Your GP practice is open and if you need to see your GP, please ring us on 01223 247505 Cornford House or 01223 880216 Fulbourn Health Centre or visit our website: www.cornfordhouse.org

Our opening hours are 08.30 – 18.30 Monday to Friday, with Extended Hours from 18.00 – 20.00 at Cornford House on Fridays & 09.00 - 17.00 on Saturdays.

You can also call NHS 111. Please do not come to the surgery unless you have an appointment.

 If you are waiting for a check-up, please be assured we will be in touch

Appointments are being delivered face-to-face, online and over the telephone. If you are asked to come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment, please remember to wear a face covering. Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection during your visit to the surgery.

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If you think you have symptoms of Coronavirus visit www.111.nhs.uk/covid-19. Do not go to a GP, pharmacy or hospital.

If you are unable to manage your Coronavirus symptoms, have been instructed to do so or do not have access to the internet, then please call NHS 111. 

Testing is also now available to any member of the public (over the age of 5) with symptoms by visiting nhs.uk/coronavirus

Coronavirus Support in the Local Community: 

If you need help or advice during this difficult time, take a look at he following website, which offers a wealth of information, contact details and advice:

www.queen-ediths.info

or e-mail them on hello@queen-ediths.info

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PRESS RELEASE

Cambridge General Practice response to

COVID-19

The COVID-19 Pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the National Health Service across the country, stretching services which were already struggling. Cambridgeshire general practice is adapting to these pressures on a day-by-day basis; reacting and implementing the expert advice from NHS England and Public Health England. Therefore, it is imperative that patients understand that they will see rapid changes in the way Cambridgeshire General Practice functions.

All changes will be designed to reduce the spread of the virus and minimise the impact of COVID-19 on our most vulnerable and frail patients. It is potentially likely that your practice may suggest that:

1) Routine GP appointments will be suspended whilst surgeries concentrate on urgent care for the most unwell.

2) Patients will see a move from face-to-face appointments to telephone and virtual appointments.

3) Practices will move to a system where ALL patients will need to speak to a medical professional to determine the need for an appointment (telephone triage).

Chief Executive of Cambs LMC, GP Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said, "On behalf of all practices we ask Cambridgeshire residents to bear with GPs and their teams during this period of high demand and uncertainty, and follow updates on practice websites and SMS messages."

We would like to highlight the following from the Government’s announcement on Thursday 12 March:

- Patients can find information via the NHS website

- If you think you have COVID-19 symptoms please go to 111 online DO NOT ATTEND YOUR GP SURGERY

- Please follow the new NHS advice to self-isolate at home for 7 days if you have:

 a fever AND / OR

 a new persistent cough

 if your symptoms are manageable at home and you would not ordinarily require medical attention please do not call 111 unless your condition deteriorates.

- At this point in time GPs CANNOT test for the coronavirus which causes COVID-19

Cambridgeshire Local Medical Committee would like to thank patients for their understanding and thank all our front-line NHS staff for continuing to do the very best for Cambridgeshire’s patients under very difficult circumstances.

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 CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)ADVICE

The practice is taking a number of measures to manage the Coronavirus risk.  We will be asking all patients who telephone us to tell us about their travel history and any contact you may have had with a confirmed case of Coronavirus.  If you are contacting us regarding a cough/cold/sore throat/respiratory symptom we will, as a first measure, give you a telephone call with the duty GP.  You may still be brought in but we are trying to minimise attendance at the practice where appropriate. 

The NHS and Public Health England (PHE) are extremely well prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of all patients and NHS staff while also ensuring services are available to the public as normal.

NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do.

Use this service if:

•      you think you might have coronavirus

•      in the last 14 days you've been to a country or area with a high risk of coronavirus – see coronavirus advice for travellers and a list of high risk countries on uk

•      you've been in close contact with someone with coronavirus

•      Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Stay indoors and avoid close contact with other people. Call 111 if you need to speak to someone.

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Guide to Independent Living in Cambridge.

This valuable guide has just been published and can be accessed by using the link below:

https://www.carechoices.co.uk/publication/cambridgeshire-guide-to-independent-living/

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Use your NHS wisely this winter

You can treat minor winter illnesses such as colds and coughs, sore throats, and upset stomachs easily at home with medicines, which you can buy from your local pharmacy. No prescription required.

Stock up on winter essentials today:

pain relief (paracetamol)

cold and cough remedies

first aid kit

upset stomach treatment

rehydration treatment

heartburn and indigestion treatment

Save yourself time, and save the NHS money, see your pharmacist.

You can treat minor winter illnesses such as colds and coughs, sore throats, and upset stomachs easily at home with medicines, which you can buy from your local pharmacy. No prescription required. Use your NHS wisely this winter

DNA's

We are still grappling with large numbers of Did Not Attends, here are the numbers for the period 1st April to 1st October this year:

Fulbourn Health Centre = 353

Cornford House Surgery = 802

This equates to a cost to the Practices of £32,998.00. A huge sum of money at a time when the NHS needs all the funding it can get and when public outcry about the lack of appointments is at its loudest.

Clearly this is not an acceptable situation and over the coming months we will be looking at ways to reduce these numbers.

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Extended Hours comes to Cornford House in September.

With effect from the 2nd September Cornford House will be open on Monday and Friday evenings only, from 18.00 hrs until 22.00 hrs.

Extended Access is available every day, including weekends at other Surgeries around the area. Our Reception Team are able to book you into these out of hours services and tell you which Surgeries are open on which days.

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Need help to Quit Smoking ?

www.smokefree.nhs.uk

www.camquit.nhs.uk

or

NHS Free Smoking Helpline

0300 123 1044

 You can now access Extended hours via the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/CambsGPNetwork/

https://twitter.com/CambsGP

Extended GP Opening Hours, evenings and weekends.

Extra appointments to see a GP or Nurse are available to all patients in Cambridge, Ely and the surrounding villages.

You can book an appointment through your GP receptionist who will give you the time, date and venue for your appointment.

If you would like to find out more, please visit:

www.openlater.co.uk 

or ask the receptionist in your GP Practice.

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Helping your hospital to help YOU

 a message to patients

We’re sorry, but we’re really busy. This winter we’ve seen more patients than ever before and had waiting times of up to SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS in A&E. Patients can help us help them by understanding the circumstances in which they should attend. A&E department deals with life-threatening emergencies, such as:

 loss of consciousness

 acute confused state and fits that are not stopping

 persistent, severe chest pain

 breathing difficulties

 severe bleeding that cannot be stopped

 severe allergic reactions

 severe burns or scalds

Less severe injuries can be treated in urgent care centres or minor injuries units (MIUs) and sources of help are listed on the local Clinical Commission Group ‘Choose Well’ web pages. Minor injuries units and urgent care centres can treat:

 sprains and strains

 broken bones

 wound infections

 minor burns and scalds

 minor head injuries

 insect and animal bites

 minor eye injuries

 injuries to the back, shoulder and chest

A&E is not an alternative to a GP appointment. If a GP practice is closed residents can call NHS 111, which will direct them to the best local service. If patients do attend A&E, it is extremely helpful to limit the number of friends or family who accompany them, since demand for seating is greater than the number we have

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Keep Your Head | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group

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Repeat Prescriptions:

We cannot accept repeat prescriptions over the telephone. 

New App: Need to find local health services quickly?

A new app to help Cambridgeshire and Peterborough residents find local NHS services is now available to download.

Quick and easy to use, the 'MyHealth Cambridgeshire & Peterborough' app will direct you to your nearest appropriate NHS service. This includes local Gps' Pharmacies, Minor Injury Units and Dentists, based on your location or postcode.

Free to download and available in five other languages including Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian, 'MyHealth' provides up to date information on current services including directions, opening hours and contact details.

The app is available to download for iOS via Apple Store and Android via Google Play by searching

'MyHealth C&P CCG'

Friends and Family test is now here

Please let us have your views by taking our short patient survey available by clicking on the light blue "Patient Survey" button on the Home page

Online access to your medical records

We know that around a third of our patients already take advantage of the convenience of being able to book appointments and order their repeat prescriptions online.

We will shortly be arranging for those patients that want it to have the ability to view online, their own medical record held at this practice.

It’s not that being able to see your records is new – you already have that right. Nor is it new that your records are kept electronically. Most GPs and health organisations keep medical records on a secure computer. Letters and other paperwork are coded or scanned and put into electronic format. This makes for far more accurate and speedy organisation of your healthcare.

What is changing is that you will be able to have online access to your records

You won’t have to do any of this but if you need to use the NHS and social care a lot, it should make you feel more informed and therefore more in control.

More importantly, it will make for a far more efficient and convenient service. After all, the information held in your health notes is about you and for you.

Where this has been tried in other parts of the country, most frequent uses of online records access are: accessing test results, viewing letters the GP has received or sent about you; checking information about your condition

What you can do;

Read what your doctor has written* – your diagnoses, advice and treatment

Check your test results

Check whether a referral has been made

Spot any inaccuracies and tell your GP or practice

Print information off to take to an appointment

Remind yourself of what happened when

Read letters to and from your GP*

Prepare for your next appointment

Get key medical information fast if something happens to you away from home or when the surgery is closed

*Consultation notes and letters will be available only from the date of consent onwards.

You will be able to request access to your records online through your existing SystmOnline account by selecting Patient Record and then Request

Once you have given your consent, we will receive a message and your doctor will need to give their consent for your record to be viewed online.

We as a practice are very keen to involve you in your care, be open and honest with you and give you as much information as is available about your health and your care and we hope that giving you access to your records online, should you want them, will make that easier.

We do acknowledge however that this may not appeal to every patient and so the decision to gain access online is entirely yours in the first place. Should you decide that you would like this option then of course it will be especially important for you to retain control of your user name and password and to let us know at the earliest opportunity should you feel they may have been compromised so that we can regenerate a new password for you.

For those of you that would like to have access to your records, we hope you will find this a useful addition to the services that the practice offers.