We are improving the way we work with patients with long-term conditions

Patients living with certain long-term conditions will be encouraged to attend a Yearly Health Check. Long-term conditions are those that impact over a long period of time, such as diabetes and heart diseases.

Patients will receive personalised care and support from healthcare professionals from their general practice. This will cover things that patients say matter most to their health and wellbeing, from the best treatment for their condition, to wider things like employment, housing, and mental health.

Our goal is that by planning care together with care, patients will have the confidence to manage their health, reduce their risk of being admitted to hospital, and have a better quality of life.

Who is this for?

Initially, we will cover nine long-term conditions:

· Cardiovascular disease (for example, strokes, health failure, ischaemic heart disease, and peripheral artery disease)

· Diabetes

· Hypertension (High blood pressure)

· Hyperlipidaemia (High cholesterol)

· Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

· Atrial fibrillation

· Chronic kidney disease

· Asthma

· Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In the future, we will look to expand this to cover more long-term conditions.

What can you expect?

If you have one of the long-term conditions listed above, you will be encouraged to have at least three check-ins per year. Each stage is described below for you:

1. Attend your Check and Test Appointment

In your Check and Test Appointment, a health professional will carry out all the checks and tests you need to monitor and manage your long-term condition. You may be sent for a blood test and have other checks like a blood pressure check and weight check. We may discuss lifestyle factors such as smoking and exercise with you too.

If you need an interpreter, please let us know so we can arrange one for your appointment.

2. Receive your test results and your Care Plan

After two to four weeks, you will receive your test results (by post, text, or email, however you prefer).

We will also send a blank document called a Care Plan.

A Care Plan is an agreement between you and your healthcare professional to help manage your health and support day to day. In your Care Plan, you can record things that are important to your health and wellbeing. This can include anything from your life, like employment, housing, or mental health.

A Care Plan covers:

• What is important to you and the goals you have

• How to get the most out of your medication

• The care and support you need from others

A healthcare professional will review your Care Plan with you in your Discussion Appointment. You can start filling out your Care Plan before your appointment or you can fill it during your appointment.

3. Attend your Discussion Appointment

You will then be invited to a Discussion Appointment with a healthcare professional. This may be another team member (such as a nurse, health care assistant, pharmacist, social prescriber link worker) who is best placed to support your care and can spend more time with you. This appointment will take around 30 minutes.

You can discuss your long-term conditions, test results, treatment, and anything else that is affecting your health, from housing to employment. Together we will look at what matters most to you and agree some goals. Your Care Plan will be updated with what has been agreed.

4. Attend your Follow-Up Appointment

Three to six months later, you will be invited to a Follow-Up Appointment. This will last up to 15 minutes and is an opportunity to update your Care Plan with a healthcare professional, considering what is going well and where you may need more support. You may have more than one Follow-Up Appointment in a year.

Watch the short film below to see an example of a patient’s journey through the key stages of the process and help you understand what to expect from your Yearly Health Check.

With subtitles - https://youtu.be/2uNlBbuHflY

Without subtitles - https://youtu.be/FhTbMDLpMQ0

How will I be contacted if this is for me?

We will contact you via text, phone call, or letter to organise your appointments. We will contact patients over the year so please do not worry if you do not hear from us right away. If you are concerned or have questions, please contact us.

From around 16th-18th September, Haringey GP Federation will start to invite eligible patient via text. Vaccination will be done at Bounds Green and Morris House. Federation will be prioritising our most elderly and vulnerable patients first, so please be patient with us and you will receive a text when your vaccine is due.

Eligibility includes:

·   Residents in older care homes

·   All over 65s

·   Those with underlying health conditions who are eligible for a flu vaccine

·   Health and care staff

How you make a complaint about primary care services is changing on 1 July 2023. From 1 July 2023 the way members of the public make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner is changing. By primary care services we mean GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacy services. There are two ways you can make a complaint:

• You can complain to the healthcare provider: this is the organisation where you received the NHS service, for example a GP surgery or dental surgery. Or o You can complain to the commissioner of the service: this is the organisation that paid for the service or care you received.

After 1 July 2023 if you want to make a complaint about primary care services to the commissioner you will need to contact North Central London Integrated Care Board instead of NHS England. You can do this by: Telephone: 020 3198 9743 E-mail: nclicb.complaints@nhs.net Post: North Central London Integrated Care Board Complaints Team Laycock PDC Laycock Street London N1 1TH.

If you have a formal complaint to make, it is always advisable to try and resolve an issue directly with the provider in the first instance. Members of the public with ongoing complaints received on/after 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that the ICB is now handling their complaint with confirmation of their case handler.

Members of the public with any ongoing complaints received before 1 July 2022 will receive a letter from NHS England informing them that their complaint is being retained by NHS England with confirmation of their case handler.

If you have any queries, please contact england.contactus@nhs.net You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is written into the NHS Constitution on GOV.UK. Find out more about how to feedback or make a complaint about an NHS service.

From the 27^th of  March 2023, we will no longer be accepting prescriptions over the phone. You will be able to continue ordering prescriptions via your online app, including patient access and the NHS app, you can order in the surgery,  hand in a paper prescription or email us at rutlandhouse.prescription@nhs.net (if you use this service, please ensure you provide your name, date of birth and any medication you require).

During the pandemic, we had to start prescription ordering via the phone, for patients' health and safety.

Now we are in a position where we were before the pandemic and stop prescription ordering via the phones, especially as we now have many online apps which are quick, easy to use and can be accessed 24/7. 

Allowing our patients safe, secure, and easy access to order repeat prescriptions.

The first and most important reason is safety, using an online format to order your medication will reduce discrepancies and confusion. Alongside this, we must ensure the safe and effective management of prescribed medications and using online services to order your medication will help our practice in doing so. 

Our practice is busier than ever, we also hope in making this change it will free up our phone lines for patients contacting us for other queries. 

Please note that this will not alter the time it takes to process a repeat prescription which is 2 working days.

We will not be restricting who can order medication, and we have a plan in place for our vulnerable cohort of patients, all circumstances will be taken into consideration. 

We understand that this might not be popular with some patients, but we hope that you will understand that patient safety is of paramount importance to us. 

Please be patient when using a new ordering method, it may take a little bit of getting used to, but ultimately will be safer and quicker.

Thank you for your co-operation

9th March 2023: Important Patient Information: Wegovy (Semaglutide) Treatment

Healthcare monitor available for Rutland House Surgery patients to use at our 40 Colney Hatch Lane Branch.

In just 90 seconds it will:

• Record Diastolic and Systolic Blood Pressure
• Measure Height Weight
• Automatically Calculate Body Mass Index (BMI)
• Record Pulse
• Display results on screen (please note: results will not be spoken out loud)
• Receive a printout of your measurements from the machine, or an automatic report will be sent to our clinical system to update your health record.

From the week commencing the 29th of October, we will be opening Saturday clinics once a month. The clinics will run between 9:00am-13:00pm where we will have one doctor and one nurse. These clinics are being held to ensure that we can facilitate to patient`s needs at a time which is convenient for them.

To book an appointment, please call the surgery during our usual opening hours after 10am. Please note that these are ROUTINE appointments only.

We are now holding regular clinics now for flu vaccinations at both sites. We will be prioritising our most elderly and vulnerable patients first, so please be patient with us and you ill receive a text or call when your vaccine is due.

The NHS in England have requested that all NHS services ask for the Ethnicity/Ethnic Origin of its patients/service users and staff. The NHS provide services to a diverse and multi-cultural community and hence ask all NHS services to capture this information so that we can better meet their cultural, religious and language needs.

We do understand however that some patients do not wish to disclose this information and therefore please click on the link and decline to provide this information. Please note this is not a Scam. If you do not wish to respond, you can decline to do so. We have received some responses that are vulgar in nature. Please refrain to respond in this way as it will result in a warning letter. As a reminder, this practice has a Zero Tolerance Policy and such responses may result in a patient being removed from its list.

Changes to Salbutamol Inhalers

As part of our practice commitment to provide excellent care and protect our planet, we are reviewing the prescriptions for some inhalers.

Which of my inhalers does this affect?

This affects your reliever (blue) inhaler, which you use only when you have symptoms. You may know it as your salbutamol inhaler, or by the brand-name Ventolin. Your pharmacy may dispense a salbutamol inhaler with a different brand name. It appears on your medication list as either of the following:

• Ventolin Evohaler 100microgram/ dose
• Salbutamol CFC-Free Inhaler 100microgram/ dose

Why are you changing these inhalers?

Your reliever (blue) inhaler is a metered dose inhaler, sometimes called an aerosol spray inhaler or a ‘puffer.’ This contains a propellant gas in the canister which is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. The Ventolin inhaler has more than twice the carbon footprint of the Salamol inhaler, even though it delivers the same medication, using the same type of device at the same dose. This is because the Salamol inhaler uses less propellant gas.

• Ventolin Evohaler = 28.26kg CO2e emitted per inhaler
• Salamol = 11.95 CO2e emitted per inhaler

How will my prescription change?

The World Health Organisation has said that climate change is the greatest risk to health in the 21st century. We want to prescribe inhalers that release less greenhouse gases, to reduce the impact on climate change. From now on, all prescriptions we issue for blue reliever inhalers will be for the lower carbon footprint Salamol inhaler (Salamol CFC-Free Inhaler 100microgram/ dose).

What do I need to do?

Salamol contains the same medication as Ventolin and is used in the same way. So, you can continue using your inhaler in exactly the same way. Finish the doses in your current inhaler before starting your new Salamol inhaler.

Some people notice a change in the taste of the inhaler and this is normal.

For a reminder of how to use your inhaler, see: https://asthma.org.uk/advice/inhaler-videos/pmdi/

Remember, if you need to use your reliever (blue) inhaler 3 or more times per week, this means your asthma may not be well controlled – so please make an appointment to speak to a healthcare professional.

What if I don’t want my prescription to change? Please contact the surgery.

You may be aware that poliovirus (PV2) isolates were found in sewage samples collected from the London Beckton Sewage Treatment Works recently.

We are therefore currently offering a polio vaccine booster for children at our surgery.

What is polio?

Polio is an infection caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system – it can cause permanent paralysis of muscles. Before the polio vaccine was introduced, there were as many as 8,000 cases of polio in the UK in epidemic years. Because of the success of the polio vaccination programme, there have been no cases of natural polio infection in the UK for over 30 years (the last case was in 1984) and polio was eradicated from the whole of Europe in 2003.

When would my child have been vaccinated against polio?

The polio vaccine is free and given as part of combined jabs to babies, toddlers and teenagers. Children need all five doses of the vaccine to be fully protected against polio. The polio vaccine is given when a child is:

• 8, 12 and 16 weeks old as part of the 6-in-1 vaccine
• 3 years, 4 months old as part of the 4-in-1 (DTaP/IPV) pre-school booster
• 14 years old as part of the 3-in-1 (Td/IPV) teenage booster

What are the side effects of the vaccine?

Your child may have some redness, swelling or tenderness in the arm where they had the injection, this will usually disappear in a few days.

A hard lump may appear in the same place, but this will also resolve on its own, usually over a few weeks. Occasionally, children may be unwell and irritable and develop a temperature and a headache.

Children aged 1 - 5 years old

Firstly, we encourage those who haven’t been fully vaccinated against polio to be vaccinated as soon as possible.  Please contact reception to book a nurse appointment.  

If you would like to get vaccinated sooner, UCLH are also offering appointments for children aged 1 - 5 years old who are up to date with their vaccinations.  See this page Polio vaccination clinics - North Central London Integrated Care System (nclhealthandcare.org.uk)and click on Camden to take you to this booking page UCLH Polio Vaccination Service (office365.com)

Children aged 6 - 9 years old

The Hornsey Central vaccination service is offering Polio immunisation for children between 6-9 years old. Please follow the link below to complete the form which will help the vaccination centre assess whether your child is suitable to have the polio supplementary booster vaccine.

https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/mini-apps/default.asp?page=polio/request.aspx

Please see the document below for more information on whether your child needs the Polio Booster and when they can get it depending on their immunisation history. 

Polio Booster

Telephone Opening Hours

Our phone lines are now open from 8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays)

 It is with great regret that Dr John Demades will no longer be working with us, as he has retired. He will be greatly missed by his team and patients.

Dr Fiona Werth will also not be returning to work from her sabbatical leave. She will also be missed by her team and her patients.

We wish both doctors the best of luck.

This following leaflet is for patients with suspected coronavirus who have not been admitted to hospital and will be isolating at home.

Covid - Isolating at home safety netting leaflet

We have unfortunately run out of supply of flu vaccination for the under 65's.  We have been told that there are major supply issues and our next expected delivery date is the 12th of November 2021. We apologize for any inconvenience caused due to this and advice calling us middle of November to book an appointment for the flu jab.

The covid booster jabs will be given at the vaccination sites (Lordship Lane and Bounds Green Group Practice). Starting date is yet to be confirmed. All patients will be contacted in chronological order (e.g. 70+ before 50+) soon as operationally possible. 

JCVI booster plan

Key information from the link:  
- Primary objective: to maintain protection against severe disease (hospitalisation and deaths) at a time of year when
  respiratory viruses circulate more easily and the NHS is usually under pressure.
- Those eligible therefore, are only those most vulnerable to severe Covid:
   - (i) Those aged 16-49 with underlying conditions that make put them within one of the vulnerable categories
      (We are looking only at 16-18 who have already had 2 doses).
      Please note: NOT 16+ who are healthy.
   - (ii) All adults over 50
   - (iii) Those living in residential care homes
   - (iv) Frontline health and social care workers
   - (v) adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals

for more information please visit Covid Booster Jab

Patient Notice

Healthwatch Haringey is working with North Central London CCG to help Haringey patients get online and access digital health services. To help those who are not familiar with online technology, or completely digitally excluded. 

Please contact the practice on 0208 883 8214 and ask a member of the team to refer you. 

People Need Parks is an exciting new programme happening in a park close to you. Activities include dance, martial arts, walking, football, cycling, and much more.

Leaflet

North Central London CCG is piloting a ‘Self-care Pharmacy First’ service for minor ailments in Camden, Haringey and Islington boroughs from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021.

The aim of the service is to provide timely access to supply of medicines for the management of minor conditions. The service is available for socially vulnerable patients in Camden, Haringey, or Islington who are unable to purchase over the counter (OTC) medicines due to low income and so are unable to self-care. 

Self-care patient leaflet

List of participating community pharmacies

We are receiving a lot of queries in relation to covid vaccination data and patients not being able to view this on the NHS app. Please note that we don't have any control over the vaccination sites are responsible for coding the record into the patient's file directly. However, in many instances, there have been administrational errors made by the vaccination sites and we can manually encode the data into your file if the evidence is provided (ie. vaccine card). 

We can always print out your records which will highlight that you have had the vaccines, in case you cannot see the details on the NHS app. 

Patients can contact 119 to request a letter to confirm confirmation of being vaccinated. For more information please visit the NHS Website

Our Queens Avenue branch doors will close at 6:30 PM from the 12th of July 2021 on Monday and Tuesday of each week. We will continue to run the extended clinics at branch 1. The surgery door and phone line will remain open for patients at our branch 1 (40 Colney Hatch Lane, N10 1DU) until 8 PM on Monday and Tuesday evenings. 

The government has delayed the mass collection of patient data for a centralised NHS system by two months after pressure from campaigners.

Read more

The data held in the GP medical records of patients are used every day to support health and care planning and research in England, helping to find better treatments and improve patient outcomes for everyone. NHS Digital has developed a new way to collect this data, called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.

The new data collection reduces the burden on GP practices, allowing doctors and other staff to focus on patient care.

For more information please visit General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) where you will find out details on how to opt-out..

You can also download the opt-out form and email the surgery and we will add the relevant code to your record. Please download opt-out form..

Following the ministerial announcement on Friday 7 May which mentioned the impending lift of international travel on the 17 May, and subsequently the need to evidence Covid-19 vaccinations before travelling to international destinations, NHSX arranged for initial information to be made available online on GOV.UK.

Patients can view on their online access application under 'ACUTE MEDICATION' to find the covid vaccination information. Please speak to a member for more information or read the government website.. 

We are aware that the patient access users from Queens Avenue Practice are unable to request medication through the app. This is normal when there is a merger of two clinical systems. 

If you having difficulty with patient access credential please call the practice and we will send the details via email to you. You don't need to come into the practice physically. 

Please follow the instruction via the link below to fix this. If you face further issues and need help please contact the patient access, technical support team. Thank you for your patience and sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Practice Merger and Patient Access

In a review of all available safety data from over 17 million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine in UK and EU, there was no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots among people vaccinated with its vaccine.

You can read the Government response advising that people should still go and get their Covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so, and EMA have also stated that there is no indication that the reported blood clots were caused by the AZ vaccine.

Frequently Asked Questions:

NHS England has updated the 'safety' section of the Covid-19 vaccine FAQs to include information regarding the pausing of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in some European countries as they investigate whether the report of a blood clot in Denmark is linked to the vaccine.

Practices may find the following response from the updated pack useful in managing patient enquiries regarding Covid-19 vaccination.

Is it safe to have the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine when some European countries paused its roll out?

The Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic authorities have taken the precautionary measure to pause roll out of the AstraZeneca vaccine to investigate whether the report of a blood clot in Denmark is linked to the vaccine.

It has not been confirmed that the report of a blood clot was caused by the AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine. People should still go and get their Covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so. Read the MHRA guidance in full.

More about the local services you receive or see this video clip which details what this means for you as a patient.