IMPORTANT NOTICE
04/01/2021
IMPORTANT COVID-19 VACCINATION INFORMATION
Following new advice from the UK Chief Medical Officers we are writing to inform you that we need to reschedule your second coronavirus vaccination appointment.
Our Doctors are fully in agreement that prioritising the first doses of vaccine for as many people as possible on the priority list will protect the greatest number of at risk people overall in the shortest possible time. This means we will need to reschedule second doses appointments already booked. If you had a second dose appointment you will shortly receive a text message or phone call informing you of the cancellation.
You do not need to call us. We will call you in due course to reschedule your second vaccine appointment.
While you will need two doses of the vaccine to get the best long-term protection from the virus, you will still have significant protection at 22 days after you received the first dose.
Please be reassured that there are no safety concerns in the new guidance, and it will not impact on how effective the vaccination is in protecting you from Covid-19 once the course is complete.
It is important to note that even when you have received your vaccine, you must follow government guidance on social distancing and wearing a mask, as well as the additional measures in place in your area.
We apologise for any inconvenience, and look forward to seeing you for your second vaccine dose at the right time.
For more information on the vaccine, please visit www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination
21/12/2020
Patients who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 Vaccination will be invited to book an appointment.
It is really important that you make arrangements to have the vaccine once invited so that together we can return to some state of normal. If you have not received a letter, phone call or text message to book a vaccine, please do not worry, we will notify everyone in priority order when the vaccine becomes available. We would be grateful if you do not telephone the practice or hospital, please wait to be invited.
FLU CAMPAIGN 2020
Thank you to all the patients who attended the Drive through at Lake House car park. Feedback was very positive and we are grateful for everyone's patience as it was a new way of delivering our vaccines this year.
Thank you from all the staff at Norwood
From the 7th September 2020 pharmacies will no longer be able to order prescriptions on behalf of our patients
You will need to order repeat medication directly via your GP practice, not via your pharmacy or medical equipment supplier. You can order in the following ways: -
- Online via Patient Access or Doctorlink
- Approved app, i.e. MyGP or NHSapp
- Tick off what you need on the repeat order slip and drop the request into our letterbox on our front door or send via post.
- Add a proxy (family member or carer) to use Patient Access to order medication on your behalf
- or via email gp.A82008@nhs.net
If you can’t order by these means and don’t have a family member, friend or carer able to order for you, please contact us on 01229 402525.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this mean I have to collect my prescriptions from the surgery?
No. Please note this only affects the ordering of your prescription. When you order your repeat prescription directly through your GP practice, your pharmacy will continue to collect or receive your prescription as before.
Will my prescriptions still be delivered?
Yes, pharmacies will continue to deliver your prescription if you currently receive this service. This change only applies to how your prescriptions are ordered.
What about my relatives in Care homes, or who have a dosette box? Do I need to Order for them?
No, anyone in a care home or who requires a dosette box will be unaffected by this change.
Why is this happening?
It’s a rolling programme across all practices in Morecambe Bay CCG to reduce waste and improve patient safety. It’s starting with Norwood & Duke Street with the rest of the practices following the same policy in the coming months. Being in charge of ordering your own repeat prescriptions ensures you get the medicine you need at the time you need it. This can help prevent the build-up of unused or old medicines at home which improves safety, reduces medicines waste and saves valuable NHS resources.
Norwood Medical Centre is now trialling Doctorlink and would like to invite you to join!
We have been looking at how we can improve access to Practice services; DoctorLink is our new online service where you can:
- Access advice and use a symptom checker developed with doctors to help direct you to the most appropriate person to deliver your care
- Book appointments online
- Request Repeat Prescriptions
- Request Fit/Sick Notes
Sign-up is simple and you can create an account here https://app.doctorlink.com/norwood/register
This can be on your PC or smartphone.
For all urgent appointments, we ask that you undertake a symptom assessment through DoctorLink.
The symptom assessment will ask you a number of questions to help to identify your problem.
The outcome of your assessment will direct you to the right treatment, whether emergency care, your GP, nurse or self-care.
If your outcome indicates that an appointment is required at your GP practice, you simply click on the “request an appointment” button.
Once the request has been submitted, you will then be contacted by the Practice Team, to arrange an appointment within the identified timeframe (as outlined in the outcome of your symptom checker).
The information you provide will be shared with our clinical team (where appropriate) and will assist in providing robust information of your problem to the required clinical team member prior to your appointment.
As this is a trial we welcome any feedback from patients about their experience using Doctorlink
COVID-19 update
17/07/2020 - Face masks & exemptions
Following the previous release of government guidance regarding the wearing of face masks in various public settings such as when travelling (including in circumstances where an individual might be exempt), we have noticed an influx of requests for letters of exemption.
The current government guidance on this suggests there is no requirement for evidence for exemption, therefore, it should be sufficient for an individual to self-declare this in most cases. Please follow the link below.
19/05/2020
Advice for Post COVID recovery
Post COVID-19 information pack
05/05/2020 - New service for patients with learning disabilities and autism
People First
- Immediate safety assessments;
- Support, connection;
- Advice and information in accessible formats;
- Signposting to specialist service;
Telephone: 0300 303 2789
keepconnected@wearepeoplefirst.co.uk
22/04/2020 - Barrow County Council Newsletter - April
Barrow County council April Newsletter with useful community information
15/04/2020-
COVID-19 Advice for Parents
COVID19 is unlikely to cause a serious illness in children, but please remember children can still become seriously unwell from other causes that are always around. Please do not let concerns over COVID19 stop you from contacting medical services. If you are not sure if your child needs to be seen please go to https://www.what0-18.nhs.uk/national for advice or contact 111 or one of the GPs here at Norwood. For information about crying babies go to https://www.what0-18.nhs.uk/national If your child is severely unwell call 999 or go to ED.
Emergency Support Helpline for vulnerable people needing urgent help with food, medicines and essential supplies
Cumbria County Council and partners have launched an emergency support service and 6 welfare coordination Hubs for people at high risk of becoming seriously ill, as a result of COVID-19, and who do not have support available from friends, family or neighbours. If they have no alternative support, these people will now be able to... call the Freephone number to request help with getting food, medicines, essential supplies and home deliveries.
Ways to get in touch:
•Phone - The emergency telephone support helpline is 0800 783 1966.
•Online - COVID-19 online support form.
•Email your request for help to COVID19support@cumbria.gov.uk.
•The telephone 'call' centre will operate Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and 10am to 2pm at weekends. The service will also accepts referrals from members of the public who may be concerned about people in their community.
The helpline is there to support those at 'high risk' and includes people over 70 years old, pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions who should be protecting themselves by staying at home. The majority of these people will already be receiving support from family, friends or local voluntary groups with tasks like shopping or collection of medicines if they require it. But we know that a small number of people will not have this support. The helpline will also accept referrals from members of the public who may be concerned about people in their community.
Find out more about the emergency helpline.
02/04/2020 - A Difficult conversation
26/03/20 - We have been made aware of some inaccurate information circulating (especially on social media) regarding special ‘rescue packs’ of antibiotics and oral steroids for patients with pre-existing respiratory conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (or even for those who don’t have these conditions).
We would like to reassure you that patients who suffer with severe respiratory conditions already have these in place (along with the instructions on how to use them). Oral steroids are powerful medicines and any decision to use them would need careful evaluation by a prescriber, usually a doctor or respiratory specialist nurse.
Please do not contact your GP practice for a rescue pack unless this is something that has been previously agreed and prescribed by your medical team. You should continue to manage your condition in the usual way and if you feel you have symptoms of COVID-19, go to https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19 or call 111 (online services should be used as a first choice) before doing anything else.
COVID-19 appointment system changes
Following new advice – our entire appointment system has moved to telephone triage. This includes doctors, nurses and HCA’s. all requests for an appointment will be triaged by a clinician first, if after this, the clinician thinks you need an appointment – it will be booked for you by them.
Everyone with an appointment booked in the coming days/weeks, you will be contacted, you do not need to phone. We have the option of video consultations, so this is now an alternative option to prevent patients having to attend the surgery. Video consultation is available to those with smartphones. Please download the mygp app for this to work as best as possible.
The doors of the surgery are locked and will remain locked for the foreseeable future; however if you are asked to come down to the surgery for an appointment please ring the doorbell. Please telephone where you can for general queries to reduce queues at the door. Sick notes we can post and prescriptions we can send directly to the chemist. we will do all we can to make this process as easy as we can for patients.
The current advice for self-isolation is anyone with a new persistent cough and a temperature above 37.8 needs to self-isolate for 7 days and members of the same household need to isolate for 14 days.
Our aim of these precautionary measures is to keep our staff and patients safe and well. Please bear with us during this busy period and be assured we are doing our best to keep the surgery functioning and to provide our patients with a service during extreme circumstances.
Non-medical support for people self-isolating in the community is being offered by St Mary's amd AgeUK in Barrow. For more info go to our latest news page or follow this link:
https://www.norwoodmedicalcentre.co.uk/news.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and requests for fit notes (Med3)
Requests for certification of absence from work may fall into five categories:
- Personally affected – isolating for seven days
- Personally affected - remaining unwell for over seven days
- Household member affected – isolating for fourteen days as per government advice
- At risk group – following government advice
- Those in full time education
- Personally affected – isolating for seven days
Patients should self-certify for the first seven days as normal if they are unfit to work.
They do not need to contact their GP
- Personally affected - remaining unwell for over seven days
If patients remain unwell and unfit to work over seven days, advice is to visit www.111.nhs.uk and complete an online self-assessment. The patient may be asked to call 111 for further advice on the next steps regarding their illness/ fitness to work.
They do not need to contact their GP.
- Household member affected – isolating for fourteen days as per government advice
- At risk group – following government advice
GPs cannot and are not the gatekeeper of the statutory sick pay system. Employers are responsible for putting in place arrangements for home/remote working where this is possible. Where it is not, the employee may self-certify and return to work following the relevant absence which their employer may authorise as per government advice. Where they do become unwell during or after this time, point 1 and 2 applies.
They do not need to contact their GP.
- Those in full time education
There is no requirement to issue certification to schools or colleges to confirm absence. These organisations must work with parents and students to ensure that any absence is appropriately recorded, obviating the need for a ‘doctor’s note’.
They do not need to contact their GP
As per the current www.gov.uk S13 Guidance for Employers it should be noted that:
By law, medical evidence is not required for the first 7 days of sickness. After 7 days, it is for the employer to determine what evidence they require, if any, from the employee. This does not need to be a fit note (MED3) issued by a GP or any other doctor.
Your employee will be advised to isolate themselves and not to work in contact with other people by NHS 111 or Public Health England if they are a carrier of, or have been in contact with, an infectious or contagious disease, such as Covid-19.
We strongly suggest that employers use their discretion around the need for medical evidence for a period of absence where an employee is advice is to stay at home due to suspected Covid-19, in accordance with the public health advice being issued by the government.
Welcome to Norwood Medical Centre Online
The doctors and staff at Norwood Medical Centre in Barrow-In-Furness are proud to offer the highest standard of patient-centred healthcare.
We are proud to say that we were awarded 'Outstanding' by the CQC at their last visit- you can see the full report by clicking on the 'Care Quality Commission' tab on the right.
We run many clinics for the management of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes and offer a wide variety of other medical services including antenatal and postnatal care, minor surgery, childhood vaccinations and well-person check-ups.
In addition to everything you need to know about the practice you will also find a wealth of health-related information in the menu on the right hand side. Please have a look around and do send us some feedback if you like.
Video Consulting
We are now trialling video consultations! These can be booked online through the myGP app or by calling reception.
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(Site updated 21/01/2021)