Mid Sussex Health Care

latest news

SWINE INFLUENZA

Swine Influenza Advice for the Public

Visit the Health Protection Agency website HERE »

December’s surgery news

Patients will probably have noticed that we now have a new telephone system whereby all calls are diverted to the Admin Centre at Hurstpierpoint during surgery times, i.e. 8.30 – 11.30 and 3.00 – 5.00

We are confident that this will allow those reception staff dealing with patients at each of our Health Centres to give you the time and attention you need when you visit.

We ask that you telephone for appointments between 8.30 and 11.30. All our phone lines are extremely busy for the first 15 minutes or so when we first open at 8.30 and sometimes you may find that you are kept waiting. We are sorry for this and, although we are aware that you have sometimes been asked to ring at 8.30 to get a “same day” appointment, we are trying to modify our system so that we have the correct amount of routine, same-day and telephone consultations whilst also leaving some appointment times for medically urgent problems. As you can imagine, this does take some time and needs to be continually monitored. However, we would assure you that we take heed of the needs of our patients and we will do our best to adjust the number of appointments as and when necessary.

To assist us in making sure we can deal with appointment, visit requests and urgent medical problems, we would remind you to ring for repeat prescriptions, pathology results and non-urgent queries after 11.30.

At this time of the year our clinical staff are extremely busy making sure that all our “at risk” patients are given both seasonal and swine flu vaccinations. This, clearly also makes a great demand on our appointment schedules. However, please make sure you do make appointments to ensure that you are fully protected against both seasonal and swine flu.

We are conscious that the practice has undergone a lot of significant changes in the past four months and this has caused much disruption to us all. We do hope that we have all now adjusted to the changes at Hassocks, the new computer system and the new telephone system and will be able to concentrate on giving our patients the best possible service.

Breaking news: We hope to start refurbishing Hassocks Health Centre early in the New Year! We will keep you informed of all developments.

THE PRACTICE IN THE FUTURE

We are pleased to announce that Dr Shearn’s practice in Hassocks is going to merge into our practice.

This will result in the practice having:

• More than 18,500 patients

• 7 full time partners

• 2 three-quarter time partners

• 2 salaried partners

• 13 nurses and

• Over 30 administrative staff

All these people will provide services from our three health centres based in Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks and Ditchling.

Of course, the merge will necessitate some inevitable organisational changes, not least of which will be the need for a new computer system. We will also be making some alterations to the building at Hassocks Health Centre. These changes will start in July when Dr Shearn retires and we hope the merge will be complete by September.

The way we provide services has had to change to meet the changing demands on General Practice. Although each patient is registered with a named Doctor you will be free to consult with any of the 11 Doctors in the practice. We appreciate that most patients like continuity and so will tend to go back to the same Doctor and this Doctor can be your “usual Doctor” and wherever possible you will be offered an appointment with him/her. If you have a medically urgent problem which needs to be seen the same day you will be offered an urgent appointment with any Doctor who is free at any site but obviously taking into account your preferences where practical. In addition to the traditional twice daily surgeries we provide 2 evening surgeries from 6.30pm until 8pm on Mondays and 1 on either Wednesday or Thursday each week. These 27 appointments each week are strictly for advance booking to enable commuters, in particular, to see a doctor.

Some statistics about the last year:

• Each week there are nearly 900 appointments with doctors in the practice.
• 14,557 patients are currently registered with the practice.
• 1 patient out of every 16 patients consults a doctor each week.
• In excess of 38,000 consultations in the surgery with a doctor.
• 1,200 home visits by doctors.
• 30,000 documents scanned into the electronic patient record.

Inevitably there will be some disruption to quite a complex and extensive service whilst the merge occurs and so we would ask you to please bear with us whilst this occurs. Our hope is that we can provide an even better service to you in the future.

The Patient Participation Groups produce newsletters which can be downloaded from their page here.

doctors in training

From Wednesday 3rd December we are rekindling the training of Doctors at Hurstpierpoint Health Centre.

Click here to read more.

The Express Clinic Hurstpierpoint Health Centre

As from Monday 6th October 08 we now have a Practice Nurse-led minor illness clinic on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9.30-10.30 which deals with the following conditions:

Coughs, Colds and Flu, Sinusitis, Ear ache, Sore Throat, Fever, Rashes, Eye soreness/infection, Diarrhoea/vomiting, Cystitis, Eczema, Hay fever, Boils, Insect bites/stings, Skin infections, Styes, Vaginal discharge/Thrush, Emergency contraception, Emergency Asthma, Ingrowing toenails, Head lice

Unfortunately, the Nurse is unable to see patients with Chest pain, Abdominal pain, Back pain or Babies/Children under 5.

The Aim of the Clinic is to provide more choice for patients seeking treatment for minor illness. She will be able to provide patients with prescriptions and also refer to a GP immediately if medical advice is needed there and then.

The Receptionist may ask the nature of your illness to ensure you see the appropriate health professional.

COUGH AND COLD SEASON

As the cough and cold season is approaching please see this leaflet about colds and antibiotics.

Additional Appointment Times

We are pleased to inform you that we intend to offer late-evening appointments from 6.30pm - 8.00pm on two nights each week.

To give you greater flexibility we will offer these alternately Mondays and Wednesdays one week and Tuesdays and Thursdays the next.

This is not providing an emergency service - these will be routine, pre-booked appointments with a doctor only and you will be seen at our Hassocks Health Centre location.

ONLINE SERVICES

We are now offering a service which enables you to book appointments and request repeat medication online. For more information please click here.