WINSCOMBE & BANWELL FAMILY PRACTICE NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION SERVICE (EPS) : SIGN UP AT YOUR LOCAL PHARMACY NOW
All GP Practices are moving to a free new paperless electronic system which sends your prescription to a pharmacy
of your choice. This means that you will no longer receive a paper prescription if you’ve chosen to sign up to
EPS. The pharmacy will receive your prescription direct to their computer system for dispensing and your
medication will be dispensed in the same way as before. Our local pharmacies have already signed up a significant
number of patients for EPS. If you wish to nominate a pharmacy for receiving your prescriptions electronically, just
ask at the Pharmacy of your choice.
On any occasion when you might want a paper prescription instead, this can be generated so there remains
flexibility in the system.
We went live with the EPS system at the Practice at the end of November. This is a major change in the way we
process prescription requests so please bear with us while the new system beds down….. and please
remember that you need to allow two full working days for your prescription to be
processed and signed by the GP.
NEW GP : DR. RUTH COLSON
We are delighted that Dr. Ruth Colson, who trained with us as our GP Registrar, has joined the Practice on a
permanent basis as a Salaried GP, routinely working on a Monday and a Wednesday. Many patients will already
know Dr. Colson from her days as a GP Registrar at the Practice. Dr. Colson replaces Dr. Wendy Fletcher, who left
the Practice in July.
OUR NEW NURSE PRACTITIONER : ALEXANDRA (ALEX) RICHARDS
We have appointed the first Nurse Practitioner to our clinical team, Alex Richards. She already has considerable
experience in this role from her previous Practice. A Nurse Practitioner is a trained specialist nurse who has
undertaken additional education in order to provide advanced nursing care, and to prescribe medication. Many
Practices across the country have had Nurse Practitioners working alongside GPs very successfully for some time.
Alex can provide treatment and advice for many problems for which patients may have seen a doctor in the
past. She has expertise in both management of common illnesses and also long term conditions. (One thing a
Nurse Practitioner cannot do however is to sign a Sick Certificate so patients still need to see their GP for this.) The
sorts of conditions that Alex can help with include : poorly children; ear, nose & throat problems; skin rashes; vaginal
and period problems; exacerbation of asthma/COPD; leg swelling; sinus infection; chest infection; eye infection;
cysts and boils; cellulitis; warfarin management; travel advice and immunisations.
When you phone in for an appointment, the Receptionist may well seek, in a sensitive manner, information that will
guide the Receptionist as to whether Alex would be an appropriate clinician for you to see : it’s important that we
use our clinical resources in the most appropriate way. However, please be assured that you will never be asked to
share anything that you don’t want to.
Although Alex has only been with us since October, she has already received a lot of very positive feedback from
patients and is building up something of a following…..
YOUR PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP
We’ve had a Patient Participation Group (PPG) for some years, and in recent months have been having a recruitment
drive to encourage some new faces onto the Patient Participation core group which meets with representatives of
the Practice every couple of months in the evening. The stalwarts who have been carrying the PPG flame for some
years have done a sterling job and we need others to step forward to pick up the baton (to mix metaphors!) As a
result, there was an excellent turnout at the recent PPG core group which was attended by a number of new
additions to the PPG core group.
The next meeting of the PPG core group is scheduled for Thursday 28th January 2016. It is vital that the PPG is
driven by patients so if you have any issues that you would like to see the PPG raise at their regular meetings with
the Practice, please email your contributions to this email adminwbfp@gp-L81021.nhs.uk