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Sadly, this week my staff have been pushed to the limit & placed under additional pressure from a small minority of patients who have displayed themselves in an aggressive way.  The NHS is very clear here, we hold a Zero Tolerance approach to any forms of abuse whether directed towards its staff or patients and that applies not only to all staff working within Forestside Medical Practice it also applies to the patients that we look after.  Incidents of anti-social behaviour towards our staff, in front of other patients or directed at other patients needs to stop.

Primary Care Services are at breaking point, waiting times are longer than ever and that applies to incoming calls and booking routine appointments.  We have a finite number of appointments set against clinical safety and the number of clinicians in house each day.  Our staff follow protocols, set by the GP’s which are not there to be obstructive, they are set to help manage Urgent on the day care alongside Routine requests directing patients to the appropriate clinician, which may not always be a GP.

Thank you for your support.

Julie Stewart

Practice Manager

Dear Patients,

The Practice is working extremely hard to meet the daily demands placed on us; alongside keeping both Dibden Purlieu and Marchwood surgeries open & seeing patients.  Unfortunately, this week we have had several incidents of patients shouting and verbally abusing our staff whist trying to assist them over the phone or at the reception desk.

We appreciate that you may be unwell or just feel generally frustrated with the Practice, we do understand that, but; it is not acceptable to treat our staff or doctors in this way.  We have 13 members of the team off for various reasons and this is placing extreme pressure on the remaining members trying to help you.

We are struggling now, but this is completely out of our control, nationally there is a shortage of Doctors, Nurses, and Administrative Staff and nationally this is impacting on the availability of routine appointments with patients waiting 4 weeks or more.  Urgent care is overloaded not just for us; however, this is our reality.

We are doing our very best during these very difficult times and would ask our patients to be kind to our staff and doctors and to respect the pressures we are all under, a little kindness goes along way.

Julie Stewart

Practice Manager

Cervical Screening Awareness Week 20th - 26th June

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Click here to view the job adverts

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Over the next few weeks the Waterside Primary Care Network (of which we are a member practice) and the CCG are asking patients to complete a survey about our same day/urgent care appointments. We would be very grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to complete the survey, click the link below:

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/WatersidePCN/

Dear Patients,

We apologise for any delays whilst attending or calling the surgery.  We are currently short staffed which is impacting on the remaining members of the team and our ability to respond to queries and keep up with the increased volume of work coming in.

Our staff are doing their very best to assist you whilst working under extreme pressure during these difficult times.

We appreciate your support.

Thank you.

Julie Stewart

Practice Manager

Dear Patients,

Following recent water damage Marchwood surgery has been drying out for several weeks now.

I am please to say that phase two (the building work) will be starting shortly followed by some redecoration.  Once this work has been completed, we will go into phase three (new floors being laid) this work will impact on 3 of the 5 consulting rooms and part of main corridor.

We will make you aware of any completion dates further down the line; however, we are hoping that this current work will be completed by the 31^{st of} March 2022. 

Phase four (Planned work to the front porch will commence later in 2022) however this should have less of an impact on the clinics we run within Marchwood.

Julie Stewart

Practice Manager

To all our Patients

We are all concerned about the effect of the Omicron virus and are aware of the warnings from the Prime Minister. As per Government advice, we are currently prioritising the patients who are in most need of medical help. By only ringing the surgery when it is essential, we can respond to our patients with the highest need more efficiently. 

It is important that you continue to put your health first so please continue to seek urgent medical help when you need it.

The call to support delivery of the new booster campaign makes it impossible for us to maintain all normal services. If you need routine care and your condition is stable, we may need ask you to wait longer than usual to arrange an appointment.

 If you already have an appointment, there are no changes at the current time so please attend as normal.

 We realise that it is frustrating to have to wait longer than usual for routine appointments and reviews, but we ask for your patience and understanding when contacting the surgery.

Before contacting the practice, please do consider self-help and pharmacy options such as these

• The NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/
• 111 online: https://111.nhs.uk/
• Mental health support: https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/your-mind-plan-quiz/
• Find a pharmacy: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy
• Advice for parents of children and young people https://what0-18.nhs.uk/

Covid-19 Boosters

The practice is sending out messages to patients to book Covid Vaccinations. If you don’t have a mobile phone & want to book or need advice regarding your 1^st, 2^nd or booster Covid-19 vaccine.

Contact the National Booking Service via www.nhs.uk or ring 119

Please do not contact the surgery

Please be aware you need to wait 28 days following Covid before you can have your vaccination

Help us to keep you all safe and well by keeping our phone lines free for those who need urgent medical help.

Thank you

The Partners at Forestside

Dear Patients,

We recently found damp areas inside Marchwood surgery and following thermal imaging a water leak from a burst pipe has been detected within the concrete.

Excavation work needs to take place inside Marchwood surgery followed by 2-3 weeks of drying out flooring and walls, then building work needs to commence replacing plasterwork, woodwork, and redecoration of the affected areas.

Marchwood surgery will be closed on Wednesday 23^rd November giving our contractors a full day to excavate and hopefully repair the leak. 

Going forward this means a loss of three clinical rooms within Marchwood from the 23^rd November into the New Year 2022.

Sadly, this means services at Marchwood will be affected and the surgery may have to close from time to time due to Health & Safety. 

Once we know more, we will up-date our website and facebook pages to keep you informed.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused to you during this difficult period; however, a full service will continue within Dibden Purlieu surgery and the phone lines will remain the same.

Kind regards

Julie Stewart

Practice Manager

Forestside Medical Practice

Update to our telephone system

Dear Patient

Our new telephone system has now been installed however; we have issues with our broadband and are awaiting a replacement system. Engineers are due out to the practice on the 26th July to start the first phase and we hope to be up and running in early August. like you we are very frustrated with the whole situation.

We are coming to grips with the new telephone system but it is still not working properly due to the broadband, our staff are have been answering over 700 calls per day.  If you do not get through within 20 minutes please hang-up and try again later. Please do not get annoyed with our staff they are working very hard trying to help you.

Currently we have 4 staff off either sick or shielding which also impacts on answering the phones.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused to you. We are working very hard to deal with all calls and to assist you further.

Thank you for your understanding.

Julie Stewart

Practice Manager

14.7.2021

Dear Patient

We know that like us, everyone is struggling with the confines of Covid-19.  Everyone is trying to make the best of a really difficult situation and as a practice we are working very hard to keep our doors open caring for all our patients in the best possible way whilst aiming to keep both you and our team safe. 

We are covering clinics within Dibden Purlieu & Marchwood surgeries, along with providing support at the Covid Clinics within Applemore.

Our Telephones are over-run by patients enquiring about their Covid Vaccinations and our emails have increased tenfold from patients emailing the same questions.

We are also as a practice very frustrated with our telephone system to the extent that we are now changing our telephone provider however; this can take up to 12 weeks.  Please be kind to our staff this is out of our control.

The practice is working under extreme pressure please be aware that through our website:-

• We can take repeat prescription requests. Please be aware that prescriptions can take a minimum of 72 hours to process. We will endeavour to deal with urgent enquiries as quickly as possible.
• You cannot send Blood Pressure readings or photographs through the website
• You cannot book appointments through the website - Patients must call Tel No. 02380 844546 to book appointments or use the E-consultation service via our website. Thank you for your understanding.
• We cannot answer clinical questions through our website, please click on to e-consult and complete the questionnaire or call the surgery to book an appointment.
• We cannot respond to patients asking when they will receive their Covid vaccination via email or on our website

We are currently working our way through the governments set list of priorities, rest assured we will send you a text message to book your appointment if we have an up-to-date mobile number and if we don’t we will call you.

If you have received a first vaccination within Applemore we will contact you again to book the second dose.

If you receive a letter from the national booking service, please book through them directly unless you have a problem getting to the centre.

Thank you for your patience.

17th March 2021.