Dr. iQ is our practice mobile app. For the fastest, most convenient way to access our GP services,
download the app NOW:
Download Dr. iQ - our practice mobile app: Download Dr. iQ - The fastest way to access our GP services. |
|
New patients can register with our practice via Dr. iQ Register with us Conduct online consultations Update your profile View medical records Order medications |
|
Download Dr. iQ |
Measles can spread to other people easily.
Patients who have an appointment to come into the practice should not attend if they have:
Please contact the surgery and one of our clinicians will call you back.
For more information on measles, please visit the NHS website.
The Camrose, Gillies & Hackwood Partnership Patient Participation Group asked us to put together an update for our patients covering the last couple of months whilst we have dealt with the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 and lockdown.
Our thanks
Our thanks go out to our patients for accepting the new ways we have been working during this pandemic. Most of our GP consultations are done by telephone or via video consultation which is a significant change from previously. Our clinicians do see patient’s face to face when this is needed at either St Andrews or Gillies Health Centre.
We would also like to thank the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group for providing us with laptops, new software and hardware such as webcams for our clinicians so if they have to self-isolate due to a family member having COVID symptoms they can carry on working looking after our patients until they can be tested.
We would like to extend our thanks to the other surgeries and their clinicians in and around Basingstoke who came together to work with us to look after our combined patients, totally 200,000, and fight the pandemic together.
We would like to thank our cleaning staff, Volunteer Parking Marshals at St Andrews, people donating and making masks, scrubs, scrub bags etc, suppliers and NHS couriers for continuing to work with us during these difficult times.
And finally, we would like to thank all our staff for their commitment and dedication to our patients as we continue to work and provide services through this period.
Our COVID response
We took early action to protect staff and patients alike by establishing new ways that we could continue to consult our patients, but via telephone and video consultations, as well as safely seeing those patients who need a face to face examination. We set up a number of “Zones” or “Hubs” across our sites on 19 March 2020 dedicated to looking after specific patient groups and protecting our staff:
Red Hub
Based at our St Andrews’ site this hub was set up for patients with possible COVID symptoms, or symptoms of fever or respiratory illness (which meant we could use our other sites to see patients who may be more vulnerable). After a few weeks, we extended these services to patients from other practices in Basingstoke and clinicians from these other practices have been coming to work at St Andrews for the last 8 weeks alongside us.
In order to provide a safe system to see large numbers of potentially COVID patients, we set up a drive-through so clinicians can safely examine patients without risking the clinician developing COVID symptoms or passing it to any non-COVID patients that were being seen. We have seen over 1000 ill patients through this Red Hub in the last 8 weeks.
Amber Hub
Based at Gillies Health Centre this hub is designed to see patients that need blood tests, routine nurse care, specific nurse treatments, screening tests or to be examined by a GP or Nurse Practitioner. Patients attending this site have no COVID symptoms and may be in a vulnerable group at risk of complications from COVID and shielding.
Patients are screened by questionnaire the day before their appointment and if the appointment is for the same day, then they will be screened by a clinician before being given an appointment. Patients are asked to wait outside, ideally in their car and called by the clinician when they are ready to see the patient.
On arrival at the door, the patient’s temperature is checked by the clinician and if the patient has a temperature, they are advised to return home to self-isolate for a period of 7 days and members of their household are advised to self-isolate for 14 days. If the patient doesn’t have a temperature, they are quickly taken through our waiting room by the clinician and straight to the consultation room.
There are occasions where vulnerable patients, for example those with learning difficulties or dementia, are permitted to wait in the waiting room to avoid distress. The waiting room chairs have been spaced out so they are appropriately socially distanced.
Green Hub
Based at Essex House (top floor) this hub is designed for use only by pregnant patients as part of their anti-natal care, for mum and baby checks at 6-8 weeks after birth, and for baby and child immunisations. By restricting so significantly the categories of patients attending we are able to offer a safe environment for maternity services and child health services to continue in the community.
Home Visiting Hub
In order for the practices in Basingstoke to cope with the increase in demand for home visits, including visits to patients with COVID symptoms, GP practices came together to create a Home Visiting Hub about 8 weeks ago. This hub is supported by GPs and nurses from all the practices and has completed 500 home visits since inception.
Blue Zone
All other staff (ie those not based in one of our other hubs) are based in a non-patient facing blue zone – one at Essex House (middle and lower floor) and the other at Gillies Health Centre (top floor). These staff have no direct patient contact in order to minimise the risk of them contracting COVID and thus compromising our ability to run the Practice.
Vulnerable staff, whose own health may be at risk from complications arising from COVID, were identified at the beginning of March and moved to one of the blue zones on 19 March 2020. Those who would normally consult patients have only been able to do telephone calls and video consultations but are still working effectively although differently.
The conclusions
By moving swiftly to protect staff and patients, we have managed to continue providing services to all our patients. We have not had any issues of transmission of COVID within or between our hubs because we manage our patient flow through the buildings very carefully and have implemented advanced infection control procedures throughout our buildings.
All staff and clinicians that see patients wear personal protective equipment (PPE). All staff (clinical and non-clinical) have been trained how to put on and take off PPE and check their own temperatures when entering the building. Any member of staff with a temperature of 37.8 degrees or higher, a new cough or loss of taste and smell is sent home to self-isolate along with their family members until they are tested.
During this time, we have also telephoned our patients who are aged 80 years and over to see how they have been coping with the restrictions of lock down. We have referred those who need support to our social prescriber for both support and signposting. Doing this we identified a number of elderly patients with caring responsibilities that we were not aware of but whom needed some extra support at this time and again our social prescriber and the British Red Cross have helped us deliver this. We have also contacted our known carers to make sure they are safe and identify if they too need any extra support at this time.
Other News
Whilst we have been dealing with and working through the Pandemic, we have had also continued to operate “business as usual”. We have contacted patients via social media as well as SMS messaging to advise that we are open and that they should still contact us to discuss their health needs. Particular attention has been given to seeking medical advice regarding children who may be unwell or if there are any changes (for example lumps or bleeding) that patients are worried about.
We introduced our new phone system in March and have dealt with 36729 phone calls since then. At the start of the Pandemic, telephone call numbers drastically reduced to around 700 per day but we are now up to our usual telephone call volumes of 1300 telephone calls on a busy Monday and around 800 per day for each other weekday. All appointments need to be arranged either by telephone or on-line via Patient Access or NHS App.
We now have10747 patients with access electronically to make appointments and request repeat medications. Using the NHS App, patients can complete their ID verification so they may access their full medical record electronically, although we cannot offer this to patients using Patient Access at this time.
We see between 80 and 100 patients face to face each day. Our clinicians also undertake between 450 and 650 phone consultations or video consultations each day. Due to the risk of clinicians becoming ill or having to self-isolate, we have reduced all our appointments to bookable 48 hours in advance and this seems to be working well.
We no longer issue paper prescriptions. All patients’ prescriptions are sent electronically to the pharmacy of the patient’s choice so that the patient doesn’t need to come into the surgery building unnecessarily.
Complaints have reduced although we are still receiving 1 or 2 each week. The reasons for complaints received from mid-March to end May 2020 are:
Delay in referral being sent 1
Unhappy with management of clinical symptoms 4
Appointment moved to a different site due to COVID 1
NHS England’s delay in advising patient to shield 1
Next Steps
We are now looking at how we can continue to work and consult you safely whilst COVID is very much a part of our everyday life. We need to continue to increase and maintain our capacity for non-COVID care whilst maintaining patient and staff safety at all times. To do this we will ensure adequate PPE supplies are available to us and worn as part of our normal practice.
We need to continue to take measures to safeguard our staff’s wellbeing, as they have been working at a relentless pace since the Pandemic developed. We have an assistance programme for staff offering support and counselling if they are struggling, as well as encouraging them to speak to their manager for help. We hold daily staff zoom calls in the morning to touch base with any staff member not in work at that time or at work but feeling in need so see and hear the latest news from CGH. We have a daily staff update sent via email and hold regular quiz nights for all staff, with prizes for the highest individual and team score. We feel that morale is OK, sometimes it is tough and the team are tired so we are encouraging everyone to still have some time off.
We also need to restore training and development across all the teams. Individual managers have been continuing to undertake staff appraisals where they have capacity and training has most often switched to on-line. But we now need to plan how we can safely deliver the training needed and the development of staff going forward, especially as some have had changes to the way they work as a result of COVID.
.
We will also be building on our ability to work remotely and to use the huge advances in technology of the last 2 months to empower patients and clinicians to consult differently. We also need to take particular care that we avoid exacerbating health inequalities in our patient community within Basingstoke.
If you would like to be involved, you can join our Patient Participation Group either in person or become a member of our Virtual PPG. If you would like to help us shape and deliver services in the future, please email nhccg.cghpartnership@nhs.net and let them know.