News page updated on 30/03/2012

St Paul's Surgery Improvements
Patient Reference Group Update
Patient Survey
Flu Update
Flu - Are You At Risk?
National Patient Survey Results
Your doctors at St Paul's and Ashfield
Measles
Ashfield Medical Centre has now moved
Patient Reference Group
Marie Curie Blooming Great Tea Party
District Nurse & Health Visitor Service
Ashfield surgery prescription page
Coronary Heart Disease
Data Check
Investors In People Re-accreditation
Website
 

St Paul's Surgery Improvements 

If you have been into the surgery recently, you may have noticed some changes. We are working to improve the Medical Centre and this will take some time. We have started the process by having new hard flooring fitted in most of the consulting rooms and all the chairs in the clinical areas reupholstered in a wipe-clean material. The other rooms are to be completed in the near future.

The rooms that have been re-floored and painted now much brighter and fresher, and of course they will be easier to keep clean.

Please bear with us while we make these improvements. You may find that your GP or nurse is working from a different room for a while, or there may be some noise while the rooms are being kitted out. It will be worth it in the end!

Patient Reference Group update

Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in becoming a member of the Ashfield or St Paul's Patient Reference Group by completing the on-line form in the Patient Involvement section of the website.

We have had some forms though without any contact details, so unfortunately we have not been able to respond to these.

Please remember to specify which group you are interested in and give your name and e-mail address. We hope to have another meeting of each PRG in May/June 2012.

Patient Survey

Thank you to everyone who completed a practice survey at St Paul's and Ashfield and to all of you who agreed to give further feedback on the results.  The results of the surveys can be found in the Patient Involvement section of the website.

If you would like to make any comments on these surveys, please drop a line by post or e-mail to Anne Bagot-Moore, Practice Business Manager - anne.bagot-moore@nhs.net  by 17th December.

FLU UPDATE

Congratulations to the 2,800+ of you who have had your flu jab already this season. The temperature is set to fall and the last thing any of us needs is a dose of flu just before Christmas!

We have ordered in an extra 200 vaccines so you still have time to come in and have this very important vaccine if you are eligible. Remember, flu can be very serious and even life-threatening, especially if you already have long-term health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or breathing problems.

You may have been lucky and never suffered with flu in the past. Why take the chance of your luck continuing, when you could protect yourself with a vaccine for free! Contact us now for your vaccine while stocks last!

Flu - Are you at risk?

As winter approaches it is essential that those of you who at greater risk from the flu virus get your FREE vaccination as soon as possible.

With over 2,000 vaccines already given between the St Paul's and Ashfield practices, we have fewer than 1,000 remaining. This might sound like a lot, until you realise that there are over 1,260 patients aged 65+ who have still not attended.

In addition, we are keen to vaccinate as many as possible of our patients aged under 65 years who are at risk because of pregnancy, heart disease, breathing difficulties such as Asthma and COPD, kidney problems, immunosuppression or who are the main carer for an elderly or sick person.

Please do not miss out on this vital vaccination! Attend early while we still have the opportunity to obtain more stocks of the vaccine.

If you are not sure whether or not you are eligible for this free vaccination, or would like any further information, do not hesitate to contact us.

National Patient Survey Results

Once again St Paul's and Ashfield Medical Centres both received excellent feedback from patients. Both practices scored well above the average for Blackpool in key areas, especially:

• trust and confidence in the GP

• care provided by the GP such as listening, taking time and taking the patient's concerns seriously

• telephone access

• being able to see the preferred GP

• overall satisfaction with the service

The vast majority of St Paul's and Ashfield patients said they would recommend us to others.

Many thanks to everyone who completed and returned their survey.

We are hoping to create a panel of patients whom we can approach for feedback on a range of issues up to 4 times a year - watch this space for further information!

Your doctors at St Paul's and Ashfield

Unfortunately Dr Johnson will not be with us during the next few weeks, but don't worry she will be coming back!  Dr Vincent is now working with us full-time, shared between St Paul's and Ashfield, and he will be with us for the long term.  We will be sorry to say 'Goodbye' to Dr Adam Daruzzaman who finishes his placement with us early next month.  We wish him the very best in his future career as a GP.

Measles

You may have heard in the media that Measles is circulating in the community.  This is a potentially very serious illness and we are being asked to vaccinate people to stop the spread.  Anyone who has not received 2 doses of the MMR vaccine, especially those aged 5 - 24, will be welcome to have a booster dose.  Contact your surgery to book an appointment.

Ashfield Medical Centre has now moved

Ashfield Medical Centre has now moved into our new purpose-built premises on the ground floor of the wonderful Moor Park Health & Leisure Centre. Our telephone number has remained unchanged - 956030, but the fax number is now 656031.

We hope all our patients will enjoy using the new facilities, but you would be equally welcome to register at St Paul's if that is more convenient for you to get to.

Patient Reference Group

Both St Paul's and Ashfield Medical Centres will soon be starting new patient groups to help get patients' views about our services and how we can improve.  The groups will meet about 4 times a year and we would love to hear from you if you might be interested in taking part.

Please contact Mrs A P Bagot-Moore at your surgery (Ashfield Moor Park Mon, Tue & Fri; St Paul's Wed & Thu) for more information or to express an interest.

Marie Curie Blooming Great Tea Party

Many thanks to all of those who attended our tea party on Wednesday 13th July. We raised £61.15 for this very worthy case.
 

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DISTRICT NURSE & Health visitor service

Please note that we no longer have District Nurse or Health Visitor offices at St Paul's. The District Nurses still provide leg ulcer clinics at St Paul's and can be contacted on 956161. The Health Visitors come for immunisation clinics and can be contacted on 951105 or 951106.

Coronary Heart Disease

If you are aged 40 - 74 and do not suffer from diabetes or heart disease (e.g. previous heart attack) you may soon receive a letter from us inviting you for a blood test so that we can calculate your risk of getting heart disease in the future. If you have had a cholesterol check in the past few years, we can calculate the risk without sending for you, and in the coming months we will contact you if we feel your risk is high. If you do receive a letter from us, please do take up the opportunity for this valuable screening.

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Data Check

Over the years patients may move house or change their telephone number (especially mobile numbers) without remembering to inform the doctor. We want to make sure the information we hold about you is correct. Data check forms will be sent out with any other letters we send to you in the next few months or can be downloaded here. Please help us by completing and returning the form.

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Investors In People Re-accreditation

St Paul's Medical Centre was first recognised as an Investors In People organisation in 2005.

This national quality standard recognises best practice in all aspects of management, staff training and development towards the delivery of top class services. We are delighted to announce that we passed our re-accreditation assessment with flying colours on 22nd January 2009, thanks to the continuing commitment and hard work of the whole practice team.

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Website

We hope you will find the new format and content interesting and easy to use. It contains more information and many new features, such as our 'News' section, and of course you can still order your repeat medications on-line.

St Paul's was the first practice in Blackpool to introduce an e-mail repeat prescription ordering service to our patients. This has been proved to be very popular and we currently receive 150 - 160 requests per week.

We would welcome your views about our new website. You will find a feedback form on the 'Contact Us' page.

Remember to add the new website address www.stpaulspcc.co.uk to your 'favourites' list!"

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