Deerness Park Patient Newsletter – May 2023
Welcome to our first edition of our patient newsletter!
We thought now would be a good time to communicate some of the changes that have been made recently at Deerness Park and wanted to reach as many of you as possible. It is important to us that you understand how the practice is working and give you an opportunity to tell us what you think.
What’s new for you?
APPOINTMENTS
You may now be aware that we have moved to a clinical triage system for appointments. You can now quickly and easily access us for an appointment through econsult- either through our website, the NHS App or by calling the surgery. The appointment line and econsult is available between 8:00am-12:00pm Monday- Friday.
Once submitted, the econsult is reviewed by a GP who determines the urgency of the appointment. In some instances, the GP will call and consult with you over the phone. In most cases, a member of the team will call you the same day (or within 48 hours) to inform you of the appointment that has been made.
Most appointments are now face to face, with same day and prebooked options.
We understand the frustration caused with same day appointment release and an 8:00am rush for an appointment, and hope this is the first step to allowing you as our patients to get what you need in the right timeframe.
PRESCRIPTIONS
We recently reviewed our prescription ordering process. To order a repeat prescription there are several options available to you. You can either call the surgery between 10:00am-12:00pm where possible, through the NHS App or by dropping your repeat slip into the practice. Please always allow 48 hours for a prescription to be signed off.
SURGERY PODS
We now have surgery pods at each of our sites. You may be invited into surgery to use the pod for circumstances such as Blood Pressure readings, New Patient Checks or Contraceptive checks. The data is linked straight to your patient record and can often mean a quicker solution for you.
PATIENT PARTICPATION PANEL
We now have an active patient participation panel. We can thank them for the patient newsletter idea. When we last met, the main discussion was around the new triage system and the concerns/thoughts around this. It is important that your views as patients are represented effectively. Should you wish to join the panel, please get in touch via our email: – [email protected]
If you do not wish to join the panel, but have some thoughts on the recent changes, I would love to hear from you.
Therefore, I will be holding patient drop-in sessions (come and say hello, share your thoughts, no appointment needed) on the following dates:
- Wednesday 17th May 10:00am-12:00pm – Deerness Park
- Thursday 1st June 14:00pm-16:00pm – Bunnyhill
- Wednesday 7th June 14:00pm-16:00pm – Deerness Park
- Wednesday 14th June 16:00pm-18:00pm – Bunnyhill
Hope to see you soon,
Kirsty and The Deerness Park Team