NEWS UPDATE
New Out of hours number
Out-of-Hours emergency service If you think you need urgent advice when the surgery is closed, NHS Direct may be able to help on 0845 46 47, but if you are sure that you need medical advice from a doctor about something that cannot wait until normal working hours, please ring 0300 130 1313. Your call will be taken by Harmoni, who will arrange for a doctor to ring you back and advise how the problem should be dealt with.
Hib Vaccine for young children (September 2007 to March 2009)
Following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), a Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) booster will be offered to young children who have not previously received one, so that these children are protected in line with older and younger children. The Hib vaccination catch-up programme will start on 10 September 2007 and continue until 3 March 2009. It will be targeted at children born between 13 March 2003 to 3 September 2005 These children will receive the vaccine as part of their pre-school booster or as a separate vaccine if their pre-school booster has already been given. For more information visit www.immunisation.nhs.uk
GP Registrar We currently have Dr. Ganga Singh with us. He is training to be a GP & will be with us until April 2008.
Junior Doctors We will soon be having post-graduate doctors sitting in with the GPs as part of their foundation training
Choose & Book is the new government system for giving hospital appointments. When the doctor decides you need to see a hospital specialist there will be up to 4 different hospital trusts which you can choose to go to. You will be given a sheet of paper either there and then or be instructed to pick one up later that day giving details of the hospitals & a central contact number. When at home you then phone through & book yourself into outpatients and choose the date & time to suit you.
REACH days You may have noticed that every 2-3 months we and all the other surgeries in Horsham shut for the afternoon to allow for education of the complete primary care team. This is another of the NHS changes and we at Holbrook have found it useful, so for instance on one session we went through all our safety, fire and emergency procedures.
Teenage Health The practice nurses have been running a teenage health clinic for the last four years. This is to provide confidential advice on issues such as contraception, smoking, developmental and social problems. They operate a 'Pass card' system whereby teenagers can get an urgent appointment. Please ask at the reception for one of these cards if aged between 12 and 18.
Suggestions Box we have a box and feedback sheets – please feel free to let us know what you do and don’t like. Your views are important and we’ll try to improve any areas that you are unhappy about.