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April/May 2008
Extended Opening
Hours:
The Government has
directed that Surgeries will provide
increased access to Doctors. To
comply with this, Summerhill Surgery
proposes to hold a Saturday morning
surgery, commencing on Saturday 26
April 2008.
The opening times
will be 0830 - 1200. These
appointments can be booked up to 3
weeks in advance.
However, please note:
- This service
is for pre-booked ROUTINE
NON-EMERGENCY appointments
only
- There will be
only ONE of our Doctors
on duty
- Only patients
with a pre-booked appointment
will be allowed access into the
building
- There will be
no telephone service
- There will be
no prescriptions available for
collection
- There will be
no blood tests
- No nurses
will be on duty
- There will be
no home visits
- The out of
hours service will be available
as usual for
emergencies/evening/night/weekend
cover
Electronic Prescription Service -
Moving from Paper to Electronic
Prescriptions
 |
Connecting for Health |
Did you know that about 1.3 million
paper prescriptions are issued every
working day in England, with this
figure set to rise by over 5%
(65,000) each year? About 70% of
prescriptions are repeats!
To handle this volume more
efficiently, the NHS is introducing
an Electronic Prescription Service.
In time, this service will allow
your prescription to be sent
electronically from your GP to the
pharmacy of your choice. This will
mean improved service, convenience
and accuracy.
The service is being introduced in
two stages.
Stage 1 – Adding a barcode
In the first stage you will still
receive a paper prescription in the
way you do now. The only change you
will be that your prescription will
have a barcode and some number down
the right-hand side.
These provide a unique reference for
your prescription but they don’t
hold any personal information about
you. They are only there to help the
pharmacist dispense the items on
your prescription more easily.
The new service will be more
accurate, as the prescription
information won’t have to be
re-typed into the computer at the
pharmacy.
The first stage of the Electronic
Prescription Service has been
designed to make sure that
everything works efficiently before
the NHS introduces the full version
of the service, so, for now, the way
you collect your prescriptions or
medicines won’t change.
We will let you know when we have
been selected to move to the second
stage of the service.
Stage 2 – Nominating a preferred
pharmacy
During 2008 the NHS will be
prepared for each GP surgery and
pharmacy to move to the second stage
of the service.
You will be able to ask for your
prescription to be sent to a
pharmacy of your choice
electronically, so you won’t need a
paper prescription at all – unless
you want to have one.
This may save you time by reducing
how often you have to visit the
surgery simply to collect a paper
prescription. In future, you will be
able to go straight to the pharmacy
to pick up your medicines.
As well as increased convenience for
patients, this second stage of the
service will also bring substantial
improvements in efficiency for GP’s,
pharmacists and their staff.
Some Common Questions
How will I obtain my
prescriptions?
During the first stage, in the same
was as you do now. During the second
stage there will be some changes to
make it easier for you.
Will I still be able to use
any pharmacy I want?
Yes, you will always be able to use
any pharmacy. You will still have
the option of collecting a paper
version of your prescription from
your GP and taking it to any
pharmacy.
Will I need to know anything about
computers to use the service?
No, your GP and pharmacist will be
the people using computers to
provide a better service for you.
Who will see my prescription?
The same people who can see it now.
Whether information is on paper or
electronic, everyone involved with
your prescription has a legal duty
to keep information about you
confidential.
Will this affect prescriptions
I receive from people other than my
GP?
No, not yet. The NHS intends to
include prescriptions given by other
people such as dentists, nurse sand
hospital doctors eventually, but
they are concentrating on GPs and
pharmacists first.
Is there anything else I
should know?
The Electronic Prescription Service
is being implemented gradually to
give everyone time to get used to
the new arrangements.
Paper prescriptions are only being
phased out slowly. Even when the
Electronic prescription Service is
fully implemented a paper version of
your prescription will continue to
be available if you need one.
Over time, many people will see
considerable benefit from the new
Electronic Prescription Service.
Patient Involvement – How can
you be involved?
A specially created national user
group, meeting on a regular basis,
has provided different perspectives
on key design issues. This work has
included looking at the live
operation of the service in the
initial implementer sites. Reviewing
the early operational experiences at
these sites will help to ensure that
the potential benefits of the new
service can be maximised. The output
from this group is being used to
inform communication and guidance
material, as well as refining local
system design.
For more
information please click on the link
below:
Educational
Half Days
On 10 afternoons a year, from 12.30
hours, the practice will be closed
for staff training.
The East Kent Coastal Primary Care
Trust gives protected time for the
doctors, nurses and other staff for
education and development of the
practice. We will advertise these
days in advance both on the website
and at reception.
Emergency cover for problems that
can not wait until the next day is
provided from 12.30 hours by
telephoning StourCare on 0844 800
1234.
Future dates when
the surgery will be closed from
12.30pm
- 22 October
2008
- 26 November
2008
- 21 January
2009
- 26 February
2009
- 18 March 2009
- 30 April 2009
- 13 May 2009
- 24 June 2009
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