Coronavirus (Covid19) Guidance

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Non-urgent advice: WARNING!

If you have a new continuous cough, a high temperature (37.8 or more) or a loss of taste or smell, PLEASE DO NOT attend the surgery unless instructed by a clinician.

We would urge patients to keep themselves up to date with the latest information about the current coronavirus outbreak by visiting nhs.uk

How the outbreak is affecting our practice

Our Practice – The surgery is now closed to all patients who do not have a pre-arranged appointment. We will ask all patients to wear facemasks before entering the building for appointments as well as making use of our hand sanitizers. We have enforced social distancing of 2 metres by displaying clear signage and by removing most chairs from our waiting areas to ensure we are in keeping with guidelines. All of our staff are wearing facemasks and washing their hands thoroughly at regular intervals throughout the day. The areas within the practice are cleaned thoroughly after each patient including clinical rooms, chairs, door handles and those places multiple people are likely to have touched.

Non-urgent advice: Visiting the practice

The surgery is now closed to all patients who do not have a pre-arranged appointment. We will ask all patients to wear facemasks before entering the building for appointments as well as making use of our hand sanitizers. We have enforced social distancing of 2 metres by displaying clear signage and by removing most chairs from our waiting areas to ensure we are in keeping with guidelines. All of our staff are wearing facemasks and washing their hands thoroughly at regular intervals throughout the day. The areas within the practice are cleaned thoroughly after each patient including clinical rooms, chairs, door handles and those places multiple people are likely to have touched.

Non-urgent advice: New Entrances

As our doors are closed we are asking patients with routine appointments who are NOT shielding to come to the side of the building to the left side of the car park where reception are able to speak to patients through a window and are admitting those with appointments through one of the buildings fire exits. We will ask patients to wear a mask before entering the practice. All of our staff will be wearing masks while in the practice. The entrance is sign posted from the car park and is called COLD ZONE

As in other parts of the NHS the practice is making difficult choices about how best to protect patients and our team. With immediate effect the following types of appointments will not be available:

Routine BP checks

​- Spirometry

​- NHS Health Checks

​- Ear syringing

– Travel injections

​- Routine blood monitoring

– Routine ECGs

With regards to the appointments that are already booked our nurses will check on a week by week basis at the start of the week whether the appointments are deemed urgent or not. They will then contact patients via text or telephone to inform them if they are to attend.

The following appointments will still be available at least for now:

– Baby immunisations

– Cervical screening

– B12 injections

– Urgent blood tests requested by a GP

– Urgent ECGs requested by a GP

– Amber drug monitoring (these are specialist medications which require extensive monitoring)

– Hormone injections

– 6 week baby checks

– Wound checks

– Midwife appointments

For patients with chronic diseases such as asthma, COPD and diabetes all monitoring will be attempted over the phone. We accept that this is not ideal, and you may need a “catch up” appointment later in the year to get any information needed in a face to face appointment.

If you do have an appointment, you will need to confirm you do not have any a new persistent cough, a temperature of more than 37.8C or are currently residing in a household which is self isolating. If you have an appointment booked, and develop these symptoms, please contact the surgery to  cancel this as soon as possible.

All GP appointments will be booked initially as a telephone consultation. You will be given an appointment time as normal. The GP will telephone you as close to that time as possible, discuss your issues, and suggest any appropriate actions. Rest assured that if the GP thinks you need a face to face appointment and it is safe for you to do so, you will be seen in person.

If you require a fit note as a result of Covid-19 you do not need to speak to the GP practice. NHS111 are providing this service.

Please click on the link and follow the instructions: https://111.nhs.uk/isolation-note/

You can order your prescription online through the SystmOnline or NHS apps, and we strongly recommend that patients use these services. Alternatively you should contact your pharmacy to order repeat prescriptions.

The practice is currently being swamped with patients over ordering their prescriptions or requesting them early. This means it is taking longer to process these requests than normal for all our patients. There is no reason for patients to order more medication than they would usually.

Use the online service if you can and don’t over order!

Ways you can help

  • Download the NHSApp – We strongly recommend all patients download the NHSApp onto their smartphone. You can use this app to book appointments and order repeat prescriptions.
  • Keep up to date with official information – the best sources of information is nhs.uk/coronavirus and gov.uk/coronavirus and follow the guidance.
  • Follow basic hygiene rules – Wash hands your hands often for at least 20 seconds using soap and water, always wash your hands when you get home or into work, use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze, put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards.
  • Avoid close contact – try to distance yourself from people who have symptoms of coronavirus. Do not have visitors to your home, including friends and family.
  • Stay at home if you can – only travel on public transport if you need to, work from home, if you can; avoid social activities, such as going to pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas and avoid events with large groups of people.
  • Don’t visit the practice unless you are invited by a GP – use phone, online services, or smartphone apps to contact us or other NHS services.
  • Don’t over-order you repeat prescription. Although it may take a day or two longer than normal to process your prescription, there are no shortages of medications. Only order what you normally would.
  • Care for others – If you’re able try to help out your family, friends and neighbours
  • Don’t panic and don’t spread misinformation – This is a serious situation for all of us, but if we pull together, we will get through it.

Advice for people at high risk

If you’re at high risk of getting seriously ill from coronavirus, there are extra things you should do to avoid catching it.

These include:

  • not leaving your home – you should not go out to do shopping, visit friends or family, or attend any gatherings
  • avoiding close contact with other people in your home as much as possible

Read the full advice on protecting yourself if you’re at high risk from coronavirus on GOV.UK.

We are contacting those patients who may be shielding but still need to attend the practice for important tests or treatments due to medical conditions or medications you may be taking. To ensure there are no other patients within the building and you are not in contact with those queuing for the pharmacy, we are only running clinics from 12 – 2pm for our shielded patients. This is when the pharmacy is closed and we can ensure you will not come into contact with anyone else that may be in the building apart from the clinician you will be seeing. This is known as the ULTRA-COLD ZONE. You will be asked to remain in your car or stay outside until your appointment time, you will then be met by a member of staff and given a mask to wear while you are within the practice. Our colleagues from our network are currently contacting our patients to check on their wellbeing and to enquire if there is any way we can offer support or signpost our patients to services that might be able to make the difficulties our shielded patients are currently facing easier to manage

Who is at high risk?

You may be at high risk from coronavirus if you:

  • have had an organ transplant
  • are having certain types of cancer treatment
  • have blood or bone marrow cancer, such as leukaemia
  • have a severe lung condition, such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma
  • have a condition that makes you much more likely to get infections
  • are taking medicine that weakens your immune system
  • are pregnant and have a serious heart condition

Information: If you’re at high risk, you will be contacted by the NHS by Sunday 29 March 2020. Do not contact your GP or healthcare team at this stage – wait to be contacted.

Click here for the latest information and access to testing

How to contact us

Our phone lines are still open, call the usual number 0113 239 4416.

You can use our online services, or smartphone apps to do things like book appointments and order repeat prescriptions.

You can email us on reception.manorparksurgery@nhs.net if you have a question or to send us information about your condition.

It is very likely that you may have to wait longer on telephone, for appointments and prescriptions, we would ask patients to be particularly understanding of the issues facing the practice at this difficult time.