Dear patients,
Covid-19 means all GP practices in the UK need to work differently to protect patients and staff. At CGH Partnership we have made some changes to the way we work, and it is important our patients are informed so you can help us during this challenging period for the NHS and the country.
We have already converted all of our GP appointments and some of our nurse appointments to telephone calls or video consultations. Those patients who needed to be seen face to face were then invited to attend by a clinician. Any patient who has been attending the surgery has been screened for any risk. This will continue.
It is important for you to read all of this update as it may mean that where you usually receive your care may be changing.
On 8am Friday March 20th we will be making the following changes:
- The doors to all three of our practices will be closed and locked to prevent any unnecessary footfall through our surgeries. If you have an appointment, please ring the buzzer. A receptionist will confirm your details and you will be let in. Only the person having the appointment will be permitted in, unless the patient has mobility problems or they are a child, in which case one other person will be permitted to support them. Please be aware that you may be required to wear a mask.
- All enquiries will need to be via telephone or email. We have recently installed a new telephone system which informs you where you are in the call queue, and allows you to request a call back so you do not need to wait in the queue. (Please ensure you call our main number – 01256 479747 to access this)
- Prescriptions can be ordered via email, your pharmacy, or by putting your request in the locked box outside each site. You will not be able to enter the waiting room to put your prescription request into the box.
- We will operate in the following zones, which represent different types of clinical care. We have introduced this so we can limit the risk between different patient types. For example; a mother and new baby attending for a 6-week baby check and a patient with an infectious illness will be kept separately.
Red Zone – Based at St. Andrew’s/Camrose Site
- Patients that our duty team have triaged and assessed over the phone and can confidently state are low risk for COVID-19, but still need clinical assessment.
- If there is any doubt about possible COVID-19 patients will be directed to the NHS 111 service (via the online service or by telephone if patients do not have access to the internet.
Amber Zone – Based at Gillies Health Centre Site
- This area will be for the essential face to face appointments such as dressings, essential injections, and urgent blood tests.
- Some duty, on the day urgent appointments will take place in the amber zone after telephone assessment by a clinician.
- Women’s health appointments such as cervical screening examinations.
- All patients attending this zone will be screened for viral symptoms via text or telephone prior to attending, and asked to rebook if any risk factors are identified.
Green Zone – Based on the Ground floor at Essex House/Hackwood
- No patients will be seen in this zone. Telephone appointments to be made by clinicians to patients.
Purple Zone -Based on the top floor at Essex House/Hackwood
- In this zone midwives will see pregnant patients, our nurses will see babies and pre-school children for immunisation appointments and GPs will see babies and new mothers for 6 week checks and postnatal checks.
- All patients attending this zone will be screened for viral symptoms via text or telephone prior to attending and asked to rebook if any risk factors are identified.
How you can support us as a practice
There are a few key ways you can help us manage our resources in the best way:
- Please bear in mind we have staff who are considered high risk and are putting themselves at risk by continuing with frontline NHS work. It is important you are always honest about your symptoms; please do not attend if you have coronavirus symptoms under any circumstances. We cannot test for Covid-19 or arrange testing, so please follow the NHS 111 advice and if you feel you cannot manage the symptoms at home please call 111.
- Please order your medication on time. Do not send your request in early, ask for extra amounts, or request a medication you have not had in a long time. All of these requests have to be processed and in the last week we have seen a huge increase in inappropriate prescription requests which is crippling our prescription team and causing a huge increase in prescription work for the GPs.
- If you are unwell and you think you may need medical attention, please call us as early as possible in the day. Requests to be seen urgently late in the day are very difficult to accommodate and we want to do our best to help care for you.
- Keep yourself as well as possible. You can do this by:
- Practicing good hand hygiene
- Taking your prescribed medications as per the instructions
- Keeping hydrated and eating well
- Following the NHS guidelines in regards to social distancing/isolation as appropriate.
- Self-treat at home as much as you can safely. Please only access NHS services if absolutely necessary.
- Please be kind to NHS staff. We are all working very hard to keep you, your families and our colleagues safe.
We understand this is a worrying time for you and we are relying on you to work with us during this challenging period.
We want to thank our incredible staff who are working hard to keep providing services to our patients during very difficult circumstances.
We will continue to update you as necessary.
Managers & Partners CGH Partnership