IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL PATIENTS

Testing for Coronavirus is now available for our patients if you have a clinical referral from NHS111, are aged 65 or over and have symptoms, or must currently travel to work and have symptoms.

Visit https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus and choose the option “Testing for Coronavirus”

If you meet the relevant criteria you will be able to book a test at a Regional Centre (sorry we don’t know where this is presently) or order a home testing kit if available.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE FROM SURGERY

Dear Patients,

We understand that many of our patients are anxious and need reassurance in these difficult times - we also have staff in isolation facing the same challenges as our you. Although we are busy, we are not overwhelmed. Don’t simply stay away for fear of overburdening the NHS or catching the virus: if you have a health concern that you can’t solve; get in touch, we’re here to help.

Our doctors and nurses are prioritising the assessment and management of patients that are acutely unwell. All patients will need to speak to a clinician by telephone before coming to the surgery. Please come unaccompanied if possible. You may be seen in your car, or asked to wait outside. If you have a booked appointment at the surgery, do not attend if you or anyone in your household has a temperature or new persistent cough.  We are also offering routine pre-bookable telephone and video appointments for patients with existing health conditions.

Continue to order your prescriptions as normal through the POD service, when they are due. Prescriptions cannot be issued for a greater than usual amount to avoid stockpiling and shortages. Do not ring the POD if you have more than 7 days of medication left.  All prescriptions will be sent electronically to your nominated chemist – patients may not collect paper prescriptions from the surgery.

Patients that need to self isolate do not require a sick note but they are available from NHS111 should your employer insist.

Thank you for your co-operation and support, it is very greatly appreciated.

ORDERING PRESCRIPTIONS

ONLINE APPOINTMENTS NEWS

Due to COVID-19, we now need to screen all appointment bookings. Therefore for the time being online appointment booking has been deactivated.

We apologies for any inconvenience caused by this, and will reinstate online appointment booking as soon as possible.

**IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING CORONAVIRUS**

The NHS in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Public Health England (PHE) are extremely well prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of all patients and NHS staff while also ensuring services are available to the public as normal.

The risk to the general public is moderate.

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

• new continuous cough and/or
• high temperature

if you have symptoms of coronavirus infection (COVID-19), however mild, do not leave your home for 7 days from when your symptoms started. Do not come into the surgery.

You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation. If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after 7 days, contact NHS 111 online. If you have no internet access, call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.

Information for the public is available at gov.uk/coronavirus

Like the common cold, coronavirus infection usually occurs through close contact with a person with novel coronavirus via cough and sneezes or hand contact. A person can also be infected by touching contaminated surfaces if they do not wash their hands.

The risk of being in close contact with a person with coronavirus or contaminated surfaces is very low at the current time, as members of the public who have visited Wuhan, Hubei province, China are currently in isolation.

Testing of suspected coronavirus cases is carried out in line with strict regulations. This means that suspected cases are kept in isolation, away from public areas of the hospital and returned home also in isolation. Any equipment that come into contact with suspected cases are thoroughly cleaned as appropriate. Specific guidance has also been shared with NHS staff to help safeguard them and others.  Patients can be reassured that their safety is a top priority, and are encouraged to attend all appointments as usual.

Everyone is being reminded to follow Public Health England advice to:

• Always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze. Then bin the tissue, and wash your hands, or use a sanitiser gel.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using public transport. Use a sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

You can find the latest information and advice from Public Health England at www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Welcome to South Hermitage Surgery

We are confident that our website will provide clear and concise help and give our patients the information they require in an easy and convenient format. It has been designed with the patient’s needs at the forefront of everything, from checking surgery times to letting us know what you think of us.

Our dedicated team are here to treat those minor ailments that occur as well as providing specialist management of long-term conditions and clinics covering a wide range of healthcare issues. The technology also means you can now do a lot of things from the comfort of your home such as order a repeat prescription or cancel an appointment.

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Extended Access

For more info regarding Extended Access, visit our News page or click the banner below.

South Hermitage Compassionate Communities (Co-Co)

For the past few months I have been gearing up to launch the South Hermitage Compassionate Community project which started with our Open Meeting at the end of June. We had a great bunch of people attend on a very hot Tuesday evening; it was fantastic to see such a positive turn out.

Co-Co is about the community coming together to offer companionship to one another. The project is a Severn Hospice initiative and it was amazing to have the brains behind the idea, Paul Cronin, come and speak at our meeting.

At the end there was an opportunity to leave contact details for anyone who was interested in continuing the process and finding out more! We are absolutely delighted that the majority of people left their details and will carry on with the next step, which is to attend an information session run by the hospice.

We are welcoming anyone to get in touch who wants to find out more about volunteering or helping with the organisational side of things.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Claire

Community & Care Co-ordinator

SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE

We are now on Facebook and Twitter!

We will be using these channels to communicate news, NHS campaigns and other surgery info. Clicking the below links will take you directly to our pages!

Visit us on Facebook      Follow us on Twitter

ASK DEBS!

If you're under 24, why not ask our online Agony Aunt Debs any confidential questions you might have and see if she can help you. Ask Debs or email her on d.mainwaring@nhs.net