Strawberry Gardens Medical Practice

Strawberry Gardens Medical Practice
Newsletter
Summer Edition
Newletter 5
July 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this issue:
Intro
Website
Team update
New and student
Doctors
Health promotion
dates
Missed
Appointments
Patient
Participation
Group
New Premises in
2012
Surgery services
Home visits
Travel
Information
Local events
Useful contact
numbers
Your comments
Lancaster City
Council Summer
Activities
Strawberry Gardens
Medical Practice
377 Heysham Road
Heysham
Morecambe
LA3 2BP
Tel: 01524 850999
Fax: 01524 855688
Summer’s here!
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
4
4
4
5
This is the fifth edition of our Practice Newsletter – we hope you are finding them
useful, and as always are grateful for hearing any comments you may have.
Don’t forget to have a look at our website www.strawberrygardens.nhs.uk for
further information about the Surgery.
Happy Retirement!
Barbara Dawson, Practice Nurse,
will be leaving us in June to start
her well earned retirement.
Barbara has worked here for 9 years
and she will be greatly missed by
the members of staff and patients
who have been cared for by Barbara
for a long time. We will all miss
her very much!
Welcome
We would like to welcome Kim
Heppell-Mooney, a highly skilled
nurse with a special interest in
respiratory disease management,
who joins us at the end of June to
take over from Barbara. We hope
you will be patient with Kim while
she settles in and gets used to our
systems in particular our new IT
system which is being upgraded on
30th June.
Welcome also to our new
receptionist Gemma who
commenced at the beginning of
June.
Surgery Hours:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
New/Student Doctors
Team update:
8.00am – 6.30pm
8.00am – 6.30pm
7.45am – 8.00pm
8.00am – 8.00pm (closed 12.30pm – 1.30pm)
8.00am – 6.30pm
We are a training practice for GP’s which
means we support newly qualified doctors
in their GP training. We also have 3rd, 4th
and 5th year Medical Students throughout
the year.
Health Promotion Dates:
August 2011
1st – 7th
World Breastfeeding Week
September 2011
4th – 11th
12th – 18th
29th
Fybromyalgia Awareness Week
Migraine Awareness Week
National Blood Pressure
Awareness Week
Lymphatic Cancer Awareness
Week
World Heart Day
Missed Appointments
April
May
June
79
85
89
Missed appointments deprive other
patients from seeing a Doctor urgently.
Please ensure you inform us if you are
unable to attend. ** Patients who
frequently miss appointments may be
removed from our list **
**Please note our late appointments may be offered on other days when GPs are on leave.
Strawberry Gardens Medical Practice is moving in 2012
We are pleased to announce that in 2012 we plan to move into a brand new purpose built
building, on the Douglas Park site located on Heysham Road (opposite Heysham Health
Centre) and the work has just commenced. The new building will be called ‘Heysham
Primary Care Centre’ and it is hoped that it will be completed towards Autumn 2012.
We will be sharing these premises with Coastal Medical Group; however we will continue to
be a separate practice. The building will house a pharmacy and other PCT services
including community nursing. Further information will be available in the upcoming weeks,
however if you have any questions regarding this please let us know and we will do our best
to answer them.
Patient Participation Group
We would like to know how we can improve our service to you and how you perceive our surgery
and staff.
To help us with this, we are setting up a virtual patient representation group so that you can
have your say. We will ask the members of this representative group some questions from time
to time, such as what you think about our opening times or the quality of the care or service you
received. We will contact you via email and keep our surveys succinct so it shouldn’t take too
much of your time.
We aim to gather around a hundred patients from as broad a spectrum as possible to get a truly
representative sample. We need young people, workers, retirees, people with long term
conditions and people from non-British ethnic groups.
If you are happy for us to contact you occasionally by email please see the link on the right side
of the website homepage (www.strawberrygardens.nhs.uk) or ask at Reception for a Sign-up
Sheet.
Recent suggestions received from patients
Car Park
We received a request to improve the white lines in the car park to enable more people
to park. In view of our planned move we do not feel we can justify this expense at the
moment but do appreciate your comments on this. We have asked staff to take care
and minimise the space they take up in the car park to try and avoid parking problems
for our patients
Open surgeries
We have been asked why we cannot provide sit and wait surgeries. We have tried this in
the past and unfortunately we were overwhelmed and it did not work. We may consider
trying again in the future.
Travel Information
The Practice Nurses here at Strawberry Gardens are specially trained in travel advice and education –
this includes vaccinations (recommended and compulsory requirements), anti-malarial prophylaxis,
general health and well being. If you are unsure about whether or not you need vaccinations etc for
your forthcoming holiday or trip abroad, please ask at Reception for an enquiry form which can be
completed and left so the nurses can go through your records and see what you may need.
Ideally we would like to see you at least 8 weeks before your departure as the type of
vaccinations you may need will depend on your destination, type of trip and how long you will be
away. We may also need to order the vaccinations in to the Surgery.
Please note that some vaccination schedules require more than one injection often spread out over a
period of time and there may also be a charge, so please check when booking an appointment.
A few of the more common vaccinations are:
Hepatitis A
Transmitted via contaminated water and food. It attacks the liver and causes jaundice and fatigue.
The first vaccine needs to be given at least 2 weeks prior to travel and a second is required 6 months
later. This gives protection for 20 years.
Typhoid
Also transmitted by contaminated water and food, this causes high temperatures, abdominal pain
and diarrhoea. This vaccine needs to be given at least 1 week prior to travel and gives 3 years
protection.
Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio
These vaccinations can be given as one combined injection to give protection from all three diseases.
They are usually given as part if the UK vaccination schedule starting in childhood and only need
boosting if clinically indicated. We will advise you on this.
Local Events
24th July
6th – 7th August
27th August
Every Monday
Every Wednesday
(This is just a selection – more can be found at www.lancaster.gov.uk/events)
Catch The Wind Kite Festival – Morecambe Promenade
Sandcastle Festival – Morecambe Promenade
All The Fun of the Fair – Happy Mount Park – Hook a Duck, Coconut Shy, and
childrens performers – contact Morecambe Visitors Centre 01524 582808
Walking to Health at Williamsons Park – Friendly walking group meets at noon
every Monday at Wyresdale Rd entrance. 50 minute walk – free of charge. All ages
and fitness levels welcome. Contact Donna Swarbrick (LCC) 01524 847540 ext 206
ACTIVE HEALTH WEDNESDAY WALK – MORECAMBE PROMENADE
Meet 11am, on the prom at the Battery 60 minute walk – free of charge. All ages &
fitness levels welcome. Contact Donna Swarbrick (LCC) 01524 847540 ext 206
*Please note: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information listed is correct. However we advise that
you check the details when booking or before attending an event or activity.
Useful Contact Numbers/Websites:
Royal Lancaster Infirmary: 01524 69544
Queen Victoria Centre
01524 405700
NHS Direct
0845 46 47
Bay Urgent Care (out of hours service) 0300 123 1144
Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) 01539 795497
www.patient.co.uk
Comprehensive health information and links
www.healthinmylanguage.com Translated information about health and health services
Complaints and Compliments
We take pride in our work and aim to provide the best service for our patients. Our team
all work hard to support the practice in this aim and it is nice to receive feedback when
we succeed. However, we do accept there are occasions when we don’t always get
everything right and we still require feedback to ensure we learn how to improve.
The Practice does have a complaints process that you will find in our brochure or
alternatively you may ask at Reception if you would like a copy of our complaints policy.
We would like to hear from you - please write any comments you have below, and return it to us:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Compliment/Complaint/Suggestion (please cross out as appropriate)