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DOCTOR
NEWS KINGSMEAD
SURGERY PATIENT PARTICIPATION
GROUP (PPG) Danebridge Group Practice has now
formed a Patient Participation Group, which is a group of volunteers
drawn from and representing the views of the 23500 patients of the
practice, together with representatives of the doctors, nurses and
staff. Patient Participation
Groups are being established nationally and 22 are now functioning in
Central and The Danebridge PPG is the first in
the Northwich area. It is
a means of tapping into the skills, ideas and experience of the
patients, whilst extending their involvement in the activities of the
practice and engaging them in their own health care. The group is
intending also to contribute to the continuous improvement of the
services provided by the practice. The Danebridge PPG was formed at a
well attended public meeting held on Thursday 11th October 2007 at St.
Wilfrid’s School. A
working party had been meeting since March 2007 to prepare the ground
and to write a constitution. This preparation enabled the Participation
Group to get off to a good start. Members
of the group are: Patients:- Tony
Chaplin (Chairman), Cheryl
Williams (Secretary), Ian
Dean (Treasurer), Greta
Fox, Alan Dickinson, Hilary Perrett, Jane Castle, Christine Pickthall,
and Julie
Rothwell. Danebridge representatives:- Drs Rossall and Matthews, Kathryn Cook, Gill Naylor Members can be contacted via the
surgery receptions at Danebridge, Kingsmead or Sandiway.
Views concerning the operation of the practice, ideas for developing
services and other contributions towards improving the well being of all
patients in the practice are welcomed by the group. The PPG cannot be concerned with
individual personal problems and complaints. These must be addressed to
the medical professionals or the practice management.
Any patients of the practice, who requires further information
regarding the PPG, should contact a member of the group. CHRONIC DISEASE
MANAGEMENT CLINICS Over
the coming months Danebridge will be introducing more Chronic Disease
Management (CDM) clinics, this will include high blood pressure, heart
and respiratory diseases. The
Clinics will be run by our Practice Nurses who hold Diploma’s in CDM.
The clinics will allow the
Nurses to
spend dedicated time with you to successfully manage your disease,
ensuring all your blood tests are up to date and review your medication.
This will be a change for you initially, in that you will no
longer need to see the Doctor for your CDM review. However, should the
Nurse feel that you need to see a Doctor, or you feel you would like to
see the Doctor following your review, an appointment will be made for
you. PRIVATE
MEDICAL REPORTS
These are
reports compiled from your medical records for purposes such as life
assurance, mortgages etc. A
number of patients may be puzzled why such reports may apparently take a
long time to complete. The
explanation may be two fold. Firstly,
it is not uncommon to take up to one month between you signing the
consent form/request for information and the surgery receiving the
documentation. Secondly,
this type of work is NOT core NHS work i.e. it is PRIVATE
work undertaken by your Doctor in their own time and not their usual
surgery NHS time. Thus, it
isn’t actually a patients right to have such forms completed, but a
private request from the insurers, rather than subjecting their client
to a much more expensive medical examination.
Please try to be patient – NHS work does and must always take
priority over private work. Similarly,
this also includes any forms that you, the patient, bring into the
surgery for your Doctor to complete and it is why we advise you that it
can take up to 2 weeks for completion (this may also explain why the
B.M.A. suggests fees for the filling out of various claim
forms/certificates etc. since it is NOT standard NHS work). CONTINUATION SICK NOTES Patients
requiring a continuation of their sick note given to them by their
Doctor are requested to only contact
the surgery a couple of days before their current sick note is due to
expire. Doctors are unable
to post-date sick notes; therefore your Doctor can only issue you a new
note on the day of expiry of your current sick note.
HALF-DAY CLOSURES 2008
Danebridge,
Kingsmead and the
On
these dates all surgeries close at 1pm.
However, Danebridge and Kingsmead will re-open at 5pm for
emergencies only. During the
closed period, emergencies are dealt with by the Out of Hours Service by
telephoning: 01270
273666 QUALITY ACHIEVEMENTS We
are very proud that Danebridge Group Practice continues to be at the
forefront for the provision of quality care. In
September 2007 an audit was carried out of practices within Central and
Eastern Cheshire PCT by local Orthopaedic Consultants and Physiotherapy
specialists, who graded Danebridge as the best performing practice in
the management of musculoskeletal problems. This
follows on from the results earlier in the year confirming that we are
the only practice in Furthermore,
patient feedback has been excellent since the introduction of our new
appointment system in April 2007. Continuity
with the same doctor is seen as a priority and, the new system has
enabled more people to both book ahead and see the doctor of their
choice. We are continuing to
monitor demand to enable us to modify the system as needed. If
you would like to see certain topics/services/ailments covered in the
next newsletter, please inform us. Any
suggestions and ideas would be greatly
welcome. We can only give
you the information if we know you want it! PATIENT FEEDBACK We
welcome patient feedback and are very grateful for your comments,
whether they are of criticism, gratitude or suggestion.
Please feel free to contact us via e-mail at danebridge@gp-n81087.nhs.uk,
post or fax us with your comments, or speak to a member of the
management team.
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