NEWS UPDATE

Horsham District Wellbeing Service

Booking Appointments Online

In addition to booking your appointments by telephone, you can now book or cancel your appointments online. You will firstly need to register by submitting your 'Registration Details' (see below) & once you have created your username/password you can access the online booking service by clicking this banner:

        (or input www.myvisiononline.co.uk into your browser)

When booking your appointment please bear in mind the following:

• For continuity of care we advise patients to book with their registered GP for all appointments.
• We are currently trialing this service so have only made a limited number of appointments available online. Please call 0844 815 1072 for a full list of appointments or if you need to be seen urgently.
• We will be auditing the use of online appointments and access the right to withdraw this service at any point if it is abused.
• Our Practice ID is H82640.

After you have submitted your registration details we will send you an email (within 2 working days) containing further details on how to create your personal username and password. 

Patient Reference Group

Holbrook Surgery has set up a Patient Reference Group (PRG) which will help provide an important communication link between the practice and our patients, supplying information on future plans, healthcare and involvement in patient surveys.  The aims of the PRG and patient surveys are to reach a wide range of patients views from across our population.

Thank you for all those who completed our online application form to become part of the PRG.

Summary Care Records (SCR)

The NHS is improving the way your health information is stored & managed through the introduction of the Summary Care Record (a secure electronic record).  It is also known as the Emergency Care Records and will hold limited essential information derived initially from your GP records, including medication & adverse reactions/allergies.  Significant medical history will be added at a later date.

The benefits are improved information flow between patient & staff, and better treatment in emergencies & out-of-hours.

All the doctors & staff at Holbrook Surgery agree with these benefits and as a result none of us have opted out. 

For more information please go to www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk or call 0845 603 8510.  You can 'opt out' of having a SCR by going into the website & completing the form found on 'Opt out form & information'.

Updating Patient Records  We are constantly updating our patient records to keep our records as accurate as possible.  If you have not completed one of our patient records forms recently, please click here to complete our online form. Thank you.

Dr Heatley was recently diagnosed with a tumour affecting his leg.  He had an operation to resect the tumour on 13 September 2011 at the Royal Marsden.  The operation went successfully & the tumour was completely removed, so no further treatment is necessary.  He has made a quick recovery & returned to work on Monday 3 October 2011.  Initially he will be running shorter surgeries.  Dr Heatley would like to thank all those who have sent their wishes. They have helped him during these difficult times.

Dr Heath has reduced his working hours from April 2011.  Patients registered with Dr Heath are encouraged to see Dr Singh when Dr Heath is not available.

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.

GP Registrars  Dr Camilla Anderson joined us in August 2011 for 1 year to complete her GP training (ST3).  She graduated from Southampton University medical school & spent her 1st 2 years of GP training at the Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Community Pharmacy Review  This a service available with your local pharmacy.  It works by you taking all of your medication along to the pharmacy to discuss and try to bring all of your medication into line so that it expires at the same time. This may necessitate your pharmacy asking the surgery for a script for an odd amount of medication so that they all expire together, which would mean only one trip to collect your prescription for the relevant period.

The pharmacy should mark this request for the attention of Dona Cox (Deputy Practice Manager) at Holbrook Surgery, who will deal with the request and all of your medications will then expire at the same time.

New Hospital Appointments  When you are referred to the hospital using the Choose and Book system, you will be issued with a print out which has your ‘unique booking reference number’ and a password.  With this information you can contact the hospital which you have chosen to make an appointment.  It is very important that you keep this appointment as the hospital now has an 18 week time frame to see and, if necessary, treat you within.   If you do not attend the appointment the referral will be cancelled and you will need to contact the surgery to start the process again.   However, if you need to change your appointment time you may find that you are advised to come back to the surgery to be referred again.

If you encounter any problems with your appointments contact the hospital Patient Advice and Liaison Service manager (PALS).   You will need to telephone the main switch board of the Hospital you have chosen and they will either put you through to PALS or give you their direct line.

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.

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