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
Our new telephone system is now up and running across all our sites.
All patients are asked to call the new number 01772 376600 for all calls and you will be redirected accordingly by our system.
This is especially important as there has been an ongoing problem with the old system which has resulted in those calling the previous surgery numbers to be cut off on some occasions, often when they reach the front of the queue.
This is an external fault beyond our control which is being addressed by regional IT staff but has continued to occur.
To avoid this issue, please use the new number at all times.
Covid Vaccination Programme
We are hosting a drop-in Astra Zeneca Covid vaccination clinic at Buckshaw Village Surgery tomorrow, Friday, June 11.
The clinic, which will run on the day from 8am until 5.30pm or whenever the doses run out, is open to anyone over 40 who has not yet had a Covid jab or anyone who had their first Astra Zeneca jab more than eight weeks ago and would like to receive their second jab early.
You do not need to make an appointment and the clinic is open to anyone from any area and will operate on a first come, first served basis.
Please come down if you can and take your chance to join the millions who have already been vaccinated and let's work together to beat the pandemic.
Our Covid team look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Looking ahead, the normal vaccination clinics are due to be moved to Jubilee House at Leyland in the near future as part of a new collaborative arrangement with a neighbouring NHS practice group.
Preliminary arrangements for the transfer have now been completed and we hope to advise a date for the move shortly.
However, until further notice the clinics will continue to run at our vaccination hub Buckshaw Village Surgery.
Minor Ailments Service
We now have a new service which is currently being trialled whereby one of our in-house pharmacists is able to offer patients advice and information on treatments and medication for minor ailments.
This involves a weekly clinic by telephone appointment and is aimed at patients experiencing new health issues rather than longstanding or existing complaints.
The service is intended to offer a swift and reliable service to prevent those with minor complaints having to wait for longer periods for GP or nurse practitioner appointments.
Please call our usual number on 01772 376600 for details.
NHS Patient Data Opt Out
You may well have seen reports in the national and local media about Government proposals to allow the NHS to extract patient data from their file.
The NHS have said the data will be used for a “wide variety of research and analysis to help run and improve health and care services.”
However, many patients have expressed concern about allowing this and have inquired about the possibility of ‘opting out’ of giving permission for their data to be extracted.
You can do so by visiting the appropriate section of the NHS website which you can access via the following link: digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out
This is a simple process and takes less than five minutes provided you have a small amount of basic personal information to hand ie name, date of birth and postcode.
The NHS website also contains background on the issue and should provide all the general information you require.