There are always new developments happening in health care many of which may be very important to those patients who may be having to make critical decisions about their own or their family's health problems. This page is here to help inform you of any interesting or important news or developments happening both outside and in the practice. There may be links to interesting places, newsletters, changes in staff or useful information for patients to see. This is very much under development at this time so please come back to see what is going on. For the time being here are a few topical subjects....
MMR Vaccination
There have been many worried patients expressing concerns over the MMR (Mumps Measles and Rubella) issue which continues to be a hot topic. For information about the MMR vaccine and the diseases that it is designed to prevent, visit the comprehensive MMR website at www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk
HRT and the Million Women Study
More recently, a large study of the implications of HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) has cast doubt iin people's minds about this most important aspect of women's lives. Information about the "million women study" can be found by clicking here.
Influenza vaccination
Influenza vaccinations are available every year at the practice usually starting in October. All patients over the age of 65 years are now advised to have a flu jab each year. Other patients who fall into defined at risk groups can also have this vaccination. These are patients with immune deficiencies, diabetes, asthma, etc. If you would like more information or simply reassurance that the vaccination really cannot 'give you the flu' please look here. In addition to this, patients over 80 years of age are encouraged to have a pneumonia vaccination.
New electric front doors
Dr McKendry runs in a challenge to raise funds to replace the notorious entrance doors at the Fairlands Medical Centre with new electric ones. His sponsored run on the GRIM 8 took place on the 5th December 2004.
Eight miles off road, through mud and water, treacherous winter madness, had he got what it takes? Was he home in time for the birth of the new baby?
To find out you will have to keep coming back here and someone must have won a prize if they guessed correctly. |
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The main doors at the Fairlands Medical Centre have long been a problem for some patients. The required spring torsion to satisfy fire regulations would not allow some of our patients to get in! Along with the Fairlands Patient Group who have previously raised money for this purpose, Marty has challenged everyone to sponsor him and so they did. Many of our patients have supported this venture for which we are enormously grateful and the final total raised remains to be calculated.
This has also raised a note of extreme gratitude and sadness for one of our patients who is sadly no longer with us. His family have contributed enormously too and their generosity has left a huge impression on us all. |
Following changes resulting from the implementationt of the new GP Contract, The Fairlands Practice has now ceased to use Primecare for out-of hours on-call services. From the 1st January 2004, we are now using Thamesdoc as are all of the GP surgeries in the Guildford and Waverley PCT. We hope that this will be a better service and will be interested to receive coments from patients about it. Also from this date, Saturday morning clinics will now be provided by Thamesdoc at their main base surgeries and not at the Fairlands Medical Centre. Thamesdoc will therefore be operational from 6.30pm to 8.00am on weekdays and all of weekends and bank holidays.
Tel: 020 8390 9991
A new telephone system has been installed at the surgery on 9th November 2003. Many patients had been concerned about having to press numbers on their telephone key pad to gain access to the branch surgery or other departments within the surgery leading to much confusion. We hope the new system will be easier for patients to use and more efficient as we now have separate numbers for the two surgeries. New technology has not been completely lost though and at the main surgery, those who wish to, can still press their keypads to go directly to administration so avoiding any delay at reception.
We now have a new and separate telephone number for the
Glaziers Lane Branch Surgery which is...
01483 813274
As will become necessary under regulations for providing services to patients within the NHS, this system does have the ability to record telephone calls. You will be notified if this is happening.
There continues to be development and changes in the staff at the surgery. Dr Ahmad, our latest GP Registrar will have become familiar to many. He has now completed his final year prior to becoming a GP Principal but may well be back from time to time as a locum
There are changes happening in the Nursing Suite. Deborah Ferrett has joined us as a new Health Care Assistant. She will be the first point of contact for many new patients as they are invited to attend their first registration medical check but she will also be involved with many of the new ventures we have planned for expanding specialist clinics for specific illnesses such as asthma and coronary heart disease.
Our multidisciplnary Diabetic Clinics have been very successful in acheiving better control of this condition for many of our patients and are now serving as a role model in developing such clinics for other illnesses. Louise Russell was our specialist diabetic nurse and had been primarily responsible for making these as effective as they are. Unfortunately she has now moved on to a new practice but we are hoping to replace her soon. All of our diabetic patients will receive an invitation for an annual review once every year which includes an opportunity to see a dietician and a podiatrist as well as the nursing and medical teams.
Our managerial and clerical staff continue to work very hard 'behind the scenes' to implement all of the changes that are necessary for the New GP Contract which came into force as of the 1st April 2004. There has been much uncertainty as to how this would affect us all but we will be working to ensure that patient care is the first priority for our own surgery in this new world of General Practice.
| Dr Nichols retired from the practice at the end of May 2003. His departure at the age of sixty brings a note of considerable sadness to us all at the practice as it has been to all those patients who have known and trusted him as their doctor for so many years. We wish him the very best for the future but we have little doubt that we have not seen the last of him yet! |
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| After 30 years with the practice, he studied for and acheived an M.Sc. in nutritional medicine during his last few years which was an incredible feat of intellectual endurance. He hopes to be able to bring this passion of his life into practice in some way in the future. He has never stopped in his pursuit of academic interest and has been a leading influence within the practice for many years in encouraging this through primary health care team meetings, research groups and GP training. |
