Patient News

Measles: How to Stay Safe

Measles is circulating in the UK. Measles is extremely infectious. It can cause serious illness and be fatal.

Please click here for more information.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call the police on 999

If you need urgent help with your mental health, please either:

• Contact your local GP surgery
• Call the NHS on 111
• Call Samaritans on 116 123
• Text SHOUT to 85258 to start a free confidential conversation(24/7)
• Contact CALM on their national helpline: 0800 58 58 58 (5 pm-midnight)
• Call the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust: 0300 200 0011 (free 24/7)

For VAWG related support services in Warwickshire please use this website: https://www.talk2someone.org.uk

Here are a range of other services that can help to provide someone with support and advice.

What is a Patient Participation Group (PPG)?

A Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a group of patients, carers and GP practice staff who meet to discuss practice issues and patient experience to improve the service.

What is the purpose of the PPG?

• To give patients and practice staff the opportunity to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest.
• To provide a means for patients to become more involved and make suggestions about the healthcare services they receive.
• To explore issues from patient complaints and patient surveys, contribute to actions plans and help monitor improvements.
• To contribute feedback to the practice on National Patient Survey results and Friends and Family Test feedback to propose developments or change.
• To support health awareness and patient education

What our PPG looks like:

There are currently 9 members of the PPG at Henley Medical Centre. The group meets, on average, 4 times a year. At those meeting topics from new initiatives being introduced within all healthcare settings to changes within the surgery are discussed. Patient feedback is also exchanged at the meeting which can very informative and can actually influence how the service is provided.   

A PPG is open to every patient on our GP practice list. All communities, groups, genders, ages, ethnicities, and disabilities representing the patient list are encouraged to join. Membership of patients from the surrounding villages we serve as well as from Henley itself are welcome to join. There are no other membership requirements except that patients must be registered with our practice and be over 16 years of age.

If are interested in becoming a member of our PPG you can complete a registration form on our practice website. If you would like to make contact with a current PPG member a contact list is available upon request from reception.

Please view the newsletter here.

South Warwickshire GP Federation, on behalf of the Arden Primary Care Network, will be contacting our patients to invite eligible patients for vaccination 

The following groups are eligible for this Spring Covid Vaccination program:

• 4th dose for 75+ patients – ideally at 6 months after the last dose, but we can book from 3 months.
• 12+ immunosuppressed patients – 4th dose from 91 days after third dose
• 12-15 year olds Booster for the at risk group - for those aged 12-15 from 91 days after last dose.
• 5-11 year old healthy patients – 2 doses 12 weeks apart.  Must wait 12 weeks after a Covid infection.

Our patients will be offered appointments at the following clinics:

• Studley Village Hall (over 75’s only)
• Southam Clinic
• Lomas Suite in Stratford

Appointments can be booked in the following ways:

• Call 119
• Online via the National Booking Service: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/
• Via Option 5 on our surgery telephone line

Services

Henley Medical Centre continues to work in a COVID safe environment to ensure that the care and safety of both staff and patients is protected at all times. Patients visiting the surgery should be aware that NHS Guidelines state that face coverings still need to be worn in all healthcare settings. The surgery will continue to offer a mix of appointment types including telephone and online consultations as well as face to face appointments.

Staff update

February saw Dr Chauhan leave us. Dr Chauhan was our ST3 registrar, in his 3rd year of speciality training to be a GP. He has now moved on to take up a permanent role in another local GP practice. 

Dr Awais re-joined the practice in February after being on maternity leave. Dr Awais is also completing her speciality training with us and will work in our practice until February 2023.

Patient Participation Group

We have had a patient participation group for over 10 years. This group is made up of volunteer patients, the practice manager and one or more of the GPs from the practice. The group meets meet on a regular basis to discuss the services on offer, and how improvements can be made for the benefit of patients and the practice. The aim is to ensure that patients, their families and carers are represented and heard from at all stages of their treatment. 

Anyone who is a patient of the surgery can join the group. Everyone has different experiences and can bring different ideas to the surgery which is important. 

For anyone interested in becoming a member of our PPG a registration form is available on our practice website: https://www.henley-in-ardenmedcntr.co.uk/patientgroup . A list of current PPG members is also available from reception upon request.

Amanda Taylor, Practice Manager

https://henley-in-ardenmedcntr.co.uk/

Vaccinations for 5-11 year-olds at-risk

• The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that 5 to 11-year-olds who are either in a clinical risk group or are a ousehold contact of someone who is immunosuppressed should be offered two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with a minimum interval of eight weeks.
• This means around half a million children nationally will soon be invited to take up their jab.
• The JCVI has set out criteria for determining who should be offered vaccination within this group and clinicians will be responsible for identifying children in their care who are eligible.
• Information on eligibility can be found in the Green Book, chapter 14a in the section on children aged 5-11 years and tables 3 and 4.

How will I know if my child is eligible?

• GPs and hospital specialists have been asked to identify 5 to 11-year-olds who are eligible. For children eligible as a household contact, we will write directly to the person who is immunosuppressed.
• Parents and guardians will be notified if their child should get the vaccine and told how they can book an appointment. The NHS will be in touch in the coming weeks if your child is eligible, so it’s important that parents wait to hear from us and do not contact their GP.

In order to protect yourselves, your families and the NHS please ‘grab a covid vaccine jab’.

You can book your booster jab …or indeed your first or second jab using the links below. You may also get a text message from your local GP offering appointments

Don’t delay …BOOK NOW

Book or manage a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Find a walk-in coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination site - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

The NHS vaccination programme will offer every adult the chance to book a covid-19 booster vaccine by the end of the year to protect the nation against the Omicron variant.

As part of the biggest and fastest vaccine programme in health service history, online bookings are available for all those in their 30s and above from today.

The best way to get your vaccine is by booking online at www.nhs.uk or by calling 119 – please do keep checking availability as appointments are loaded onto the system every day. The website and phoneline are understandably very busy and we thank you for your patience when booking.

The national booking service will then open up to everyone aged 18 and over from Wednesday this week.

The NHS is prioritising bookings for boosters and is urging people to book a slot to guarantee their vital jab. Some sites offer walk-in appointments where no appointment is needed. Please check here for clinics with walk-in availability and their opening hours www.happyhealthylives.uk/vaccinationdrop-ins

GP teams have been asked to clinically prioritise their services to free up maximal capacity to support the covid-19 vaccination programme, alongside delivering critical appointments such as cancer, urgent and emergency care. This might mean that for some people, routine appointments are postponed as part of the national mission to roll out boosters.

Scientists are very concerned about the spread of Omicron due to the speed with which it spreads and because two doses do not appear to provide much protection but thankfully, a booster dramatically improves this.That is why the Government has asked the NHS to prioritise boosters over other routine care.

We appreciate your support and understanding – and urge you to come forward for your vaccination as soon as possible.

EMIS Health have received reports from both Patient Access users and people who have never registered for the service, that they have received Covid passport emails purporting to be from Patient Access.

They would like to share the following guidance from Patient Access:

• EMIS Health advise users of Patient Access to check the name and email address of the sender; all emails from Patient Access will come via an email address that ends in @patientaccess.com.
• EMIS Health advise users never to click on any log in links that you receive via email but to visit the site via the address bar of your browser instead so that you know you are on the genuine Patient Access log in page. You can find more information and guidance on our information security page here: https://www.patientaccess.com/security
• EMIS Health strongly advise users to set up their Memorable Word security feature, as well as using biometrics (fingerprint ID) if they use the app.
• Email addresses used to register for Patient Access account are secure. They do not share any data and no data is ever saved or stored on any device you use to access Patient Access.

The school flu vaccination programme is going ahead this year. All schools will have completed their flu clinics by the end of the year. Some clinics have been pushed back slightly to accommodate the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccination clinics that are currently taking place in schools. There is no need to contact your GP about the school flu vaccination programme – you will hear from your school as usual in due course.

Please check the link below for latest information on staff update, Covid and Flu boosters and other surgery updates.

Latest Surgery Update - September 2021

You may have received a text from the NHS national booking service to book your Covid-19 booster vaccination. 

Please be assured your local vaccination team will also be providing this service and will be in touch very soon so there is no need to contact your GP practice. 

And don’t forget your booster will only be given six months after your second dose.

We look forwards to seeing you soon at your local vaccination centre. 

The government has announced that all children aged 12 to 15 in England will be offered one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Invitations for the vaccine are expected to begin next week (20-26 September). 

The vaccination programme for this age group will be delivered through schools, not via GP practices. Parents and guardians of those eligible will be contacted when it’s their turn to get the vaccine. 

Covid-19 booster jabs are expected to be offered to eligible groups in the coming weeks.   The booster jab should be given at least six months after your second dose of the vaccine. 

The NHS will contact you when it is your turn to get the booster vaccine, so please don’t contact the NHS. If you are invited, it is vital you attend so that you have the best possible protection against Covid-19.

A supplier to the NHS has advised us of a global shortage of some equipment used for taking blood tests.

Anyone who needs a test for urgent health problems will still get one, but where your clinician recommends that it’s safe to do so, then you may be asked to come back for a test at a later date, or your appointment may be rescheduled.

Given the nature of the shortage, we cannot give an exact date for when the test will be rescheduled, but please be assured that if your condition or symptoms require it, then you will get a test, and we will be re-booking your test when supplies become more easily available.

If your condition or symptoms change or get worse, please contact the NHS as you would normally.

The current NHS Digital (NHSD) extract of GP data for Research purposes (known as the GPDPR) has been delayed due to NHSD wishing to review the way in which this data will be collected, to conduct more public involvement and information about the plans and change the way in which patients can opt out of the extract of their GP data.

Currently the only way to opt out is to complete a Type 1 opt out form and return this to the practice. There was a deadline of the 1st September but this deadline has been removed (see below):

However, this extract will not be taken until the NHSD have changed the way it will take the data and respect the patient’s choice for using their data.  NHSD are introducing the following changes to the opt outprocess which will mean that patients will be able to change their opt-out status at any time:

• Patients do not need to register a Type 1 opt-out by 1st September to ensure their GP data will not be uploaded.
• NHS Digital will create the technical means to allow GP data that has previously been uploaded to the system via the GPDPR collection to be deleted when someone registers a Type 1 opt-out.
• The plan to retire Type 1 opt-outs will be deferred for at least 12 months while we get the new arrangements up and running and will not be implemented without consultation with the RCGP, the BMA and the National Data Guardian.

This means that you can opt out at any time in the future and NHSD will delete data that they already have taken for research purposes, the deadline of the 01/09/2020 has been delayed until a new system of opt out is developed.  Hopefully, this will be a simple centralised approach via the NHS app or NHS website to avoid paper form and administration work for your GP.

We will update you when we know more about the NHSD plans to change how you can control who has access to your data.

For further information on this - please click here.

Patients wishing to register a Type 1 Opt out from the NHS Digital General Practice Data for Planning and Research collection which starts on 1st September 2021, should download this form and return it to the Practice.

More information on this data collection can be found here.

Video - How the NHS uses your patient data from GP practices to improve health and care