either with the GP or the Nursing Team. This equates to 79 hours of appointment time. These appointments could have been used for someone else. Please make sure you cancel your unwanted appointments on 01778 562202. Thank you
Autumn Newsletter
Please read our latest newsletter - Autumn 2006
TARGET DAYS
Please remember that we are closed for staff training usually on the second Thursday afternoon each month.
Online appointment booking and cancellation service
You can now register for online services. We can currently offer Appointment booking and cancellation facilities, repeat prescription ordering and the ability to update of your address, telephone, mobile and email address details. We hope that more online services will be introduced over the coming months.
To use this service you must first register for it. Click here to download a registration form which must be filled in and posted or taken to the surgery by hand. Allow 2 working days before attending between 11 am and 5 pm with Photo ID to collect the registration codes. This level of security is essential because we intend to allow online access to your medical record in the future.
Problems with registering for the On line service
We have had several requests for help with people who are having problems registering for the On line Booking and Prescriptions service. Please remember that having obtained your pin and password details you still need to register on the site as a "New Patient". Most problems with the registration process are resolved by altering the Internet Explorer "Internet Options" Privacy settings. The quickest and easiest way to solve the problems without altering your main settings is to navigate to Tools/Internet Options/Privacy Tab. Here click on "Sites" and add "e-mis.co.uk" and click the "Always Allow" setting. Click Ok twice to close the pages and then restart Explorer. You should now be able to access the on line services without trouble.
Fingerprint check in service
Those of you who have been in to the surgery recently will have noticed our Arrivals screen. This is a touch screen which allows you to bypass the receptionist (if you already have an appointment) and tell us that you have arrived for your appointment. You can check in by following the on screen instructions. Don't forget to press the "arrive me" button at the end of the process as this action sends the information to our computer and alerts the practitioner in the consulting room. If you have registered your fingerprint as well, then simply touch the screen on the fingerprint button, press your finger on the fingerprint reader and you will be instantly arrived!
EPIC
An associated service is the Electronic Patient Information Centre (EPIC) which is in the little room off the waiting room and to the left of the digital noticeboard. This touch screen booth allows you to browse Patient Information Leaflets, approved web sites and also your medical record. To access your medical record you will need to register for "On Line Services" and also register your fingerprint at reception when collecting your PIN numbers and ID details. The booth requires an ID and fingerprint to uniquely identify you. It will then allow access to your medical record. The EPIC ID, unfortunately, is different to the Internet Access one, but it easier to remember.
NEW BMI MACHINE
Our patient participation group have been working very hard on our behalf to purchase a Vendy BMI machine which is now sited in our self test room at the Surgery. Patients can use the machine to measure their height and weight and the BMI will be calculated automatically. The machine also measures the person's percentage of body fat. It is very user friendly and talks the user through the process. The good news is that it does not announce the user's measurements. These are printed out on a ticket. This can be given over to reception for inclusion in your medical record if you wish.
PRACTICE NEWSLETTER
 Every quarter we release our practice Newsletter with the latest news, information as well as a profile on one of our practice staff. The latest Newsletter is now available online here or via the site menu.
REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS
 Repeat Prescriptions can also be ordered ONLINE. You can can access this service once you have registered for our Internet Access project. This service is operating well and is the most reliable method of getting your request to us. Read about the online service above.
We are able to offer a 2 working day service. Unfortunately we are still getting people calling early “on the off chance” that their prescription will be ready. This interrupts the dispenser whilst she is working and slows down the service for everyone. If 12 people do this each day it will put her one hour behind with the queue of patients on the computer who are awaiting dispensing.
PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP
Our patient participation group consists of a group of patients who are the voice of the surgery patients. They have helped us teach patients how to use new equipment and have also worked tirelessly to raise funds for Surgery equipment. They have purchased a defibrillator, automated the Surgery doors to make access easier and purchased our new BMI machine to name but a few of their projects. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have the group here at the Surgery.
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