Health & Wellbeing Archives

The Medical Centre has put a notice on its website stating that it will be closed on the afternoon of Monday 16 September for Dr. Richura’s funeral. The announcement reads:

Dr Raichura’s funeral will take place on Monday 16th September at St Swithun’s Church, Cheswardine at 1pm.  Donations to Cricket Without Boundaries, a charity working to empower communities through cricket.  The surgery will close at 12 noon, however there will be telephone and locum doctor cover for emergencies only.  Thank you for your understanding.

Hodnet Medical Centre will be closed for the afternoon on Thursday 22 November 2018. The announcement in the Practice News section of the Centre’s website reads:

The surgery will be closed for half a day on Thursday 22nd November 2018 from 12.30pm to allow all Practice staff to take part in a protected learning time training session. All surgeries within the North Shropshire area will be closed this afternoon for training purposes. This is in line with the Government’s directive to improve training and education within the NHS, and to give all practice staff the opportunity to participate. If you require medical treatment while the surgery is closed on the above afternoon – please call 111 Thank you for your support,

Hodnet Medical Centre has posted the following notice on its website:

Ordering Repeat Medication
TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR ORDERING REPEAT MEDICATION Due to current unavoidable staffing issues in Dispensary, we are unable to accept requests for repeat medication, (including online ordering) until Monday 8th October, when we anticipate returning to normal service. Patient Access service has been temporarily disabled. In the meantime, it will be necessary to bring your repeat medication ordering slip to the medical centre during surgery time, and taking your signed prescription to a pharmacy of your choice. We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.

Hodnet Medical Centre 26.09.2018

The upgrade to Hodnet Medical Centre’s phone system has been delayed until November. Originally planned to go live towards the end of August, the switch-over is now planned for mid November.
The following information was published in the News section of the Practice’s website on 13 Sept. 2018:

Redcentric – our new phone providers have had to re-schedule the timeline/key dates for our system installation. The revised installation date is now in November.The migration from the old network provider to the new should be completed by mid- November, however it is expected that on our “Go Live” date (Monday 19th November ) the lines will not be available between 1-3pm. We apologise for any difficulty that you may experience in contacting the Surgery during this period of migration. Thank you

Hodnet Medical Practice website has recently published an advance reminder for patients wishing to receive a flu injection:

“Flu jabs – that time of year again! To help you to stay healthy and prevent the spread of flu among family, friends and work colleagues, taking advantage of the winter flu jab at the surgery is a good first step. Flu is contagious and it can be passed through coughing, sneezing or by touching infected surfaces or people. Most flu outbreaks usually happen in late autumn or winter, and, for most people, it’s an unpleasant but not a life-threatening condition. We will be holding Flu clinics in October – actual dates will be released nearer the time, dependant upon the manufacturers’ supply of the vaccine. Please ring the surgery at the beginning of October for more information and to book an appointment.”

Update Sept. 2018: This work has been delayed – more details here.
Patients at Hodnet Medical Centre may wish to be aware of the following information which has just been posted on the Practice website:

A new telephone system is scheduled to be installed at Hodnet Medical Centre week beginning Monday 30th July. The migration from the old network provider to the new should be completed by 27th August, however it is expected that on our “Go Live” date (27th August) the lines will not be available between 1-3pm. We apologise for any difficulty that you may experience in contacting the Surgery during this period of migration. Thank you

Hodnet Medical Centre’s website carried the following announcement on 18th July regarding the formal closure of the branch surgery at Ellerdine:

Dear Patient/Householder,
HODNET MEDICAL PRACTICE REQUEST FORMAL CLOSURE OF ELLERDINE BRANCH SURGERY
The practice formally applied to NHS England to close the Ellerdine surgery with effect from 31st May 2016. The branch surgery has not actually functioned since March 2008, and remains closed.
To date, we have not been in a position to resume our previous service, but have continued to maintain a weekly drug delivery and repeat medication slip collection service.
Since the branch surgery closed in March 2008, the increasing pressures of general practice, and current problems recruiting and retaining doctors , have resulted in our resources now stretched to a point where we feel unable to resume the previous level of service.
We can offer better capacity at Hodnet, with a larger physical presence, more consulting rooms and good clinical supervision, support and dispensing facilities.
We have followed the procedure required to present and support our application. This has involved consultation with the Patient Participation Group, Parish Councillors, Ellerdine Village Hall Committee, representatives from both NHS England and Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group.
Shropshire Commissioning Group has now informed us that they support our application, and the formal closure has taken immediate effect.
Delivery of repeat medication, and collection of repeat request slips will cease with the final date being Thursday 18th October 2018, and from this date it will be necessary to collect your medication from Hodnet. Medical Centre. Similarly, your repeat prescription slips will need to be delivered to Hodnet, unless ordered on line. Please ask at reception if you would like to register to order your repeat medication on line.
Dr N Raichura & Dr J Mehta

Hodnet Medical Centre’s website provides the following information about imminent changes to the provision of out of hours medical help or advice. From 17th July, the NHS 111 service will replace the current out-of-hours GP telephone access service provided by Shropdoc in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. See below for more details:

NHS 111 service to take calls out-of-hours across Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire
From Tuesday 17 July 2018, patients across Telford and Wrekin and Shropshire who need urgent out-of-hours medical help or advice will need to call 111.
The NHS 111 service will replace the current out-of-hours GP telephone access service provided by Shropdoc in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin in line with national policy to provide a consistent, integrated approach to urgent care; but any patients that need to see a clinician out-of-hours will still be seen by a local GP or other appropriate clinician.
NHS 111 is much more than a helpline – if you’re worried about an urgent medical concern, you can call 111 to speak to a fully trained adviser.
Depending on the situation, the NHS 111 team can connect you to generalist and specialist nurses, or even a GP or pharmacist, and can arrange face-to-face appointments should you need one.
It is free and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
There is also a new ‘ASK NHS’ app that has been designed that provides improved access to NHS 111 and other local NHS services. Advice is delivered by the virtual clinician ‘Olivia’ and she takes you through the steps of the symptom checker which can result in the booking of a GP appointment, access to NHS choices, a call back from a clinical expert or access to self-care.
You can download the ‘Ask NHS’ app via Google Play (for Android phones) or Apple App Store (for iPhones). If you need more guidance on how to download the app please click here
If you are a patient living in Wales you should continue to use the Shropdoc number.

Update August 2018 – We understand that this problem has now been resolved.

Earlier today (7 June 18) posted this announcement on its website:

Patient Access Problems (Posted on 7 Jun 2018)
Please be aware that Patient access is currently experiencing problems which affects the online prescription ordering system.  This does not seem to affect patients newly registered to Patient Access.  Patient Access have informed us that this may take up to two months to rectify.  Please do not nominate another pharmacy from the list as we do not have the facility to manage this electronically and your order will not be received.  In the meantime please order your prescription by ticking the items on your repeat prescription slip and dropping this into the surgery.

The reason for the problems seems to be that the Patient Access service has moved to a new website (and app) which has enhanced features (use the old link and you will be redirected to the new one). This includes patients being able to nominate a pharmacy to collect their repeat orders from – many doctors do not have their own pharmacy even though it is increasingly common for one to be located adjacent to the practice.
If you want to find out more before you access the new website, you can obtain information from its help section. It includes a page which describes what to expect when you “Sign in for the first time as an existing user”.