WEATHER WARNING
Heat wave warnings??? Alas, No. Well, not yet anyway but I will keep you informed if any come my way. It could be an idea to stock up on high factor sun protection, a big floppy hat and flip flops though – I live in hope that we will need them!
Patient Participation Group (PPG)
Our second Patient Information Day was a minor success. Despite having some extremely great support groups such as Assist – to help with housing problems; MacMillan – for support for cancer sufferers and their carers; Mansfield District Council Leisure Services – offering a referral process for subsidised fitness programmes; Mansfield CVS – to signpost and support our international patients; and Smokefree Life – to help get you off the smelly sticks, not too many people turned up.
Perhaps I am not advertising widely enough?? If you have any ideas as to how I can spread the news and reach people that need support in time for our next PID on 6th August please contact our PPG group at ppg_rshc@hotmail.co.uk.
You can also sign up to become a member of our PPG group and have input on the services we provide, get information about the wider NHS and what is happening in our area or just provide ideas for Patient Information Days and Newsletters.
Our latest Newsletter can be found here – ForestMedicalSummer2016issue22
RECRUITMENT
Many of you will be extremely pleased to know that one of our ex registrars, Dr Matthew Lea (now a fully fledged GP) and our previous Prescribing Nurse Katie Pickard, will both be returning to us in August.
Dr Lea will be working with us every day except Tuesday at both Oak Tree Lane Surgery and Rosemary Street Health Centre. However, with annual leave in August and Paternity Leave in December, demand may well exceed supply for a short while for this popular GP.
Katie will also be working at Oak Tree Lane Surgery and Rosemary Street Health Centre Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. We would like to offer Katie more days as I know she has many patients that will be over joyed to have her back with us, however we are limited on space at the moment. Hopefully the Business Cases for a New Build at Oak Tree and an extension at Rosemary Street will be passed and we could then entice Katie to do more days!
We also have Dr Jyothi Badrinath joining us on a regular basis from September for two days a week. Personally I am extremely excited and happy about this as I worked for Dr Badrinath in my early days in Primary Care at Oakwood Surgery and know she is not only a fantastic and thorough GP but also a wonderful friendly person. Dr Badrinath is also accredited to do IUCD (Coils) and contraceptive implants which will give the Practice continuity when Dr Hakeem-Habeeb takes a sabatical in London next year.
We are always on the look out for more GPs, Nurses and Receptionists as our Practice patient list is growing by more than 500 patients per year. I have recently heard from 3 experienced GP receptionists who would like to join our team so we could also be getting some new receptionists very shortly.
BUSINESS CASES
We have been successful in passing the first stage of the Transformation Fund bids to create a new GP Surgery and Community Centre for Oak Tree Lane and an extension to Rosemary Street Health Centre. Mansfield and Ashfield CCG have now passed the Business Cases on to NHS England to assess whether or not they will allocate any finance to assist our projects. Perhaps my Autumn update will have some very good and exciting news in it??
Knowing that there is a shortage of Practice Nurses I have also put a bid in to the CCG to gain funding for a Practice Nurse project. Registered Nurses wishing to enter in to Primary Care need a great deal of training and new skills which are not gained in any other Nursing area. I have therefore asked the CCG to fund up to 12 places at DeMondfort University to enable them to become qualified Practice Nurses. This will benefit all Practices in Mid Nottinghamshire who wish to recruit a Practice Nurse and have the capacity to provide an in house mentor.
Yep and another one – I have been busy bee haven’t I?! My most recent submission to the CCG is to become a Pilot site to entice GPs into coming back to work in the NHS. The Targeted Investment in Recruiting Returning Doctors scheme is aimed to encourage doctors, and GPs on the retained doctor scheme to seek employment in areas such as ours that has historically struggled to recruit GPs.
CARE QUALITY COMMISSION (CQC)
And finally I end with the reason I am presently working from home and hiding from the day to day matters within the surgery (as well as unpacking boxes due to a house move that has unfortunately fallen at this busy time). Our CQC inspection has been arranged!!!
On Thursday 7th July (tomorrow!!!) I must submit some evidence to the CQC regarding Significant Events, Complaints received, audits completed, policies and procedures, staffing etc. Following this, on the 14th July, four members of the CQC will visit our Practices. They will begin their day with a presentation from myself on all aspects of Forest Medical. They will then speak to the GPs, Nurses, Adminstrative staff and patients. They will assess consultation skills, induction procedures, staff competence, patient satisfaction and of course my management skills. Many of our policies and procedures will also be scrutinised in order to assess all aspects of patient safety.
This can be an extremely stressful time for a GP Practice but I am confident that our rating will reflect the effort and care we give to our patients. If you would like to provide any feedback on the service you have received in the past 12 months please do so using the Contact Us form in our website. All feedback will be presented to the CQC when they visit – even if you think there is something we can improve on. We can’t get it right if you don’t tell us we are doing it wrong! And it is always nice to hear about what we are doing well!
Well I had better crack on with the evidence for tomorrow – wish us luck!!!
Kind Regards
Nicola