Electrocardiogram
The pandemic has been difficult; thank you for supporting our medical teams.
By Jazzmine Squire
Over the last couple of years we have seen a massive change in the way we run our surgery. In 2020 primary care commissioners (the CCG and NHS England) pushed for GP surgeries to use a more digital triage model within general practice, accelerated by the COVID pandemic. This was put in place to protect vulnerable patients and safeguard staff and therefore we have continued and been encouraged to carry on using this model throughout 2021.
This new system that we, along with many other surgeries in the UK, have undertaken has made some people feel as though they can’t see a GP. The recent media coverage on this issue hasn’t helped. The media tends to highlight the difficulties and very rarely shares information about the millions of patient contacts that have happened despite the extreme and unfamiliar pressures that we have been under.
With the online and telephone first system playing a massive part in the way we run, we have really invested in our multi-disciplinary team over the last year. It has grown and expanded in ways we never imagined, and we have gained and developed an amazing group of professionals such as advanced clinical practitioners, pharmacists, paramedics, physician associates and prescribing nurses; all of whom are qualified and trained to help and provide you with the care you need at the time that you need it.
By having such a team, it enables us to manage patients’ health concerns in a more timely, convenient and effective manner. If we relied only on GP face to face appointments for all health concerns, we would be unable to provide the large scale and breadth of health services that we do. With this being said, if one of our clinicians feel you need a face-to-face appointment, you will be offered one.
Along with our day to day primary care work we have also played a huge part in providing the covid and flu vaccinations for our local community, which has taken up a lot of our time and effort. It’s been a difficult time for us all with the pandemic and we have really tried to carry on providing you with the same quality of care throughout. We would just like to say a massive thank you for all your patience and kindness over the last couple of years. Here's to a better 2022.