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We would like to take this opportunity of wishing you and all others in your household our very good wishes for the New Year. Please do pass this letter on to anyone else at your address who is registered with our practices – we have tried to save on resources by only sending one copy to each address or family listed. This letter contains some important information about our practice and arrangements in coming weeks.
As you may have been aware, 2010 has proved quite a difficult year for our practice – we have done our best to ensure that services have remained accessible and appropriate but we have been frustrated by the loss of a number of doctors and one of our nurses during the last 12 months.
Other changes are also taking place in the way that the practice operates from Spring onwards… I will write with more news in due course.. as a result we are currently discussing the types and roles of potential new doctors and nurses on a permanent contract. In the meantime we have a team comprising of regular sessional doctors. Many of these you may already have met – all patients are now registered with “the practice” rather than with a specific medical practitioner – hence you may choose who you wish to consult and all medical records are, of course, kept updated so that information is available to whoever you consult at the practice.
While Dr Higson normally expands his availability to enable patients to be seen quickly, he and his wife (Sister Elaine) will be on a vacation between the 9th and 29th January 2011. This means that while there should be sufficient surgery sessions available to meet normal demand, the current flu outbreak may put undue pressure on appointments during January. May we ask if you could consider WHETHER YOUR APPOINTMENT is truly necessary for the month of January… if you only require medications, then these could be requested without an appointment. If you need your blood pressure checked, then why not use the machines in the waiting room? If you think you have the “flu”, please consult NHS direct (0845 46 47) or a pharmacist (most advice is to stay at home and take pain killers and plenty of fluid). Routine vaccinations for children or adults could be deferred to February. If you can help in this way, then we can make sure that appointments are available for those who genuinely cannot wait. Don’t forget, there are always out of hours services available after 630pm and at weekends. May we thank you in anticipation of your kind assistance in decreasing demand in January.
Despite what is written above, we would like to invite patients between the ages of 40 and 74 to come and have a “vascular checkup” with our health care assistant – Debbie Miller – who will check your risks of heart disease or stroke – we will then report back to you with various options you can take to improve your calculated risk. Phone for an appointment stating it is for a “Vascular Checkup”.
All our staff would like to join me in thanking you for your many kind good wishes, cards and gifts which were all gratefully received and appreciated. We hope that you will help us to support our chosen charity (Tadworth Court) in 2011. Kind regards and very good wishes Dr Nigel Higson and Team |
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