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Flu vaccinations for all 50 – 64 year olds

Along with the rest of the country we have woken to the news that you can book your flu vaccination from 1st December. Unfortunately we weren’t given advance notice of this and have not yet been told how to get hold of flu vaccines which have been held back by the manufacturers until those people at high clinical risk have been vaccinated. So please do not ring the surgery to book your appointment until we update this page! We expect it will take at least two weeks to get stocks delivered and flu clinics set up and will text or email all those eligible as soon as we have appointments to book for you. Please make sure we have either your email or your mobile number (and permission to send you text messages) so we can inform you rapidly once we have news. Thank you!

Coronavirus Update

We are open! Our doors have stayed open throughout the pandemic (except between 1 and 2pm when we have always closed to allow us to catch up after the morning rush). The main change we have made is to discourage you from coming into the surgery in person unless you have an appointment or need to collect your medication: this reduces the number of people in the surgery, particularly the waiting room and reception area, so we can keep everyone safe.

This is particularly important in the afternoons when we bring in any respiratory patients to be assessed, so please take notice of the signs and avoid coming in to the reception area between 1 and 5pm.

Do not attend the surgery if you suspect you have the virus or have been in close contact with an infected person. Use the NHS 111 online symptom checker at https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19. You do not need to call us, or NHS 111, to report that you have the symptoms. Follow the care advice given on the NHS 111 website or in the media, but contact us if your symptoms worsen or you are worried. If you think you might have COVID-19 you can telephone the NHS COVID hotline number 119 to arrange to have a test.

For up to date information please use the following links: GOV.uk/coronavirus NHS.uk/coronavirus

You can still telephone us with any urgent query and our duty doctor will triage you and bring you in for an examination if this is necessary. For more routine appointments you can book online or by telephoning us; all GP appointments are by telephone unless the doctor arranges for you to come in. Nurse appointments carry on as normal although routine reviews may be done by telephone if there is no need for you to attend the surgery.

Remember to wear a face covering, if you are able, when you visit the surgery.

PRESCRIPTIONS CAN ONLY BE COLLECTED BEFORE 1PM, AND BETWEEN 5PM AND 6PM for your own safety.

FOR REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS ORDERED VIA TELEPHONE OR ONLINE PLEASE CAN WE ASK THAT YOU GIVE THE DISPENSARY AT LEAST ONE WEEKS NOTICE WHERE POSSIBLE. This is because of the persistent delays in stock being delivered, which can result in long queues at the dispensary if you come to collect something which we have not yet received from the suppliers. Thank you for helping us to reduce the queues by ordering in plenty of time.

Second Lockdown: the above arrangements still hold but with the addition that the pubs in Puncknowle and Litton Cheney are closed and cannot be used as collection points for medication as normal. However the White Horse Inn in Litton Cheney is opening especially for prescription collections, from 10 to 12 noon every Saturday morning. Please do your best to collect your meds at this time but if you can’t, Andy and Liz Venning are very kindly delivering any uncollected prescriptions – please give them a warm welcome if they do this for you. Patients in Puncknowle who normally collect from the Crown will equally find a lovely member of our staff doing deliveries, but if you can collect yourself from the Surgery she would appreciate it as it lengthens an already long working day if she has a long list of deliveries to do on her way home! Thank you.

Click here for full information and advice on all our new arrangements to keep you safe.

ECONSULT

For non-urgent queries you can now do an eConsult. With many of our consultations being done by telephone it may be harder for you to reach us by telephone at the moment, so this is a helpful alternative which is becoming increasingly popular with our patients. It gives the doctor all the information they need to be able to help you, for example with advice or a prescription, and it saves you travelling to the surgery, finding a lift or childcare, taking time off work etc, so do give it a try – see below. eConsults are suitable for NON URGENT QUERIES and will get a response within two working days. For more urgent problems please telephone us as normal.

PLEASE CLICK THIS BOX to start your eConsult:

See here for more details about eConsult and how it works.

Telephone numbers:

Please note that we have closed the old dispensary telephone number as we no longer take routine medication orders by phone. If you have a medication query please ring the main surgery number 01305 871468 or email the appropriate team:

portesham.reception@dorsetgp.nhs.uk
portesham.dispensary@dorsetgp.nhs.uk