Urgent Prescription Requests

We will be changing the way we process on the day/urgent prescription requests from 31^st August 2020.

We are often asked to raise these urgently, often at very short notice, due to patients failing to order in advance. This impacts greatly on our workload because each repeat prescription request has to be checked personally by us to ensure it is safe to issue. If you ask us to do a repeat prescription on the same day it means that it has to be handled separately from the normal requests, and this means we have to take time out of our schedule to check it. Doing it this way increases the chances of a mistake being made and also can also lead to appointments times running late. Asking us to do a prescription on the same day is, in effect, jumping the queue. You may think ‘but it’s just one prescription’, but we have over 13,000 patients and can have many requests per day.

At the time of writing, we are seeing an increasing number of “same day requests.” We feel this is not safe and so have changed our rules regarding medication requests.

From the 31^st August, all requests for repeat prescriptions will be subject to our “2 working days” turnaround, to ensure safety and fairness. It is your responsibility to ensure you order your repeat prescription in plenty of time.

Many medications can safely be missed for a few days if you do run out.

There are, of course, a few medications that must not be missed (such as Insulin and anti-epileptic drugs), and if you run out of one of these, then please explain this to our staff when you ring. We will issue such prescriptions as a one-off on the day in the first instance, but you will be asked to ensure you do not run out again and will be directed to this message on our website.

Please respect our staff if they explain this new process to you – they are working under instruction from the doctors and we are all doing our best to ensure safety of all our patients.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Doctors

Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

The UK has now moved from the containment phase to the delay phase on managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you have either –

a new continuous cough

AND/OR

a high temperature – 37.8 or over

AND/OR

Loss of taste/smell

-then please DO NOT come to the surgery in person. Please DO NOT telephone us to ask for an appointment or to speak to a GP as we will be unable to assist you. You need to stay at home and self-isolate for 10 days as per the latest government instruction.

If you become unwell during the 10 days and feel that you cannot cope with the symptoms, or you still feel unwell after the 7 days and require further medical advice, please click on the link below which will take you directly to the NHS 111 Coronavirus service online for further guidance and support.

NHS 111 Coronavirus/COVID-19

There will be significant changes to General Practice in the coming weeks/months to help deal with COVID-19 pandemic. We understand that these changes may seem difficult at first for patients, as well as the staff here at New Road, who are trying to implement these rapid changes as smoothly as possible for patients. We will update our website and telephone messages regularly as the situation changes.

We ask that you do not come to the surgery, until further notice, unless you have been asked to do so by a clinician.

-We will be suspending all online booking of appointments and all routine appointments will be book on the day only.

-We will be asking ALL patients to move to electronic prescriptions and you will be asked to nominate a pharmacy for your prescription to be sent direct to.

-We are implementing alternative methods for you to speak with a clinician, instead of face to face in the first instance:

* you can call us to arrange a telephone consultation (how our current 'duty doctor' triage works)

* online consultation ... please click on the 'online consult' banner below to access this method of communicating with a clinician online

* video consultation- which may be more appropriate for some consultations

BEWARE OF SCAMMERS

We have been made aware that our patients are receiving phone calls, texts and letters from fraudsters. They will try and obtain your personal details and in particular your NHS number.

Scammers are sophisticated, opportunistic and will try many ways to get the information they want. They often target the vulnerable.

If you are suspicious, do not give any details over the phone, hang up and then ring your GP Practice to confirm.

Opening Hours: 

* The Surgery will be open bank holiday Friday 8th May from 8.30am - 18.30pm for telephone advise and video consultation.

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