For patients registered with the Spinney
Education evening for
Spinney Patients
Wednesday 28th October
7.30pm – 9pm
Methodist Church Hall
The Waits, St.Ives
Cambs PE27 5BY
An Evening about Strokes
Dr Chris Allen – Consultant
Dr Meena Kanagasabapathy – GP
Spinney
What is a stroke?
How you can reduce your risk
of a stroke
Common problems after a
stroke
Life after a stroke
In the UK, strokes are a major health
problem. Every year, around 110,000
people have a stroke in England and it
is the third largest cause of death,
after heart disease and cancer. The
brain injuries caused by strokes are a
major cause of adult disability in the
UK.
Come and hear our experts talk about these
issues and much more!
AGM & refreshments
FLU CLINICS
This year we are sending out
appointments to patients who are
eligible. We are holding two large
Flu sessions.
Saturday 17th October (am) and
Thursday 22nd October (pm)
If you are eligible you will be sent a
letter inviting you for a flu and
possibly also a pneumonia
vaccination.
STAFF NEWS
Halyna our health care assistant
had her baby daughter in June
and will be returning to work next
June. Laura Hylton has been
helping us by working with us, and
Janet Ireland has been doing extra
shifts to help with the workload
Ellie Hales joined the Reception
Team in August and is learning the
intricacies of general practice
administration very quickly.
Dr Danielle Witherick left the
Spinney in September and we
have recruited a local GP as a
locum to our team. Dr. Carolann
Walcott is a very experienced GP
and will be working in the
consulting room on the first floor.
From Dr Mark Sanderson
Since February 2010 I have been
part-time at the Spinney, the rest of
the week working for
Cambridgeshire PCT and now NHS
England. From 13 October I will be
taking 6 months leave from the
Spinney as a sabbatical to spend
time working with NHS England
nationally developing systems to
support GP practices. I’m sorry to
be taking some time away when all
my colleagues are working so hard
but I would like to take the
opportunity to be involved in some
of the national work on developing
primary care.
Dr Lynda Brown who was the senior
partner at Ramsey Health Centre
will be my replacement while I’m
away. She will work the same days
and see my patients. I hope you
don’t need to see a GP while I’m
away, but if you do Dr Brown is
excellent.
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“Why has my GP changed so much
in the last few years”
At the last Patients’ Association
meeting Dr Sanderson presented a
talk about changes in the GP
workforce nationally. We have
had lots of requests to publish this.
Here is a short summary of his talk:
At The Spinney we are very aware
that we have had a larger than
desired turnover of GPs in the last
few years. However this is
happening nationally as the
numbers of GPs, and their working
patterns, have changed. By 2013
the number of GPs had declined to
59.6 per 100,000 people from a
peak of 61.5 in 2009, with the GP
workforce failing to keep up with
population growth and increases in
life expectancy. The national
picture hides marked local and
regional variation – a number of
areas across the country are under
doctored, e.g. the North West has
63.4 GPs per 100,000 compared to
Thames Valley with 81.5.
The proportion of GPs aged 40 and
over is due to increase over the
next 15 years, with the median
retirement age for GPs being 59.
Eleven former PCT areas have
more than 35% of GPs aged over
55. The fill rates for GP trainee
programmes vary from 100% in
some areas to as low as 36% in
others. Last year the average fill
rate for trainee programmes was
76%. Nationally there is a
programme to increase GP
recruitment and retention.
At the Spinney we are dedicated
to finding the best doctors we can,
but hope you can appreciate that
that has got more difficult over the
years.
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Surgery half day closing
24th November 2015
27th January 2016
23rd November 2016
The Surgery will be closed on the
above dates for staff training. If you
require urgent medical attention
your call will be answered by
Urgent Care Cambridgeshire.
The Surgery also closes 1-2 pm
Tuesdays and Thursdays. There is a
number for urgent medical
attention only. Please do not use
this number for routine enquiries,
appointments and prescriptions.
THINK PHARMACY FIRST
The Pharmacy First scheme is
available to adults who are entitled
to free prescriptions on the grounds
of low income & to their children.
People over 60 are also entitled to
use the scheme.
Free advice & treatment is
available for all sorts of minor
health conditions such as bites,
stings, chicken pox, colds, colic,
cold sores, conjunctivitis,
constipation, coughs, cystitis,
dermatitis, eczema, diarrhoea, ear
wax, fungal & yeast infections,
muscular aches & pains, genital
thrush, hay fever, head lice,
heartburn & indigestion, mouth
ulcers, nappy rash, oral thrush,
threadworms, warts & verrucae.
Pick up an information leaflet from
the local pharmacy.
REDUCING PRESSURE ON A&E
There has been a lot of national
publicity about pressure on A&E
departments and we would like to
provide information about other
services that are available. A&E is
for “accidents” and “emergencies”
and should not be used for minor
problems.
We are able to treat minor injuries
at the surgery, these include:Cuts and bruises
Bites (animal and insect bites)
Blows to the head (no loss of
consciousness)
Burns and scalds
Eye injuries
Foreign bodies (including foreign
bodies in the eye)
Injuries needing more than first aid
Minor trauma to hands, limbs and
feet
Sprains and strains
Wound infections
Please phone reception on 0844
4773603 or 01480 495347 and
inform a member of staff that you
have had a minor injury and we will
ensure that you are seen as quickly
as possible.
Shingles immunisation programme
Over 50,000 cases of Shingles occur
in older people aged 70 years and
above each year. The Department
of Health introduced the national
shingles immunisation programme
for people aged 70-79 to help
protect those who are most at risk
from shingles and its complications.
As the programme is being
phased in over a few years, not
everyone will be eligible for the
vaccine this year. If you are eligible
for the vaccination, we will contact
you but if you wish to make an
appointment sooner rather than
later, and you are eligible then
please do so.
Vaccine groups are defined
by age on 1st September
The vaccine is currently being
offered to those people who
were aged 70, 71, 72, 78 or 79
on 1st September 2015.
It is easily worked out – if you were
born between
2nd September 1942 and 1st
September 1945
or 2nd September 1935 and 1st
September 1937 - you are eligible.
We are not allowed to provide this
vaccination to any patients whose
birthday does not fall into these
dates, so please do not ask us.
What about people aged
under 70 or over 79 on
1st September 2015?
People under 70 will be offered the
shingles vaccine in the year
following their seventieth
birthday. From 1st September 2015
people aged 80 and over are not
part of the national
programme because the vaccine
seems to be less effective in this
age group.
Appointments - why do delays
occur to your appointment time?
! Each consultation is booked for
10 minutes. If each consultation
overruns by just 2 minutes a surgery
will be running half an hour behind
towards the end.
! Consultations can vary
considerably in length depending
on the complexity or severity of
problems being discussed
! Sometimes a patient’s condition
will require immediate hospital
admission and this takes time to
arrange
! The young, the elderly, the
chronically ill or patients with
learning difficulties may require
more time and attention
! Your Doctor will always try to run
to time, but it is not in your best
interests for a doctor to rush a
consultation, so sometimes delays
do occur.
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! We receive complaints if a GP
does not have the time to deal
with more than one problem but
we also receive complaints if a
surgery runs behind because a GP
has tried to do that. Our GPs try to
prioritise their time in the most
appropriate way and with the best
interests of all our patients in mind.
! We appreciate the problems that
delayed appointment times can
cause - we will try and tell you if a
surgery is running particularly late
so that you are free to speak to
reception about rearranging your
appointment if necessary
individual patient since 4th March
2015
We publish and promote our online
services to our patients through our
website, waiting room leaflets,
screens, posters and by discussion
with the Spinney Patients
Association
By March 31st 2016 online access
to medical records must provide
patients with access to all coded
information held within their
record. We will be working with our
clinical supplier and NHS England
to prepare for this and ensure the
service is in place by that date.
FEES
MOBILE NUMBERS & EMAIL
ADDRESSES
We still need up to date mobile
numbers and e mail addresses
(where available) for as many
patients as possible. You can do
this on our website, when you
attend for an appointment, or drop
us an e mail at noreply.spinney@nhs.net Please do
not use this e mail for medical
enquiries or for passing messages
on to GPs – it is not monitored on a
daily basis.
There are some services such as
private forms and certificates, as
well as some drugs and
vaccinations which are not
covered on the NHS. For these
items, certain fees are chargeable
to the patient or their employer. For
full details of fees please see the
schedule in the waiting room, or on
our website. Some of these fees
attract VAT. When submitting a
form to be completed please
enquire about the cost to ensure
you are aware of this. Please also
note that general medical services
will take priority over private
services.
Access to medical records online
The Surgery currently offers patients'
facilities to book, view, amend,
cancel and print appointments on
line. We also offer the facility for all
patients to order online, view and
print a list of their repeat
prescriptions. The Surgery has
offered patients the facility to view
online, export or print any summary
information from their record,
relating to medications, allergies,
adverse reactions and other items
agreed between the practice and
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Did you know…?
...you can self-refer to the Stop
Smoking Service without seeing a
doctor?
You can access the free service run
by Our Health Care Assistants.