POTENTIAL BOGUS TELEPHONE CALLS We have reason to believe fraudsters are targeting patients throughout Northern Ireland. Some claim that they are working on behalf of your Practice and may try to sell you products, ask for your bank details, offer home visits, ask questions about medical conditions and may advise you to stop/start medication. Please note we do not use any external companies to contact our patients. If you receive any such call and are concerned please do not provide any information and contact the surgery on 21771411 / 21771173 who will be able to verify any advice you have been offered.
Please be reassured reported incidents throughout Northern Ireland are being analysed by the Health Board and Northern Ireland Trading Standards who can find no pattern or common thread linking these incidents and no evidence to suggest that the patient information came from the GP computer system. At this stage it would appear that there are multiple unconnected scams and that the patient information has been obtained from a combination of social engineering techniques and by eliciting specific information from patients via questions asked by the caller.
Meningococcal C Vaccine (Men C)In accordance with current DHSS guidelines all young people (aged 18-24) who are due to commence 1st year university education in September 2014 should have a Men C vaccination. These are available at the practice and it is recommended that you should receive this no later than two weeks before commencing university. Please contact reception to make an appointment with our treatment room nurse.
Antibiotic Requests:
Every year as the flu season approaches we find an increase in requests for antibiotics. From 12th September 2013 and in accordance with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust guidelines, we are no longer able to issue prescriptions for antibiotics for complaints such as: Colds, Flu symptoms, Chest infections etc, unless the patient attends either our Nurse/Nurse Practitioner or a GP. In circumstances where a patient feels they are experiencing a kidney or urine infection a urine sample needs to be left in for testing in our treatment room before an antibiotic can be issued.
Private Letters & Insurance forms:
There has been a recent increase of patients requesting letters for university, employers, jury service etc and private insurance forms etc, whilst we will do these they are classified as non NHS work and therefore there will be a charge of £10 to £15. Other more detailed forms etc will be chargeable according to BMA guidelines. Please also note that there is also a charge for passport/driving licence photographs of £5.50.
Changes to Emis Access: From 31.5.2018, "Emis Access" will be changing to "Patient Access" your login details for making appointments and ordering repeat prescriptions will remain the same.
Disabled Access: The practice has now installed disabled access doors at the patient's entrance, these are manual and push button doors, the button to enter is located directly opposite the green railing at patient's entrance, in the porch directly opposite entrance door and to exit the practice, the button is located on the left hand side of the door frame .
ARE YOU AGED 50+ AND DO YOU SMOKE – IMPORTANT PLEASE READ
If you are aged 50 or over and if you smoke you are at risk of having Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD). The Department of Health have indicated that all patients in this category should have a medical assessment carried out to assess severity of risk. Undetected PVD can lead to stroke and/or Gangerene of the limbs particularly the legs. If diagnosed early complications like this can be prevented. We strongly urge you to contact the surgery to arrange for an appointment with the nurse. If you require any further information do not hesitate to contact us.
Emergency Services in the Glens area
It has come to our attention recently of an event where an emergency ambulance spent considerable time trying to find a particular address. This difficulty arose because there was no house number displayed for the ambulance crew to see nor was anyone waiting outside to alert the ambulance driver. This is a very common problem and sadly puts lives at risk. Please learn from this and ensure your house is clearly identifiable especially if you live on a lane off the main road, it is advised that the house-numbers on the lane should also be clearly marked at the end of lane.
DNA Policy
Due to an increase in wasted appointments through patients failing to attend appointments without informing the surgery, it has become necessary to implement the following policy which can be located with the further information section on the website or alternatively from a member of the staff at the medical centre.
Covid Vaccination the importance