High Field Surgery News May 2024
Welcome to your Practice newsletter
Our newsletter aims to keep you informed of developments in the Practice and the services we offer you.
The newsletter is a joint effort involving the surgery and the Patient Participation Group (PPG). More later on what the PPG aims to do and how you can get involved!
Our last edition focused mainly on the quickest ways to get the healthcare help you need. We continue this theme by focusing on the NHS app, which many patients are now preferring to use as their first port of call, social prescribing and Pharmacy First.
What is the NHS App?
Firstly, app is short for ‘application’, and the NHS app provides a convenient way to deal with High Field Surgery. If you are yet to try the app there’s lots of information online where you can obtain the help you need to get started and to try it out. We think you’ll find it’s a quicker and easier way to deal with a variety of your healthcare questions and needs, without having to call or visit the surgery.
Examples are:
- book and cancel GP appointments
- ask your GP non-urgent health related questions
- order repeat prescriptions
Plus, you can do all these things from the comfort of your home using your mobile phone, tablet or personal computer.
The first step is to download the NHS app from either Google Play Store (for Android phone/tablet) or App Store (for iPhone/iPad), then register as a user. There are download links on the High Field website www.highfieldsurgery.com
This page www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/ contains links to other pages that provide valuable user information. Clicking the heading ‘NHS App help and support’ opens a page with links to:
- Get started – how to set up your login and start using the NHS app.
- Health records – Managing your health records and choices.
- Switch profiles – How to manage services for another person in the app.
- Appointments – Booking and changing appointments.
- Prescriptions – Requesting and managing prescriptions.
- Messages – Reading and sending messages to your surgery or healthcare provider.
- Account and settings – Changing your settings and preferences.
- Technical information – Guidance on technical issues.
- Contact the NHS App team – Get in touch about the NHS App or your account.
There is also a selection of YouTube videos covering a variety of topics from how to register with the NHS app to accessing the range of available services.
eConsultations
An online service that has proved useful to patients since it launched 3 years ago is called eConsultation.
What is an econsultation?
This could be to get advice from a GP, complete administration tasks or arrange to see other professionals or services without always having to see the GP first. Think of it as an email but the topic of the email and the information you provide is guided by filling in one of the online forms.
How does it work?
Go to the practice website www.highfieldsurgery.com and click the link on the homepage to “start now”.
Once completed, the form is then sent through to the reception team, who will assign the form to the most appropriate member of the High Field team.
We aim to deal with all eConsultation forms within two working days of sending. Once your form has been reviewed and the specialist has reached a decision, you will contacted by a member of the team informing you of the next step.
The service has recently been upgraded to make it even easier to use, and patient feedback is very positive.
Help us to help you
Patients who telephone the surgery for a GP appointment are now being asked by our receptionists to provide more information about their condition. They aren’t being nosey!… it’s to help our receptionists to guide you to the most appropriate health specialist. This may be one of our GP’s, to another clinical staff member (such as Social Prescriber, Physiotherapist, Health Coach, Dietician, Podiatrist or Pharmacist), or to a local Pharmacy through the Pharmacy First initiative.
Social Prescribing
You may be referred (or you can self-refer) to a social prescriber if it’s felt that your circumstances are making you feel unwell, rather than having a specific medical condition.
Aimed at patients aged 16+, the social prescribing service is a shared resource covering local surgeries. Their team are experts whose role is to understand a patient’s circumstances and to work with them on an individual plan to help manage or change those circumstances for the better.
Examples of how they can help include supporting people in self-managing existing health problems, or maybe helping them obtain eligible benefits, managing debt problems or getting back into employment. They can also help people connect and to grow in confidence.
Pharmacy First
Your local registered pharmacist is a highly qualified medical professional. They are trained in the use of medicines and managing minor illnesses, so they are well equipped to provide health and wellbeing advice to help people stay well.
They are also experienced in spotting warning signs, otherwise known as red flag symptoms, which may warrant a referral to another healthcare provider. Pharmacy First was launched earlier this year to give people quick access to medical advice covering a range of 7 common ‘clinical pathway’ conditions, as well as a number of “minor illnesses”. These include earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections.
| Clinical Pathway | Age Range |
|---|---|
| Acute otitis media | 1 to 17 years |
| Impetigo | 1 year and over |
| Infected insect bites | 1 year and over |
| Shingles | 18 years and over |
| Sinusitis | 12 years and over |
| Sore throat | 5 years and over |
| Uncomplicated urinary tract infections | Women 16-64 years |
Pharmacies have private consultation rooms that can be used for consultations with patients, and pharmacists can often see patients without needing an appointment.
After a consultation with the pharmacist, they will send a notification to the patient’s GP for future reference on your medical records.
if your condition falls within the descriptions in the above table please use your local Pharmacy First service as the first port of call. Full details of Pharmacy First can be found here: Pharmacy First
Patient Participation Group (PPG)
Did you know High Field Surgery has a Patient Participation Group? It’s known as the PPG and is made up of people just like you – ordinary patients of High Field Surgery.
We meet regularly with the surgery’s Practice Manager and one of the Doctors to share views on current services and listen to the surgery’s plans and the issues that may affect patients. This gives us a chance to include our views at the planning stage.
We’re looking for more volunteers to join the PPG. We would particularly like to reflect a wider range of the surgery’s patients including people from a wide variety of backgrounds and ethnicities, younger people, and those with special needs.
We ask only that you are happy to come along and contribute to the meetings* in a constructive and respectful way.
*Meetings will be a combination of online and face-to-face, so you will need access to a reliable internet connection and be comfortable in meeting others.
If you feel you have something to say and would like to find out more about becoming a member of the PPG, please email the group on [email protected] (Note, this email is operated by the Patient Group themselves and is not for contacting the practice).
We hope you find High Field News a useful way to keep up to date with developments. If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future editions, please pass these to the surgery Reception.