News
A lot of people up and down the country have received a text message, allegedly from the NHS. This message says that that if you do not follow the link in the message, you may be suspended from being a patient at your GP Practice.
This is a scam. If you receive such a message, please ignore it and do not click to follow the link.
Fundraising for McMillan Cancer Support
WOW!! YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!!
You have helped us raise a whopping £315.31 for an absolutely amazing cause.
Thank you to Leah who has manned the stand all day and to the master bakers who have donated their time to provide all the yummy treats for us.
Drop in sessions
At The MAST Jubilee Garden, HD8 9DA, Next to Skelmanthorpe Family Doctors.
Social Prescribing Link Worker
- Drop in between 10:00 - 12:00 every Wednesday 31st July to 28th August 2024
- Find out what social prescribing has to offer
- We work with all ages, including 18 and under.
Mental Health and Wellbeing link workers
- Drop in between 10:00 - 12:00 Tuesday 6th August 2024
Pharmacy First
Since 31st January 2024 there's a new service called Pharmacy First. Participating pharmacies will be able to assess and treat 7 condition, and for the first time, where appropriate, be able to issue some prescription-only medicines such as antibiotics.
These conditions are:
- Sinus problems and sinusitis
- Sore throat and tonsilitis
- Earache and ear infections
- Infected insect bites
- Impetigo
- Shingles
- Uncomplicated urinary tract infections (cystitis) in women
Patients can present themselves directly to the pharmacy with these contitions to receive treatment. If patients contact the surgery with any of the above conditions, the receptionist will set up the referral, and it is expected that they will be seen within a few hours.
Facebook Group
We are currently trialing a ShepleyHealthCentre Facebook group. This will enable to to publicise information that is of value to our general practice population. The same information will also be available on the surgery website. It is not set up in a way that will enable people to communicate with us. For that we would like people to either use PATCHs or go through the reception team.
People have reported to us that they have received phone calls from people claiming to be from Shepley Health Centre. These people had tried to obtain personal information from the people they have called.
When we phone our patients we sometimes ask for confirmation of the callee's address or date of birth.
For people with caller ID on their phones, genuine calls from us will come up with the surgery's phone number, 01484 602001. If you are suspicious that a call you receive allegedly from us is hoax, you could terminate the call, and phone the surgery yourself.
The MAST PCN
Groups of practices work together in groups called
Shepley Health Centre is a member of the MAST PCN. You can find out more information at www.themastpcn.co.uk.
List size
There is a lot of house building going on in our practice area. We have already seen a big increase in the number of patients registered with the practice. With there being lots of houses still being build we anticipate our list size will continue to grow. There is a lag between our list size increasing and the practice being granted funding to increase staffing levels. So this growth could potentially affect how long people have to wait to get an appointment to see us.
Two-week wait target for GP appointments
Working with our neighbouring practices, as part of the Mast Primary Care Network, we are addressing the access to appointments changes in the new GP contract. As of the 1st April 2023 we need to be working towards offering patients "an assessment of need, or signposted to an appropriate service, at first contact with the practice". So the changes outlined below will not happen overnight.
The implications of the change are that:
- We will be unable to give GP appointments to patients just because they want or feel they need one
- You will not be able to book a review appointment straight away if it needs to be more than 2 weeks in advance
- You may be offered a very different way to deal with your problem than you have experienced before
- We will stop advising people to phone back another day to try get the service they prefer
- We may have to offer you appointments in advance and not on the day you contact us
We are now required to see those who need to see us within two weeks, and to signpost those who don't to an appropriate service.
Our reception staff have received accredited NHS Care Navigation Training. They may, for example, offer you an appointment with a pharmacist, a physiotherapy or may feel you have a problem that is suitable to be dealt with via an online consultation (using PATCHS).
In most cases, if you use the PATCHS function on our website to submit details of your problem, you will receive a response within 24 hours, and often within a few hours. We encourage patients to use this facility. (It is possible that the outcome will be that we decide we do need to offer you a GP or Advanced Clinical Practitioner appointment).
Though the new way will be very different for both Patients and Practices, it may deliver speedier access to care, and solve the problem of sky rocketing demand for GP appointments.
Check your blood Pressure
It is a good idea for all adults, particularly those over the age of 45, to have their blood pressure checked regularly. Raised blood pressure does not necessarily have any symptoms, but can be a risk factor for developing a range of health problems including heart disease and strokes. We have set up a room at the surgery, where all our patients can pop-in, without an appointment, and check their own blood pressure.
For those who have purchased, or have access to their own home blood pressure monitor, we like to make an assessment of the blood pressure by analysing a weeks worth of home blood pressure readings. We have created a chart to record the readings. When complete these sheets can either be brought into the surgery, or sent to us using PATCHS.
New online consultation and advice service
You can now obtain health advice and access surgery serices via our new online platform, PATCHS.
This replaces the old eCONSULT service that many of our patients have been using since the year 2020. There is a link to the service on every page of this website.
The first time you use the service you will need to create an account. Once you have done this using the service will be very quick and easy. Another advantage of having a PATCHS account is that we will be able to respond to your messages and requests in a more secure manner.
Read more ...
Healthier together is a NHS approved website that gives health advice about children, particularly when they're unwell.
New Long Term condition review process
The practice is streamlining how patients are reviewed for long term conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The plan is to review long term conditions according to the date of birth of patients. For example, if your month of birth is July, you can expect to receive an invite to attend an appointment with a practice nurse, who will review all your long-term conditions during the one appointment.
Prior to your review you may be sent an SMS message asking you to complete a questionnaire, which helps the nurse to prepare for your consultation.
By changing the long-term condition process, it is hoped that it will be easier for patients to remember when their review is due and attending fewer appointments will be more convenient. During the first year there will some overlap as some people may be invited soon after already having had a review. This will only happen during the first year of change.
Please be patient with us as we try to improve our service to you.
NHS Diabetes Advice Helpline
NHS England has launched a new helpline in response to disruption to normal diabetes services due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The service is for adults living with diabetes who use insulin to manage their condition and require immediate clinical advice.
Whether you or a member of your household have caught the virus, or routine care has been disrupted, the helpline is available to those needing help and guidance.
The service can be accessed via Diabetes UK support lines on 0345 123 2399 Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm.
Extra support available
Do you know about Kirklees council's Community plus service? Community Plus works with people in our communities. It's all about helping and supporting people and families who might be struggling to lead a better life by connecting them with local resources, groups and individuals. Follow the link for more information.
Youth Health Talk is an organistion that concentrates on the needs of young people.
Thriving Kirklees is there to offer support for children, young people and families.
Website update
This website is continuously kept upto date. The most frequent changes are on this "News" page. Some updates (for example updates as a result of the new GDPR regulations, on the privacy page) are made without anouncement.
This anouncement is to inform you about new feaures that have been added to the surgery website. On the Contents page, for example, there is now a search box to make it easier to find the content you're looking for. We've also added a handy pregnancy calculator to the Pregnancy page, and height and weight related calculators to the how to lose weight page.