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Updated 24/06/10
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Extended
Hours
biddulphdoctors is committed to providing patients with
access to appointments with a GP during extended hours
with a view to increasing patient satisfaction with our
opening times .
The service was initially for a trial period and ran from
31st October, 2009 to 31st March, 2010.
Appointment times echoed patient preferences as reflected
by the results of our national and local surveys. We offered
pre-bookable appointments every Tuesday evening from 6.30pm
until 08.00pm and alternate Saturday mornings from 08.45am
to 10.45am.
Continuation of Extended Hours from 01st April, 2010
The Department of Health have recently announced plans
to roll forward the current directions for Extended Opening
Hours into 2010/2011.
We are pleased to announce therefore that we will be continuing
with the Extended Hours Opening from 01st April, 2010
until 31st March, 2011.
Our hours are as follows:
Evening Tuesday evening from 6.30pm to 08.00pm
Alternate Saturday mornings from 08.45am to 10.45am.
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Physio
Direct Physio
Direct is a telephone assessment, treatment and advice
service for patients presenting with musculoskeletal conditions
or injuries. For referral to be assessed over the telephone
by a Senior Physiotherapist please call 0300 123 0991.
For instructions on how to use
this service follow this link
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Open
Access Triage Clinics
Open
Access Triage Clinics offer face to face assessment, treatment
and advice for patients presenting with musculoskeletal
conditions or injuries.
For
referral please contact 0300 123 0991 for further information.
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Automated
Arrivals System
We
are pleased to inform you that from the 01st June, 2009
we will have an Automated Arrivals system for our patients
benefit and use.
The
Automated Arrivals system is a self-contained system which
enables patients to autonomously announce their arrival
for an appointment at the practice, using a touch screen
interface and their date of birth and sex. This hopefully
reduces queues at the reception desk, allowing the receptionist
to deal with other more complicated enquiries.
When
the patient uses the system to announce their arrival:
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A message is displayed, informing them who they are seeing
and the approximate waiting time.
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If the patient has any alerts in their record, a message
is displayed on the system, telling the patient to report
to reception.
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The practice administrative system is then updated to
reflect that the patient has arrived.
The
Automated Arrivals system is designed and developed by
clinicians and patients, ensuring that it is a robust
but simple to use system that presents data in an accurate
and ‘patient friendly’ format.
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Practice
Based Commissioning
An
essential aspect of the Government's Fit for the Future
strategy is Practice Based Commissioning.
The
North Staffs area has been divided into areas called "clusters".
Our area is known as the Biddulph and Kidsgrove Cluster.
The GPs in each cluster are charged with the task of finding
out what you, the patients, would like to see changed.
For example, would you rather see a specialist or have
routine testing locally rather than in the University
of North Staffordshire?
If
a need can be established and it is practical to do so
then your local GPs may be able to commission the service.
For
more information on Fit
for the Future and Practice
Based Commissioning follow the links
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Information
Management Technology Directed Enhanced Service
We
have spent a gruelling twelve months working towards the
above (IM&T DES) which is to improve data quality
standards and strive towards “Data fit for sharing”.
We have finally achieved our goal and have now been signed
off as “officially paperlight” – the first
practice in both North Staffs and Stoke. The accreditation
lasts for three years and we will continue to maintain
this standard
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Introduction
of Docman
To
help us improve on our current scanning system we have
recently introduced Docman. Docman is a fully integrated
electronic document management system developed specifically
for Primary Care practices. It enables us to manage our
paper and electronic documents in a secure environment,
whilst providing controlled access directly from our EMIS
clinical record. We are conscious that it will improve
integrity of filed information including reducing the
risk of misfiling and missing documents and it should
also improve productivity and service - documents can
be found in an instant. We are hoping that this will contribute
to making the process of becoming paperless a painless
task!
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Online
repeat prescription ordering - Online
services
Setting up
We are pleased to announce the introduction of our repeat
prescription online requesting facility which does exactly
what it suggests. Please initially request a Registration
Letter, which can only be obtained in person at the
practice. You cannot create an account without one and
(unless you are well known to the practice staff) you
need photo identification, ie a passport or new
style driving licence, in order for it to be issued.
Once you are registered
We are keen to improve access for our patients on regular
repeat "scripts" but also wary of the potential
dangers of prescribing non-regular scripts this way. Therefore
we would remind patients that ONLY regular repeat prescriptions
can be ordered in this way and, unfortunately, any attached
messages to the request are unlikely to be acted on (especially
ones like "could I also have some more of those pink
tablets with black spots on?"!!). You can, however,
let us know of any of the three Biddulph or Biddulph Moor
pharmacies that you'd like to collect your script on your
behalf.
You can log back onto EmisAccess via the same button to
view the progress of your script request at any time.
Please remember scripts can take two days to be fully
processed so, if possible, give us three days notice.
You will find the button for this on the Online
Services page - this can be accessed from the home
page
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North
Staffs Healthy Homes Scheme - a cold or damp home can
make well people ill, or ill people much worse. If
you know anyone whose health may be affected this winter,
please refer them to Beat the Cold, a local, independent,
voluntary agency. They will arrange a home visit, complete
a Home Energy Report, and give advice, a free room thermometer
and energy efficient light bulbs. Whenever they
can, they will refer householders to a grant scheme and
other agencies who may be able to help them. A referral
can be made by telephoning 0800 389 2258
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The
practice would like to thank everyone who took part in our
recent customer satisfaction survey. As a
practice we have studied this in our monthly practice training
meeting and we are making some changes to try and improve
what we offer. The most interesting part was that
we received our top ratings for our "Rapid access"
appointments system, whilst at the same time we received
our lowest mark for exactly the same system! Perhaps
this only goes to prove that you can't please all of the
people all of the time, but please be reassured that we
are doing what we can to provide more appointments to try
and keep more of the people happy more of the time.
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Choose
and Book system
Patients
want to be more involved in decisions and making choices
about their healthcare. The NHS is currently trying
to give patients a greater say in how they are treated.
This includes giving access to a wider range of primary
care services and increasing choice of where, when and
how to get medicines, treatment and care.
Choose
and Book is a national service that, for the first time,
combines electronic booking and a choice of hospital,
date and time for first outpatient appointments.
It will eventually revolutionise the current booking
system with patients being able to choose their initial
appointment, and book it on the telephone or via the internet
at a time that is more convenient for them. As you
would expect from the introduction of such a new system
there are teething problems as it is still very much in
the early stages
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