9 minute read
Garstang Medical Practice
WYRE FLOOD FORUM (cont)
property. Residents are helpless every time this happens. Houses had gardens flooded, three with water approaching the flood protected doorways. Land behind houses in Ainspool Lane saw water levels rise extensively threatening stables with livestock. Here the water stood while Ainspool Brook remained closed off because of natural high water in the River Wyre as Garstang Storage Basin gradually emptied. Despite LCC repairing a broken pipe the Avenue close to the A6 and BP garage flooded as it always does threatening two bungalows and up to ten houses. The problem is quite simply due to surface water not being able to drain away. At Butlers Farm on the old section of the A6, flooding occurred as it always does threatening a dwelling, the farmhouse and farmyard containing livestock. This is caused by blocked gullies on the A6 throwing surface water across the camber of the A6 and draining through the sewage system but only if the sewer is not overloaded! In all cases the peak trauma was experienced on the night of Sun 31st Oct. It does not take major engineering operations to mitigate the causes which will continue until regular maintenance is carried out and runoff from new housing on the A6 into the Ainspool is effectively achieved through the mechanism of sustainable urban drainage systems, (SUDS). This month all eyes were on Glasgow and climate change in the decades to come. Residents of Wyre are holding their breath praying that we get through the coming winter.
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Environment Agency Consultations
Members of the public are invited to comment on two consultations which were launched in October. Details on the agency website. First, ‘Draft River Basin Management Plans’. Comments invited before Fri 22 April. Second, ‘Flood Risk Management Plans’. Comments invited by Fri 21st Jan.
Roger Brooks
from everyone at
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GARSTANG MEDICAL PRACTICE
Appointment System
For several weeks now we have been offering patients the choice between a same day telephone or face-to-face consultation with our doctors and nurse practitioners. We know that many of you still prefer to have a telephone consultation and, where appropriate, we will continue to offer this choice. Despite reports in the media, we have never stopped seeing patients face-to-face. For patient and staff safety reasons we were previously only able to see face-to-face patients when clinically necessary rather than
GARSTANG MEDICAL (cont)
through patient choice, but we have always maintained face-to-face appointments when needed. We know that many of you would like to book ahead for a routine appointment. We have not been able to offer this option because of the impact of Covid. Staff needing to selfisolate has made it very difficult for us to plan ahead as we never know which staff it may affect from week to week. Whilst the rules on self-isolation have changed for the majority of people, those working in health care cannot come into work if they have a household contact who is positive with Covid. This is having a very significant adverse impact on our staffing levels on a daily and weekly basis and is particularly affecting our ability to answer telephone calls as we simply do not have enough staff to answer them some days. We are working very hard to address this, but recruitment and training takes time. In a bid to reduce the number of patients needing to ring every day for a ‘same day’ appointment and in response to patients asking for routine appointments, we have decided to again offer appointments up
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GARSTANG MEDICAL (cont)
to three weeks in advance. We will also have some 24-hour appointments for more urgent problems, and we will continue to have urgent same day appointments with our duty doctors for those who feel their problem cannot wait. Our resources however are often limited as outlined above. Some days we cannot safely see more patients so we would like to remind readers of walk in centre services. You can access walk in services at two local centres; Royal Preston Hospital Walk in Centre and Whitegate Drive Walk in Centre, Blackpool. The Walk in Centres can deal with
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many problems such as: sprains and strains; suspected broken limbs; minor head injuries; cuts and grazes; bites and stings; minor scalds and burns; ear and throat infections; skin infections and rashes; eye problems; coughs and colds; high temperature in child and adults; stomach pain; being sick (vomiting) and diarrhoea; and emergency contraception. We would also like to remind patients of simple self-care measures which should be tried prior to accessing our services. Our website has information regarding all of these, or you can visit the NHS website.
Evening & Weekend Appointments
Evening and weekend appointments are available for routine pre-booked services across the Fylde Coast. Appointments are available at Garstang Medical Practice on alternate Saturdays. The Fylde Coast NHS is committed to improving access to primary care services. This includes making appointments available at times that are convenient to patients. Please be aware that this is not a walk-in service. An appointment must have been booked in advance of visiting the service. Appointments are for pre-bookable and same-day routine and not for urgent care. If urgent care is required, please call NHS 111 for advice. To book an appointment, contact your GP practice or, when your GP practice is closed, please ring 01253 952950 between 6:30pm and 9:30pm Mon-Fri and between 8:00am and 8:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Should you need to cancel your appointment please contact your GP practice. If your GP practice is closed, please call 01253 952950 as above, to cancel.
Doctorlink
Did you know we use Doctorlink? This
GARSTANG MEDICAL (cont)
enables you to check your symptoms online and be signposted to an appropriate healthcare appointment. If you require an appointment at the practice, Doctorlink will send this information to us, and we will contact you to arrange. This helps to reduce the pressure on our busy phone lines. For more information and to register please visit: https://app.doctorlink.com/garstang/
register
If you have any problems with registering for this service, please contact the Doctorlink support service on 0330 111 6433 or via
helpdesk@doctorlink.com
Please note, this is an additional service. Patients can still contact the surgery via telephone to discuss symptoms and arrange appointments in the usual way.
Patient Conduct
We are very grateful for the continued support of our patients as we do our utmost to serve you in these challenging times. However, we must unfortunately point out that this support is not universal in our patients. Our staff are doing their very best in very difficult circumstances and verbal abuse, rudeness or an aggressive or demanding manner will not be tolerated by any member of our team. Unfortunately, such behaviour is now being experienced by our staff on an increasing and daily basis and it has led to staff leaving as they are not able to cope with this on top of a very busy workload. It is simply not acceptable. Please show staff the respect they deserve – any problems you may encounter are not their fault. As a reminder, all our telephone calls to reception are recorded.
Christmas / New Year Opening Times
Garstang Medical Practice will be open as
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GARSTANG MEDICAL (cont)
usual throughout the Christmas/New Year period apart from the bank holidays: Mon
27th Dec, Tues 28th Dec, & Mon 3rd Jan
(in lieu of Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day). If you need medical assistance or advice outside of our opening hours, please call the NHS 111 service. The NHS 111 service is staffed by a team of fully-trained advisers, supported by experienced nurses and paramedics. They will ask questions to assess your symptoms, then give you the healthcare advice you need or direct you to the local service that can help you best. That could be A&E, an out-of-hours doctor, an urgent care centre or a walk-in centre, a community nurse, an emergency dentist, or a late-opening chemist. For more information, please visit the NHS choices website: www.nhs.uk.
Prescriptions
As we are only closed for three days over Christmas and New Year, please order your repeat prescriptions as normal allowing five working days for collection. Opening hours for our local pharmacies can be found at: • Kepple Lane Pharmacy - www. garstangpharmacy.co.uk / 01995
607399
• Well Pharmacy, Garstang, Park Hill
Road www.well.co.uk / 01995 603333 Thank you to all our patients for your support and understanding during this difficult and challenging year. Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
The Garstang Medical Practice Team t: 01995 607399 fb: @garstangmedicalpractice www.garstangmedicalpractice.nhs.uk
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