Sept. 26, 2023

Agenda

The Leys is holding a hybrid vitual/face to face meeting on 26th September 2023 at 6.30pm.  If you are interested in attending please contact leyshealthcentre@nhs.net or come into the Practice and talk to the Reception team.  Please indicate if you wish to attend face to face or virtually.

Minutes

Questions from the Patient Information Evening, 26th September 2023

 Question: What does SPLW stand for?

Answer: Social Prescribing Link Worker – this is a team attached to our Practice who support people in accessing and direct them to other services outside of general practice.  This may include Community Groups or Local Services such as Agnes Smith Advisory Centre.

They are currently accessed by a GP referral but we are looking into how this can be a self-referral by a patient.

Question: Why are online forms only available Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm

Answer: The online form is actually available from 7.00am each morning.  It is then open until we have reached capacity on that day in terms of on the day appointments and also prebookable appointments, which are restricted each day for up to one week later.

If we open the online form up outside of working hours we then are inundated first thing in the morning with people we need to triage as well as those who are phoning (vulnerable groups). So the system is unfair towards those people who are unable to use IT.

 Question: When a patient has blood tests, why can’t the GP just ring them with the results as soon as they get them, rather than asking them to make an appointment to find out, which can take several weeks?

 Answer: We do over 700 blood requests each month. We do not have the resources to allow GPs to contact patients directly to tell every patient their blood results.  We therefore ask patients to ring up for their results or look at their NHS App (we can give access by contacting reception).  If results are not normal or expected the GP reviews the result and initiates a text message to the patient (or an admin team member contacts those without a mobile) indicating action needed and the timeframe.  Any urgent results are dealt with by the GP on the day.

 Question: Why are you constantly texting for weight and height information? It seems to be every month. Why are you asking for this information, and what are you doing with it? Does a GP or medical professional actually look at the information, to access any weight problems i.e obesity, anorexia? 

 Answer: We are requested by NHS England to keep a register of those people who have a BMI of over 30 or 28 for BAME groups.  We therefore request annually heights and weights to be able to calculate the BMI for patients.

Any patient who has a high BMI can approach the Practice to be referred on and we do opportunistically offer patient weight loss service but we cannot offer it to everyone as the service would then be overwhelmed.

NHS England also use the BMI information to inform public health initiatives – this not as individual data but statistics only.

Your up to date height and weight also informs GPs when assessing a medical issue.

  Question: Adding to the blood test question. Why one has to contact the reception to know the results? being in upper/lower limit in some tests doesn't necessarily mean that there's nothing to be improved in health. However, the receptionist is the one informing the patient if they are ok.

 Answer: The reception team only relay the information that is written by a GP on the medical record. They are not making any clinical judgement. GPs will have assessed the result based upon any previous results and their clinical assessment.  You can access your results via the NHS App to save you phoning the health centre

 Question: Now that more people are able to issue fit notes, would it be possible to go into more nuanced detail about what individuals are able to do under restrictions, rather than stating they are unfit for work when they may be able to do some limited work?

Answer: Our physiotherapist is able to issue fit notes but generally it is still GPs. You are able to request on the online form if there is a restriction of duties advice rather than being unable to work.  The request will be assessed by the GP any if they need to speak to you, you will be contacted.

 Question: Does the practice do appointments for mental health?

 Answer: We have MIND workers in Practice who can be booked in directly by the reception team along with patients being able to self-refer to Talking Space. We have a unfilled post for a mental health worker who we are currently adverting for.

Our GPs are able to deal with complex mental health issues or any mental health crisis.

 Question: Are those on repeat prescriptions viewed regularly? Do you make sure they are still needed, being requested regularly, ensuring any blood or other tests that are needed, and appointments are set up?

All repeat prescriptions are reviewed and authorised by a GP. We have a recall system for those people who are on medication that requires monitoring with blood tests. This process is more effective if we have mobile numbers for everyone as patients are able to self-book using a link we provide in the text. 

If a patient feels that they should have had a blood test to monitor their medications they can contact Reception who will be able to check and book.

 Question: I’m interested to volunteer, share skills in dance and somatic practice for health and wellbeing

Answer: Yes we would be very grateful to hear from you to discuss this further.

 Question: I wish we can have a nutritionist at our practice  if possible

Answer: Yes that would be great but we can refer patients to other services who can provide expert advice on nutrition

 Question: I’d like this to be shared as a positive - I was signposted to the long covid clinic by dr Greer and it’s really helped so thank you

Answer: Thank you so much for your positive feedback – the team really do feel encouraged when we receive positive feedback.

 Question: The hospital has previously told me they cannot issue fit notes? Which was an issue when very unwell!

Answer: Hospitals are required to issue fit notes for the expected duration that a patient may not be able to work due to the reason they are attending hospital. It may well be that a junior member of the team were not aware of this.

 Question: i remember also i did ask about my medication being in too much of a quantity but they said it didnt come in a lower quantity unfortunately

Answer: That may well be the case please do talk to Eve our prescriptions administrator who may be able to clarify.