Practice News

20th Sep

National Patient Survey Results

We are pleased to share the National Patient Survey results. Thank you to all the patients that responded, we are delighted with the results. We would like to thank all the staff that work hard to ensure that our patients are cared for.

National Patient Survey Results

22nd Jul

To all patients and residents across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin

Following the global IT outage on Friday 19 July 2024, we can report that EMIS - the appointment and patient record system - is now up and running for GP practices, community pharmacies, and the Prescription Ordering Direct (POD) service.
 
However, please note that disruption does continue for these services due to the backlog of work that has been created by the outage.
 
The POD team has been working over the weekend to ensure recent prescription orders are processed and staff have also been redeployed to manage the situation. Delays should be expected in the authorising and dispensing of medications, and where GP practice and community pharmacy colleagues are needing to input paper records, taken during Friday’s outage, onto their systems.
 
Patients are asked to only order repeat prescriptions when they are needed to ensure the services are able to prioritise those which are urgent.
 
Teams are working incredibly hard to work through the backlog so please be mindful of this should you need to use these services over the coming week and be understanding when speaking to staff.
Please continue to attend any arranged healthcare appointments unless informed otherwise and use the healthcare service which best suits your needs including your local pharmacy and NHS 111 online or call 111 for urgent health advice as normal. To find out which service is right for you, we have put together the following guide to help: ‘Think Which Service’.
 
Remember, 999 and A&E are for emergency, life-threatening illnesses only.
Thank you for your support.
17th Jul

Newsletter

Our 2024 Newsletter - please clink on the link to find out what has been happening so far at the practice, during 2024.

Map
8th Jul

Notice

Prees Road works 7th & 8th August 2024 - Please see map for information. 

4th Jun

Carers Week 10th June to 16th June 2024

Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK.  If you are a carer and need any help or support, please click on the links for some useful information. 
 
 
 
Poster
22nd May

We are part of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

29th Apr

Covid-19 Spring Booster 2024

People at increased risk from severe illness can get the Covid-19 spring booster vaccine, including those aged 75 or over (on 30th June 2024), people with a weakened immune system or who live in an older adult care home. 
 
Anybody eligible can book a vaccine appointment via NHS.uk or by calling 119 for free, with parents or carers able to book a Covid-19 vaccination for children under 16 on their behalf.  Eligible people aged 16 and over can also use the NHS App to book an appointment. 
 
Patients that are housebound or in a care home will be contacted by the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme for Shropshire in due course.
Measles Poster
25th Mar

Measles

If you think your child has measles, please call the surgery on 01939 232424. To check whether your child is up to date with their measles vaccination please check their red book, if you are unable to do this please complete an admin request, using our 'contact us online' form . Appointments are now available for MMR, please note we do not offer separate vaccinations.

Contact Us Online
20th Mar

Contact Us Online

15th Mar

Information about a software issue that prevented documents from being visible to patients.  

We understand that some of our patients may have been unable to view certain documents (e.g. letters from the hospital) when using online services due to a software problem. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are pleased to inform you that this issue has been resolved; any new documents added to your electronic GP health records will be visible and it may take up to a month for older, affected documents to become visible.  

Your GP team will have been able to access the letters, so your care will not have been affected during this time. 

12th Mar

NEW ONLINE APPOINTMENT BOOKING AT WEM AND PREES MEDICAL PRACTICE

We know from your valued feedback how difficult it can be to get through to the practice on the telephone to arrange an appointment. Despite increasing our phone line capacity and employing more receptionists to take calls, waits can still be long at peak times and often throughout the day.

We have now completed our review of our existing booking system and listened to patient feedback from our Patient Participation group. After careful thought we have made the decision to move to an online system for requesting appointments and for any administrative queries. 

From 8th April 2024 patients will be asked to submit a simple online form to contact the practice rather than phoning or coming into reception to book. 

The form is clearly displayed and available on our website. It can be accessed via a smart phone, computer, or tablet. Once received our clinical and admin teams will review the forms the same day, and patients will then be contacted with the appropriate appointment or advice.

This model of practice is called Total Triage and helps us to prioritise urgent care and utilise the many members of our skilled primary care team appropriately.

All requests for any type of appointment, and all other queries can be quickly and easily submitted via the online form.  

Below is a link to the form, and a link to a short video tutorial on how to complete the form. 

Contact us about your request (accurx.com) 

Patient Flash Demo: How to submit a medical request in Patient Triage (youtube.com) 

If you do not have access to a smartphone, or computer, or are unable to use the online form you will still be able to telephone the practice. A receptionist will be able to submit the form on your behalf by completing it with you over the telephone. However, it will greatly improve our access on   the telephone if all those patients that CAN use the online form do use it.  Completing the form online will be quicker than waiting on the telephone to speak to a receptionist.  

Patients who attend the practice to book an appointment or have an administrative request will be signposted to the online form or assisted to complete it by one of our reception team. 

If you would like to find out more about using the online form, we will be holding several interactive help sessions, supported by our PPG, where you will have the opportunity to try it for yourself. You are welcome to drop in at any of these sessions.  Dates will follow in due course and will be on the patient noticeboards and our website.

We are committed to providing excellent access to appointments for all our patients and are excited about incorporating new technology that we feel will improve our patients’ experience of contacting the practice.

Yours sincerely, 

For and on behalf of The Partners Wem and Prees Medical Practice

12th Mar

Women's Health Day January 2024

A big thank you to everyone who attended the Womens Health Saturday both patients and staff.

The event was a huge success and the patient feedback has been excellent, many ladies appreciated the availability on a Saturday and the relaxed atmosphere. Lots of lovely comments about how friendly everyone was, a big thank you to the PPG who helped with the refreshments which has had lots of mentions in the feedback and how it made a difference to the experience.

A few suggestions were made about making more appointments bookable online (noted thank you). The drop in appointments were appreciated and the advice available on HRT/Menopause and Contraception.

We have a suggestion box in reception and on our website. We are always keen to hear from patients that would like to help us improve the health and wellbeing of our patient community.

https://www.wemandpreeshealth.co.uk/suggestions


Here are a number of videos that were playing on Saturday on or TV screens
https://youtube.com/shorts/EpPNT6ZvWoM?si=3X0g_pKMKuKFds0O  breast exam

https://youtu.be/JFJtUtKQCuM?si=u3ZdxyZH5P7MNUo_  pelvic floor exercises

https://youtu.be/achc7de5N3Y?si=yxHKbCzNYPb1de7d ovarian cancer awareness

https://youtu.be/4zfdCNdtSio?si=9JbpcmJ9d4CD-4Cj Dr Sophie menopause and HRT

https://youtu.be/EjLOHxGqu5Q?si=5bKpk-0s9eSlO4HZ mindfulness

https://youtu.be/qpX8fE4FGhk?si=BRZBO0N7DmOblrB4 alcohol

https://youtu.be/W8glz3zMXA0?si=UOzTudmGT3OCijdp osteoporosis

21st Jan

Mental Health support service for Armed Forces Veterans

The NHS is rolling out an expanded mental health support service for Armed Forces veterans, as a survey found that more than half find it difficult to speak up about mental health issues.
 
Op COURAGE is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help serving personnel due to leave the military, reservists, armed forces veterans and their family. 
 
More information and how to access the service in the link below. 
 
5th Dec 2023

Anastrozole for breast cancer prevention

We are aware there has been recent information in the media regarding Anastrozole for breast cancer prevention.  Presently we are currently awaiting formal guidance regarding safe prescribing for this indication and so we are not able to prescribe at this current time.
 
We will update our website when we receive further information and guidance.  If you have any breast symptoms please contact us in the usual way.
5th Dec 2023

Total Triage Practice

To improve our waiting times and to ensure that you are seen by the most appropriate person within an appropriate period of time we have moved to being a Total Triage Practice. This means that all requests for an appointment with a doctor or advanced clinical practitioner are looked at and reviewed by a Doctor.

What this means for you:

  • Total Triage ensures that your query is directed and dealt with appropriately making this a better and more efficient experience for you.
  • Ensures greater continuity of care, the doctor will review your medical record and wherever possible book you an appointment with the same clinician that has dealt with the problem previously.

We have a range of health care professionals working at the practice who may be more appropriate for you to see, rather than the GP. Our reception team have had specialist care navigation training and may offer you an appointment with the team members listed below:

  • Nurse
  • Health Care assistant
  • Physio
  • Social Prescriber
  • Mental Health Occupational therapist
  • Cancer care coordinator
  • Community care coordinator

Care Navigation improves access to primary care services for patients and reduces GP pressures all in one. When you contact the practice to book an appointment you will be asked for a brief outline of the problem. This allows our trained reception team to gather information for the doctor to review your request and they will may also provide patients with information about local health and wellbeing services, both within and outside of primary care, in a safe, effective way. 

This is because we want to offer our patients choice and help to access the most appropriate service first which is not always the GP. It also means that patients will find it easier to get a GP appointment when they need one.

How do I contact the practice/request an appointment?

  • Use Accurx
  • By Phone
  • By email for routine administrative queries

Tired of waiting on the phone? Use Accurx!

  • Accurx is our online consultation platform accessible via NHS App or here.
  • Submit a medical or administrative request
  • Please see the link below for a video on how to use Accurx.

Watch a video about how online triage works

What happens to my request?

  • Medical requests are triaged by a clinician, who will decide on the most appropriate action and timescale, which may include, telephone or face to face appointment, advice or signposting to another service.
  • Urgent medial requests- we will respond to you the same day
  • Routine medical requests- we will respond to you within 2 working days
  • Admin requests are viewed by a receptionist and directed to the most appropriate team member for action

Why we are making this change:

  • New Government guidelines, developed to help you make an appointment with us.
  • This change should make it easier to submit requests to the practice and ensure that requests are seen by the most appropriate member of staff and dealt with in an appropriate timeframe. Appointments will be prioritised according to need, rather than who gets to the appointments first.

 

24th Oct 2023

What is the significance of 1998?

No not the year!  This is the number of missed appointments we have had at Wem and Prees Medical Practice since 1st January 2023.
Nearly 2000 appointments that could have been used to see more patients.
To help to remind patients about their appointments we send a text message a few days before your appointment, within the text there is a link that allows you to cancel if you are unable to keep the appointment.
We appreciate our telephones lines are very busy but we do have an email address that could be used, a website with a 'contact us' option, you could call in to the practice and let us know.  
Please help us by letting us know if you are not able to attend and help us to reduce our 'Did not attend' from 225 per month to 0.
Many thanks for your understanding