Welcome to the latest of our weekly newsletters. We regard it as a priority that all our patients are kept fully informed of all developments at Buckshaw Village Surgery, Croston and Adlington Medical Centres, our sites at Lostock Hall and on matters affecting former Eaves Lane Surgery patients. We hope these regular updates will continue to prove useful.
Telephone System
We are delighted to confirm that subject to there being no last minute technical issues, our new phone system is set to come into operation this coming Monday, May 17.
We would like to once again apologise to patients who have had issues in respect of access to our surgeries by phone, which we fully appreciate has been more frustrating in view of the lack of ‘in person’ access to our surgeries because of restrictions imposed due to the Covid pandemic.
Many of these issues were caused by an ageing phone system with limited capacity and facilities which we inherited.
These issues were compounded last week by an external phone problem which affected incoming calls to our Buckshaw site on Friday, May 7 and Saturday, May 8, which has thankfully now been resolved.
We have also been advised that there has been a problem with the standard NHS system used by practices and surgeries across the region.
This has resulted in callers being cut off after queuing for some time and reaching the front of the call queue despite a member of staff being available to take the call.
We apologise for any problems being caused by this issue and would advise that regional IT staff are addressing the issue as a matter of urgency.
A decision was taken some time ago to invest in the upgraded system, which has been fitted over the last few weeks and which we had originally hoped to bring it into operation at the beginning of this month.
However, the essential staff training which was required before the system went live was slightly delayed, a situation over which we had no control as it was supplied by an external provider.
We are pleased to advise that this training is now being completed and we are all set for the new system to come into operation next week.
The system will operate across all the sites in the group and with a much increased capacity and far greater range of capabilities than the existing system, including caller options, a call back facility and a co-ordinated set up whereby staff can answer queries for issues across all sites.
We are very optimistic many of the issues which have caused patients frustration in recent periods will be alleviated.
We would once again like to thank all our patients for their patience and understanding during the period when the phone system has caused issues.
Any further updates will be posted on this website and on our Facebook page ‘NM Health Innovations.’
Reopening of our surgery sites
As you will have noted from national news outlets, the latest stage in the easing of restrictions imposed during the Covid outbreak will go ahead as planned next Monday, May 17.
In line with this, we are now in advanced planning for a phased reopening of our surgery sites in the coming weeks.
We hope to reintroduce more regular clinics at sites across the group and increase face to face appointments and will advise full details in the very near future.
Buckshaw Village Surgery
As we have previously reported on this website, the phased reopening of the Buckshaw Village Surgery site has coincided with a forthcoming revision of arrangements for our Covid vaccine programme which means the BVS site will soon no longer be fully dedicated to the vaccine programme as it has been since January.
We have reached an agreement to work in collaboration with the Bridgedale Primary Care Network service with the continuation of the phase two section of the vaccine rollout to be transferred to the Central Lancashire PCT’s headquarters at Jubilee House, Centurion Way, Leyland.
However, contrary to some media reports, we would stress that the vaccination rollout is continuing at our Buckshaw site for the immediate future and any bookings made for the site will be unchanged.
We will advise any further updates and full details of the new arrangements as soon as they become available via this website and our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Covid Vaccination Programme
Please be advised that all new first dose bookings are now being made via the centralised NHS booking system which can be accessed via the link https://www.nhs.uk/book-a-coronavirus-vaccination
When you access the link, please choose Buckshaw Village Surgery as your venue when prompted.
However, it is important to note that when using this link you must make appointments for both your first AND second doses, otherwise your booking will not be completed and your first dose appointment will not be made.
If you have already had your first dose with us prior to the adoption of the centralised booking system, you will be contacted by us when your second dose is due in the same way as you were for your first dose ie text or phone message.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or any particular issues you wish us to address in respect of your vaccination.
New Pharmacist
We have a new addition our medicines management team in the shape of pharmacist Ellen Murtagh, who will be based with our team at the Buckshaw site and will be dealing with medication queries and reviews.
Ellen, or Nell as she is usually known, was born in Preston but has lived in Blackburn for many years now.
She graduated from Liverpool John Moores University three years ago and has worked in community pharmacy since then.
Welcome on board Nell.