We understand that some of our patients may have encountered difficulties viewing certain documents (e.g. letters from the hospital) due to a software problem. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are pleased to inform you that this issue has been resolved for new documents being added onto the system. It may take up to a month for older documents to become visible.

Your GP team will have been able to access the letters so your care will not have been affected during this time.

We are currently experiencing serious issues with IT systems at the practice. This issue is area wide and affecting other GP Practices.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond our control.

Thursday 26 January 2023 from 12.00 noon

Did you know…?

We are participating in a new approach to improve access for patients to GP appointments. The aim is to direct patients to the most appropriate healthcare professional, which may be a GP or a pharmacist.

If your symptoms could be resolved by a booked consultation with the pharmacist instead of the GP, you will be given a same-day referral to a pharmacy of your choice.

We think this is a good thing. Once you see how great your local pharmacist is – they are highly trained and skilled clinicians experienced in treating minor illnesses – we don’t think you’ll look back.

This will also help us to free up GP appointments for people with more complex health needs and ensure that everyone gets treated at the right time, by the right healthcare professional.

We are keen to hear what you think and will be listening to your comments and feedback about your experience of using this service.

An issue has been raised that some patients who have BT landlines are not able to receive telephone calls from their practice.

BT have introduced a “Call Protect” service which appears to block certain numbers that BT have identified as nuisance callers, which unfortunately may include some practices.

When calling patients, the call is not accepted and the caller is asked to leave a message on the 1572 system and patients may not be aware that there is a message, or how to retrieve the message.

Customers may not be even aware that they have been enrolled onto this service and would have to update the ‘block list’ either via the BT portal or by contacting BT and request that the practice number is removed from the block list.

Further information can be found on the BT website:

BT Call Protect – ‘How to…’ guide | BT Help

We have updated our practice leaflet, you can download a copy using the link below:

Patients will be used to see the e-consult banner which has been advertised on our website since 2016. This is a form of online consultation.

Please read the leaflet below to learn more about online consultations.

We are a pilot site for the electronic repeat dispensing initiative due to be rolled out in Halton.

At least two thirds of all prescriptions generated in primary care are for patients needing repeat supplies of regular medicines, and since 2005 repeat dispensing has been an Essential Service within the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

Under the repeat dispensing service pharmacy teams will:

• dispense repeat dispensing prescriptions issued by a GP;
• ensure that each repeat supply is required; and
• seek to ascertain that there is no reason why the patient should be referred back to their GP.

Originally this service was mainly carried out using paper prescriptions, but as the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) has developed, the majority of repeat dispensing is now carried out via EPS release 2 and is termed electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD). eRD  is much more efficient and convenient for all involved.

Source:  http://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/essential-services/repeat-dispensing/