We’re still here for you

As we have been throughout the pandemic, the surgery is still working harder than ever to provide care for our patients, both via telephone, video and face to face, as well as dealing with the backlog of routine care caused by the increased workload due to the pandemic. We are also providing flu vaccinations to an increased number of eligible patients this year.

We plan to participate in the roll out of the Covid vaccine with the other local surgeries in the North Cotswolds. This is likely to be at a local venue/hub due to storage conditions for the vaccine and other requirements for administering this specific vaccine. We will contact eligible patients in due course with arrangements for this.

We are also arranging care and treatment for our symptomatic Covid patients – this may be at another venue to ensure infection control measures – and the staffing of this is shared amongst ourselves and the other local practices.

We have recorded an information video for patients, which is available on the website (Message for patients of Campden Surgery from the partners November 2020) and social media.

An example of our activity over the last 8 months from March – October during the pandemic period:

• 15,200 prescription items dispensed to dispensing patients from our dispensary team (we dispense to around 1/3 of our patients) and provided prescriptions to the remaining patients who receive their medication from pharmacies
• 11,192 face to face appointments with patients with clinicians at the surgery
• 10,727 telephone consultations with patients with clinicians at the surgery

Please ensure you contact the surgery for any concerns, or if you have noticed any changes on self examination, about potential cancer symptoms and please continue to attend when requested for screening programmes such as cervical screening and mammograms. Our 2 week wait referrals for potential cancer investigations have been maintained throughout the pandemic period and we wish to ensure we continue this going through into the winter months.

Secondary Care

We are being advised by secondary care, i.e. hospitals, that there is a large backlog and waiting list for routine appointments and we have been asked to inform patients that they are working through this.

Routine monitoring of Chronic Diseases

We are still working through the inevitable backlog of patients (due to the increased workload produced by the pandemic) for chronic disease monitoring – via telephone, face to face reviews or via texts for initial information (please ensure we have your mobile number). Hospital pathology services are now back to normal after the supply issues with Roche during October/November, so we are now recalling routine blood tests again. If you have any urgent queries regarding your chronic condition, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice.

Staff changes

We are sorry to say goodbye to our Dispensary Manager, Jude, who is leaving us at the beginning of December due to a move out of the area. We would like to thank Jude for her efficient running of our dispensary during her 10 years with the surgery and especially during these last few difficult months with the pandemic meaning that our dispensers have had more face to face contact (and therefore risk) than other staff in the surgery and the adjustments this department has made to ensure that all of our patients still receive their medication and prescriptions.

Our receptionist, Erica is also leaving us in December due to early retirement.

We are currently recruiting to these 2 roles.

Carers

All of our known carers have been invited for their flu vaccines. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you, as a carer, need any health advice as we are able to book a telephone consultation initially with our lead carer nurse. We can also refer our carers to our Social prescriber for help with social advice during these difficult times. Gloucestershire Carers Hub also have more help and advice via their website (www.gloucestershirecarershub.co.uk) or telephone 0300 111 9000.

Christmas and New Year

We wish all of our patients a Happy and healthy festive season. The surgery will be open as usual over the festive season apart from the Bank Holiday dates of 25^th and 28^th December 2020 and 1^st January 2021. Urgent advice and treatment will also be available over this period through NHS 111 and the GP out of hours service.