Newsletter - Spring 2024

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Welcome to our Spring Newsletter

The NHS continues to face many challenges both nationally and locally. Here at Ryeland Surgery we remain positive and strive to provide the best possible service to our patients, in keeping with our Mission Statement: "Our aim is to deliver first class patient care from a motivated and supportive team and to be an inspirational training and research hub". 
Many of you will have seen the new slide show presentation on our waiting room screens. There is surprise at the diversity of our clinical team - 13 GPs, 2 ANPs (Advanced Nurse Practitioners), 3 UCPs (Urgent Care Practitioners), 7 Practice Nurses, 4 HCAs and a phlebotomist (at Bodenham). We are delighted that we also now have a First Contact Practitioner (FCP) physiotherapist, Vincenzo Allocca. Those who have a musculoskeletal problem can ask to be booked in with Vincenzo directly—more details below.

It will be clear why our telephonists are now called "Care Navigators". They navigate patients to the best clinician or service to meet their needs, which may be outside the practice, such as community pharmacists for minor illness, Minor Injury Units (MIUs) for certain injuries,  or optometrists for eye problems. Their job is complex and they have extensive training in Care Navigation. 

We congratulate Dr Lucy Glasgow on completing her final exams (with flying colours) in her training as a GP and we are delighted that she is joining us a permanent GP in April. She will be a wonderful asset to our team. 

We hope, very soon, to have positive news about a new building for the practice. Not quite in time for this newsletter as there are still hurdles to overcome, but we remain optimistic! 

Ryeland Research Award

Ryeland Surgery was delighted to be Highly Commended in the Clinical Research Network (CRN) West Midlands regional awards ceremony in Wolverhampton, at which we were congratulated on our success in involving patients in research trials. The surgery has been involved in many trials over many years, and always has several on the go at any one time. We have recently recruited our own part-time research nurse, Claire Brown, to help with this work. She is pictured here with Eleanor Brookes- Owen (Business Manager) and Dr Crispin Fisher, along with Carly Craddock, (Chief Operating Officer of the CRN) and Professor David Loughton CBE (Chief Executive of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust) who presented our award.

A huge thanks to all our patients who have taken or are taking part in one of our research studies. Clinical research is vital in understanding more about health, disease and medicines in the NHS, and provides the evidence to drive better treatment outcomes for patients within the UK and all over the world.

You can find out more about our current research studies on our website

Easter Opening Times

	Ryeland Surgery	Bodenham Surgery
Thursday  28th March	8:00am to 6:30pm	8:00am to 12:30pm
Friday 29th March	Closed	Closed
Saturday 30th March	Closed	Closed
Sunday 31st March	Closed	Closed
Monday 1st April	Closed	Closed
Tuesday 2nd April	8:00am to 6:30pm	8:00am to 12:30pm and 2:00pm to 6:00pm

When the practice is closed

• Visit NHS 111 online or phone 111 for advice on urgent medical concerns
• Phone 999 for life threatening emergencies

Repeat Prescriptions Over the Easter Break

Please ensure you order your repeat prescriptions in good time.  It takes the practice 3 working days to process your request and can take some pharmacies a further 2-3 working days to prepare your medicines for collection.  Please do not leave your ordering until the last minute.

The best way to manage your repeat prescriptions is via the NHS App.

Welcome to Vincenzo

Vincenzo Alloca is a First Contact Practitioner which is a physiotherapist with additional expertise in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal conditions.

Vincenzo will hold clinics on Monday Wednesday and Friday at Ryeland Surgery and patients calling with any of the conditions below will be offered a routine assessment appointment with him, as capacity allows.

• All soft tissue injuries, sprains, strains or sports injuries that haven’t responded to simple pain relief for 2 weeks or more
• Arthritis – any joint 
• Possible problems with muscles, ligaments, tendons or bone, eg tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome
• Spinal pain including lower back pain, mid-back pain and neck pain 
• Spinal-related pain in arms or legs, including nerve symptoms, eg pins and needles or numbness

Did you know we have a Well Being Team attached to Ryeland Surgery?

The Wellbeing Team includes Care Coordinators, Health & Wellbeing Coaches, Social Prescribers, an Occupational Therapist, a Dietitian and a Mental Health Practitioner.
Who you will be referred to depends upon your situation and what matters to you. The team can help you;

• By supporting you to make the right, positive choices about your health and lifestyle
• By guiding you towards activities and opportunities that are of interest to you in your area.  These could help you to feel more part of your community
• By working with you to set and achieve personal goals that are right for you
• By helping you to build your personal resilience and confidence levels and to become more independent in your home
• By supporting you to manage long-term health conditions more effectively
• By offering support to family members who care for your, or to you if you are a carer of a family member

You do not need to see a doctor to be referred to the Wellbeing Team – please ask the receptionist for details

Covid Spring Boosters

You will be eligible for this season’s Covid booster if you are:

• 75 or over by 30th June 2024
• Severely immunosuppressed
• Living in an older adult care home

We will contact you when we have the vaccine available, which will be late April or early May. Please do not contact the practice unless you believe you fall into one of the above categories and haven't heard from us by the end of May.

Those in the above categories who are also housebound will receive a visit from us for their vaccination, we will be in touch.

Patient Feedback

For one week in January we surveyed all patients that attended the practice about how easy or difficult it was to book their appointment.  We had a total of 336 responses and here are the results:

Generally how easy or difficult is it to get through to someone on the phone?

• Easy 81%
• Not easy 16%
• Haven’t tried  3%

How easy is it to use the practice website to look for information or access services?

• Easy 44%
• Not easy 9%
• Haven’t tried 47%

Were you satisfied with the appointment you were offered?

• Yes, and I accepted the appointment - 95% 
• No, but I still took an appointment - 4%
• No, and I did not take an appointment - 0%
• I was not offered an appointment – 1%

Overall how would you describe your experience of making an appointment?

• Good 89%
• Neither good nor poor 7%
• Poor 4%

Overall how would you describe your experience of the Practice?

• Good 95%
• Neither good nor poor 4%
• Poor 1%

We are very pleased with these results but there is always room for improvement! 

The following shows how busy the telephones can get at different times of the day.

Calls Taken 22nd to 26th January 2024

• 8:00am to 10:00am 590 (25%)
• 10:00am to 12:00pm 569 (24%)
• 12:00pm to 2:00pm 488 (20%)
• 2:00pm to 4:00pm 434 (18%)
• 4:00pm to 6:00pm 291 (13%)

For anything that isn't medically urgent, please do call us during the less busy times or consider using our online consult form via the website for non-urgent enquiries. 

Patient Participation Group (PPG)

We would like to welcome any patients who are interested in joining our PPG to an informal meeting at the practice on Thursday 21st March 5.30pm to 6.15pm to find out more about what is involved, so you can make a fully informed decision about what is involved before making the commitment to sign up. Further information about the PPG is on our website.