September 2010
HEALTH INSURANCE
If you are interested in Private Medical Insurance we suggest you look at this website which provides independent advice and quotes from all leading UK health insurance companies.
TRIAGE TRIAL
New trial about to begin - more information about when and where to follow.
X RAYS - NEW CHARGES FOR COPIES
Any copies of X rays requested by patients will now incur a fee of £5.00
THE HARD OF HEARING - Epsom Support Group meets on the second Friday of each month at the Longmead Centre, Sefton Road, Epsom from 2pm - 4pm. They have a range of excellent speakers with tea and coffee. Someone is always available to carry out minor repairs to hearing aid equipment and to issue batteries. An outreach worker from the Audiology team is present at most meetings to offer advice ( technical and practical ) to members of the group. To make contact with the group telephone :
Harry Corben - 01372 721061
NEW WOMENS' HEALTH/ FAMILY PLANNING CLINIC
In tandem with the drop - in clinc on a Thursday evening, we are offering a new Womens' Health and Family Planning Clinic for a trial period. This clinic will offer appointments for pill/ IUD checks, vaginal/ STI swabs, contraceptive injections and emergency contraception ( no smears ). Please ring if you want to make an appointment.
ST. HELIER HOSPITAL GETS GO AHEAD
The Department of Health has approved plans for the major redevelopment of St Helier Hospital.
Almost a third of the current site will be demolished and replaced with a brand new
state-of-the-art building which will house the majortiy of the hospital's wards and clinics. The remainder of the site will be upgraded, including refurbishing wards which will not be moving into the new building. To find out more click on the link below :
www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/sthelierredevelopment
STOP SMOKING CLINIC at Longmead Surgery
Due to lack of funding the Primary Care Trust has withdrawn all Stop Smoking Clinics from the end of August. However, the telephone advice line ( number below ) will remain operational and our practice nurses are able to offer support & advice in our in - house clinics.
For more information or help :-
Pick up a leaflet in the surgery,
or
click the link below :
www.surreyquit.net or telephone : 0845 602 3608
NEW TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE
We have just launched a new SMS ( text messaging service ) ! This will be used to send text messages to patients via their mobile phones to keep them up to date on health information - eg; Stop Smoking, Weight Management and much more.
If patients want to receive such information, but have not given us their mobile phone number - please telephone the surgery and make sure that we update your records.
PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP ( PPG )
The PPG works to improve communication between the Practice and its patients, to ensure the services on offer truly meet the needs of all patients. The group has some great ideas to take forward and is looking for your help. We would welcome enthusiastic individuals to join the group, share their ideas on how services could be changed, and get involved in making those changes - for the good of the patients and the Practice.
We are also looking for volunteers for a small number of Focus Groups who would feed back patient opinion to the main group.
The PPG meets every two months or so at The Old Cottage Hospital. If you feel that you would like to get involved you can collect the complete PPG Recruitment Information leaflet from the surgery Reception desks or:
email : vicki.parnell@nhs.net ( Information Manager )
or:
Click on the link below for the on line version with details of how to contact us.
'YOUR SURGERY, YOUR SAY'
The General Practitioners Committee has developed posters and leaflets to try to make patients aware of the importance of completing the Government's patient survey.
They explain what their practice is doing to offer patients the best possible access, and also how they can give their views about the surgery directly to their practice via the Reception team.
The poster also reminds patients that part of their practice's funding depends on their responses to the survey.
Click on the link below to find out more :
SAMARITANS
The Samaritans are available every Thursday evening at The Old Cottage Hospital Surgery. Appointments from 4.30 - 7.30. Drop - in session from 5.30 - 7.30.
If you are going through a hard time, Samaritans will listen, in total confidence, to your feelings and help you talk things through. Any person wishing to talk with a Samaritan can book an appointment through Reception or just drop in on a Thursday session between 5.30 and 7.30pm.
REARCH DATA COLLECTION
For more information on Research Data Collection click here
HEALTHCARE TRAVEL COSTS SCHEME
To access more information about HTCS or for help in making a claim the helpline number is: 0845 850 1166
CURRENT GP REGISTRARS
August 2010 intake of registrars taking place - details to follow soon
