SURGERY NEWS

Closure - 20 - 24th March 2023

Due to staff shortages we will be closed during 1pm to 2pm Mon - Fri  the 20th to 24th Mar 2023. During this time, our phonelines won’t be available and our doors will be closed. If you have a medical issue that cannot wait, please call 111 to access the out of hours service. If you have an accident, please visit the M.I.U at Honiton Hospital. Pharmacies can also provide advice for some minor illnesses.

Our services will resume after 2pm.

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patients and understanding.

 

Surgery Announcement

We are sorry to announce that Dr Anna Foreman has left the practice at the end of January 2023. We wish her luck in her new ventures. Dr Foreman’s existing patients will be transferred equally between our existing GPs at Honiton Surgery. You can find details of your named GP on the home page of your online account or alternatively please feel free to ask the reception staff when you next visit the Surgery who your allocated doctor is.

Due to several changes in our GP Team over the last 24 months and the significant pressures we still face in primary care, we are currently unable to accommodate requests to change your allocated GP, as all of ours GPs list are currently full. Having an allocated GP does not prevent you seeing any other doctor in the practice, please ask reception when booking if you wish to do so.

Ambulance Service Industrial Action

On days where there is industrial action, patients should only call 999 if it is a life threatening medical or mental health emergency. Information for the public on the industrial action can be accessed here.

 

Group A strep and scarlet fever

In light of the current outbreak of Group A strep and scarlet fever, please see some further information below to ensure the health and safety your child/ren:

Scarlet fever is usually a mild illness, but it is highly infectious. Therefore, look out for symptoms in your child, which include a sore throat, headache, and fever, along with a fine, pinkish or red body rash with a sandpapery feel. On darker skin, the rash can be more difficult to detect visually but will have a sandpapery feel. A white coating can also appear on the tongue. This peels, leaving the tongue red, swollen and covered in little bumps (called "strawberry tongue").

Contact NHS 111 or your GP if you suspect your child has scarlet fever, because early treatment of scarlet fever with antibiotics is important to reduce the risk of complications such as pneumonia or a bloodstream infection. If your child has scarlet fever, keep them at home until at least 24 hours after the start of antibiotic treatment to avoid spreading the infection to others.

Scarlet fever is caused by bacteria called group A streptococci. These bacteria also cause other respiratory and skin infections such as strep throat and impetigo.

Things you can also do yourself:

• You can relieve symptoms of scarlet fever by:
• drinking cool fluids
• eating soft foods if you have a sore throat
• taking painkillers like paracetamol to bring down a high temperature (do not give aspirin to children under 16)
• using calamine lotion or antihistamine tablets to ease itching

How long scarlet fever lasts:

• Scarlet fever lasts for around 1 week.
• You can spread scarlet fever to other people up to 6 days before you get symptoms until 24 hours after you take your 1st dose of antibiotics.
• If you do not take antibiotics, you can spread the infection for 2 to 3 weeks after your symptoms start.

In very rare occasions, the bacteria can get into the bloodstream and cause an illness called invasive Group A strep (iGAS). While still uncommon, there has been an increase in invasive Group A strep cases this year, particularly in children under 10. There were 2.3 cases per 100,000 children aged 1 to 4 compared to an average of 0.5 in the pre-pandemic seasons (2017 to 2019) and 1.1 cases per 100,000 children aged 5 to 9 compared to the pre-pandemic average of 0.3 (2017 to 2019) at the same time of the year.

There are lots of viruses that cause sore throats, colds and coughs circulating. These should resolve without medical intervention. However, children can on occasion develop a bacterial infection on top of a virus and that can make them more unwell.

As a parent, if you feel that your child seems seriously unwell, you should trust your own judgement.

Contact NHS 111 or your GP if:

• your child is getting worse
• your child is feeding or eating much less than normal
• your child has had a dry nappy for 12 hours or more or shows other signs of dehydration*
• your baby is under 3 months and has a temperature of 38°C, or is older than 3 months and has a temperature of 39°C or higher
• your baby feels hotter than usual when you touch their back or chest, or feels sweaty
• your child is very tired or irritable

Call 999 or go to A&E if:

• your child is having difficulty breathing – you may notice grunting noises or their tummy sucking under their ribs
• there are pauses when your child breathes
• your child’s skin, tongue or lips are blue
• your child is floppy and will not wake up or stay awake

Symptoms of dehydration in adults and children include:

• feeling thirsty
• dark yellow, strong-smelling pee
• peeing less often than usual
• feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• feeling tired
• a dry mouth, lips and tongue
• sunken eyes 

Signs of dehydration in a baby may include:

• a sunken soft spot (fontanelle) on top of their head
• sunken eyes
• few or no tears when they cry
• not having many wet nappies
• being drowsy or irritable

Good hand and respiratory hygiene are important for stopping the spread of many bugs. By teaching your child how to wash their hands properly with soap for 20 seconds, using a tissue to catch coughs and sneezes, and keeping away from others when feeling unwell, they will be able to reduce the risk of picking up or spreading infections.

More useful information can be found on this UKHSA blog for Group A Strep.

 

Liquid Antibiotics

Due to the ongoing news of Group A streptococcal infections, we may find local Pharmacies run out of supplies of liquid antibiotics.

If so, the SPS have released this guidance for crushing / sprinkling solid antibiotic preparations.

 

Pharmacy testing & antibiotics

We have been made aware by local pharmacies that there is advice being circulated that patients can go to pharmacies to get tested and issued with antibiotics if positive. The information we have been provided is that swab tests may be available to purchase over the counter but this may not mean that they can directly issue antibiotics. 

 

Potential scam

We have been made aware of a potential scam message in circulation. An SMS (text message) attempting to appear from the practice states:

"We recently made contact about changes at the practice. If you wish to continue as a patient with us then please call us on 9862992 or reply by text. Thankyou”

This is NOT a message sent by the Honiton Surgery so please treat with caution.

Suspicious text messages should be forwarded to the number 7726, which is free of charge. If you are suspicious about an email you have received, forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk.

If you believe you are the victim of a fraud, please report this to Action Fraud as soon as possible by calling 0300 123 2040 or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk Action Fraud is the reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

 

Online Consult Service 

We are pleased to launch our new online consultation tool AccuRx Patient triage. This new online consultation tool has replaced eConsult.

This new online consultation tool is a great way for you to contact our practice for non-urgent medical or admin requests. The character count is limited on the form so please try to give specific information in a concise way.  

Please note we may take up to 3 days to respond to these requests.  

This facility should NOT be used for prescription requests.

you should continue to request repeat prescriptions either in via repeat slip, SystmOnline, NHS App or other approved patient facing services apps, this reduces work for our admin team which means they can focus on completing other tasks for you.

You must be fully registered with Honiton Surgery to use this service.

If you do not have access to the internet or find it difficult to use a computer or smartphone you can always call our Patient Service Advisors instead.

 

Patient Scams

The NHS will not ask for bank details, so please be aware of suspicious emails or text messages.

Find out more about scam emails, texts and phone calls from the nscs.gov phishing information page.

 

Health & Wellbeing Apps Library

The Clinical Commisioning Group in partnership with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA), have launched a new publicly available health and wellbeing apps library. You can search for any health app you require to get the support and guidance you need. To start your search and find the app you have been looking for.

 

Prescriptions

We do not take repeat prescriptions over the phone.

Repeat prescriptions take 72 hours to process; please bear this in mind when ordering your repeat medication.  This is standard communication from all GP Practices.

Urgent prescriptions can take up to 24 hours: please bear this in mind when ordering, we will contact you once the prescription has been sent to the pharmacist or the paper prescription has been signed.

The definition for Urgent prescription is that they are lifesaving medications only.

NHS England have made it clear that we do not prescribe over the counter medications.

We do not prescribe Hay fever medication that are included as over the counter medications.

Cancelling Appointments

If you no longer need or can no longer attend your appointment please cancel so that this appointment can be offered to someone else.

You can cancel your appointment using the following options:

• Using the cancel function from the link attached to your SMS appointment reminder.
• Replying with the word CANCEL to your SMS appointment reminder.
• Logging on to your ‘online services’
• Using the ‘NHS App’ (more information on NHS app).

If you are unable to cancel your appointment using one of these options then you can contact the surgery by phone.

Patient consent form for third party access to medical records

Please see this attached form to complete if you wish to give consent for another person to access your medical records, or for the surgery to share information about you with the person specified.

Evening and Weekend GP and Nurse Appointments (Improving Access)

We do offer some appointments up to 8:00pm on some evenings, which are outside of normal surgery hours of 8:00am to 6:30pm. We are also open some Saturdays and Sundays. These are primarily aimed at patients who are unable to make an appointment between these normal working hours. If you would like one of these early or late appointments please contact the surgery on our normal telephone number. Please be aware you will not necessarily be able to see your own GP as there are a limited number of these appointments available.

 

Sign-up for Online Services

CURRENTLY NOT ABLE TO BOOK APPOINTMENTS ONLINE (please call surgery to book)

If you wish to sign up for online services during this time, please complete online form.

either post this through our letter box with copy of photo ID or Email completed form and copy/picture of photo ID to:

d-icb.honitonsurgery-patientservices@nhs.net

**** New 'AIRMID' Systm One app notes you can "add data to your record" please be aware we do not get notified of this data being added, this is for personal use only. If you wish to inform a clinican of any readings or information please either call directly or complete an eConsult. Thank you ****

Instead of phoning or visiting the surgery to order repeat prescriptions, book or cancel your appointments - or get your test results - you can now do it all online, and it’s quick, easy and secure. You can also see your patient record. A carer, with your permission, may also do all or some of this on your behalf.

Children registering for online services

Under 16 years old - If you are a parent or guardian of an under 16 year old and would like access to booking appointments and ordering medication ONLY, this can be done through your own online account (You will need to be set up for online services yourself)

Please complete form on behalf of patient and provide a copy of the patient’s BIRTH CERTIFICATE (giving evidence of relationship e.g parent. If birth certificate does not show this, then we can accept other relevant paperwork which indicates you are parent/’guardian

16+ years old – Should have sole access.

Going online really does make a difference. It not only saves you and the practice time, but will help you to take more control of your health care.

Patients who have registered to use online services are already seeing the benefits which include:

• saving time when booking appointments and prescriptions
• feeling more empowered due to easier and convenient access
• being more informed about their care and better prepared when they see their GP, practice nurses and attend clinics
• Available 24 hours a day from the app, website, smartphone or computer it's especially useful if the telephone lines are busy.

Registering online doesn’t mean you can’t see your GP, practice nurse or attend a clinic. It just gives you quicker and easier access to practice services whenever you’re online and wherever you may be.

Ask our receptionists about registering for online services next time you’re in the practice or on the phone, and we’ll support you in getting started.

Already signed up? Order a repeat prescription, book an appointment or view your medical record.

 

Research Trials & Studies

Medical research has been conducted at the Honiton Surgery for over 20 years. These studies cover all aspects of health care including diabetes care, early diagnosis of cancer, assessing dressings and wound care, post flu vaccine surveillance and assessment of new medicines. Please see our Training and Research page for more information.

 

Medical Students

As a training practice we are involved in the teaching and training of medical students in different stages of their careers. We currently have a number Medical Students present in the surgery.

You may be asked if you would agree to have a medical student sitting in your consultation with you, we very much hope you will participate in the student teaching programme but understand that on some occasions you would rather not have a student present – please let us know if that is what you would prefer. 

 

Call Monitoring

Please be aware that from week commencing 5th March 2018 all our incoming and outgoing telephone calls are recorded; On contacting the surgery the initial message will inform you of this. These calls will be kept for approximately 6 months.

Under normal circumstances a call will not be retrieved or monitored unless:

· It is necessary to investigate a complaint;

· It is part of a management 'spot check' that patient service standards are being met;

· There is a threat to the health and safety of staff or visitors or for the prevention or detection of crime;

· It is necessary to check compliance with regulatory procedures; or

· It will aid standards in call handling through use in training and coaching our staff.

 

Self Help

Self help information can be found by clicking the self help and tools page, or speak to one of our local pharmacists who are highly skilled practitioners and may be able to offer advice. MIU at Honiton Hospital can also treat minor problems up to 48 hours old such as female urine infections, throat infections, sprains, strains, cuts, grazes, wounds, burns, nose bleeds, foreign bodies in the eye.

Useful information from the NHS Independent Living Service on aids for making life easier at home and where to seek advice.

Reading Well for Long Term Conditions - Libraries across Devon hold collections of nationally accredited books for adults and young people to access. A new list for long term conditions has been added offering 28 titles on various long term conditions.

See this handy leaflet to assist you when managing infections.

 

One Small Step

Looking to make a change? Try One Small Step  - Whether you’re looking to quit smoking, lose weight for that special occasion, become more active or reduce your alcohol intake, this website can help.  OneSmallStep is a tailored service for the people of Devon.

 

Devon Single Point of Access (SPA)

The new Devon Single Point of Access (SPA) is a country-wide doorway into Devon's services for all enquiries, requests for advice and access (referrals) to the following services for children and young people:

Children and Young People's Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Children’s Learning Disability Team, Palliative Care, Children’s Community Nursing (CCCN), Specialist Children’s Assessment Centres (under 5s) and Social Care for Children with Additional Needs.

 

HANDi Mobile Applications

Click for Apple Appstore or Google Playstore.

 

If you need medical attention

The short video below is all about Choosing the Right Service.