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.
Wearing of Face Masks
You will be aware that from last Monday, July 19, the Government lifted most of the remaining regulations brought in to address the Covid pandemic.
This included the compulsory wearing of face coverings in workplaces and indoor areas.
However, we are still seeing rising cases of Covid-19 in our communities and in hospital admissions, and as health professionals, it is our duty to ensure patients and our staff remain protected.
With this in mind, we wish to make it clear that despite the changes coming into force this week, the current IPC guidance will remain in place in all our primary care practices.
All patients and visitors to our surgeries must therefore continue to wear a face covering, ie surgical mask, at all times, and are also instructed to maintain social distancing rules by staying at least 2m away from other people wherever possible.
Please note any aggression or abuse directed towards our staff on this issue will not be tolerated and any incident will be dealt with under NHS Zero Tolerance processes.
We are sure you understand the reasons for applying the above conditions and we would like to thank all our patients and other visitors to our surgeries in anticipation of your co-operation and support.
Phone Issues
We have, in common with many other organisations, been badly affected because of staff being instructed to isolate following contact with Covid cases.
The situation has now reached unprecedented levels we have not experienced at any previous time during the pandemic and staff numbers are now significantly down on our normal levels at all sites across the group.
This has had some effect on appointments with clinicians but as the issue has also affected a number of our reception staff, patients may have experienced longer wait times than normal in answering phone inquiries.
In addition, a technical issue involving all NHS phone systems in the area in the last few days has caused further problems for callers including a disruption to our phone diversion system and some callers being cut off.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by these issues and would like to reassure patients that we are doing everything possible to maintain as near to a normal service as possible.
We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
Covid Vaccination Programme
We are continuing with our vaccination programme as swiftly as we can.
All clinics are now taking place at our new vaccine hub at Jubilee House, Lancashire Business Park, Centurion Way, Leyland, Lancs PR26 6TR.
The vaccine hub is hosting walk-in clinics today, July 22, and also tomorrow and Saturday and from Wednesday to Saturday every week until further notice.
Each clinic is open until 8pm - last arrivals 7.40pm please - with a break for lunch from 1pm-2pm.
Anyone aged 18 or over is welcome as are 16 and 17 year olds if they meet JCVI criteria.
First or second dose vaccination are being offered but second doses must be at least eight weeks after first dose.
No appointments are necessary and the clinics are offering both Pfizer and Astra Zeneca jabs with a full Clinician vaccination model.
Average wait time is less than a minute, though there is a post-vaccination wait of 15 minutes.
There is plentiful free and fully stewarded parking available.
Further updates on clinics will be posted on our website, Facebook and other social media pages as soon as these are available so please continue to monitor these channels.
With regards to phase three of the rollout, which involves a booster Covid jab, plans are well in advance within the NHS in respect of this.
It is provisionally planned that the rollout will take place in early autumn using the cohort system which has been used for the first two phases of the vaccination programme.
However, full details and dates have yet to be finalised and as soon as this information is known, we will advise all our patients immediately.
Population Health Management
Population Health Management (PHM) is a technique which is increasingly being utilised by local health and care partnerships.
PHM looks at lifestyles, diet and the environment in which patients live and examines the many healthcare issues which result from this, many of which are preventable.
Taking this information, PHM tries to tailor better care and support and utilise resources more widely.
It is hoped that ways can be found to stop people becoming unwell in the first place, or, where this isn’t possible, improving the way the system works together to support them.
Here at NM Health Innovations, we are already involved in the PHM programme and we have specialised clinicians who can meet patients and look at these issues with them.
We will advise more details in the coming weeks but please contact us if you are interested in finding out more.