Practice News and Notices

Thank you! 

Thank you to everyone who has sent us cards and gifts for Christmas- we really do appreciate you thinking of us.

We wish all our patients a Happy New Year!

Flu clinics 2011

We have now completed our saturday morning flu clinics. If you have received a letter inviting you for a vaccination and have not yet attended, please contact the surgery to make an appointment in one of our weekday clinics.

Please note that from next year, patients over the age of 65 will not receive a recall letter and we would ask patients to make a note in their diary to contact the surgery early to mid september 2012 to enquire about vaccination. Thank you.

Patients turning 16 years of age

We will soon start writing to patients who will turn 16 in the coming month to advise that they will become responsible for their own healthcare decisions at the age of 16. We hope that the content of the letter will be informative and helpful and will be welcomed by the patients and their parents and guardians.

NHS Choices

Visit www.nhs.uk for information on health services, medical conditions, medication, and healthy living. The site contains a wealth of information, including reviews of health related articles that have appeared in the media.

Extended Hours Surgeries

The surgery has been offering doctors' appointments from 6.30pm to 8pm on mondays and thursdays for some time. From July 2011, one of our evening sessions will be with the practice nurse, predominantly for travel advice and vaccinations, which we hope will be of benefit to patients who work during the day.

 

Book and cancel your appointments online

The surgery are pleased to announce the introduction of a new service for patients from March 2011 which will enable the booking and cancellation of appointments using the internet.

Patients will need to apply to the practice to register for this service, and individual usernames and passwords will be required. If you are interested in registering to use the online appointments system, please complete a registration form and return it to the surgery. As a new service, we will be introducing this gradually. Depending on the demand for the service, we may not be able to register all patients immediately and over the first few months we may make changes to the number and type of appointments that are available to book online. We would appreciate your understanding during this time and would welcome any constructive feedback. 

Summary Care Records

Patients will have recently received letters and information packs from Solihull Care Trust about summary care records. There are still some concerns about SCRs and this practice has not yet taken a decision whether to participate and we are awaiting further advice. As a result no records have been created for patients at this practice at the present time. We will keep patients informed.

 

OPENING HOURS

The surgery has extended its opening hours from 1st November 2010 and will be open from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday

 

TRAVEL APPOINTMENTS

Please book an appointment to see the nurse as soon as you know your travel plans. Many vaccinations require a course of injections over a number of weeks.

Please ensure a risk assessment form is completed for each traveller and brought to the appointment with the nurse.  Without completed risk assessments the nurses may not be able to give vaccinations to patients.

Thank you for your co-operation

 MALARIA BITE PREVENTION

Useful information available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QJMyboaspQ

 

HEARING AID BATTERIES - We understand that this service will be changing soon -please check the website or surgery notices for any updates.

This service is provided by Solihull Care Trust. Batteries can be obtained from the health visiting team based at Monkspath Surgery. 

Please call on 0121 711 2133 before coming to the surgery.

Appointment Reminders

Text or voice mail reminders will be sent to patients over 18 for routine appointments with the doctors 24 hours before an appointment. Please help us by providing mobile phone numbers. If you would prefer not to receive reminders, please let the reception staff know.

Appointment Cancellations

Please note that you can now cancel appointments by email. Please send your name and date of birth to monkspathcancellations@nhs.net. Please give us as much notice as possible so the appointment can be offered to another patient. If you have more than one appointment booked, please let us know which you wish to cancel.

Communication by email

We are currently collecting patients' email addresses as an alternative method of communicating with you. For example, following tests, the doctor sometimes would like a repeat sample or an appointment with a patient and rather than sending a letter, we could send an email. If you are happy for us to communicate with you by email, please complete one of the slips available in the waiting room. Thank you for your co-operation.