The Elms Medical Practice

16 Derby Street

Ormskirk

Lancashire

L39 2BY

26.3.2020 CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Stay at home for 7 days if you have either

* a high temperature - hot to touch on chest or back

* a new continuous cough - this means you've started coughing repeatedly

Stay at home for 14 days if one of the people in your household has the above symptoms of coronavirus. The 14 day period starts from the day when the first person in the house becomes ill.

If you start displaying symptoms within this 14 day period, you need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day you are on in the original 14 day isolation period.

Do not go to your GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

You do not need to contact NHS 111 to tell them yu're staying at home.

Use the NHS 111 online service if

* you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home

* your condition gets worse

* your symptoms do not get better after 7 days

Only call NHS 111 if you cannot get help online

STAY AT HOME - STOP THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS

Everyone must stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus

You should only leave your home for 4 reasons 

* Shopping for basic necessities, for food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible

* One form of exercise a day, for example, a walk, run or cycle - alone or with members of your household - remeber social distancing

* any medical needs, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person

* travelling too or from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done at home.

These 4 reasons are exceptions - even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart form anyone outside of you household

https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirus

https://111.nhs.uk/service/covid-19

https://111.nhs.uk/isolation-note

https://www.acas.org.uk/contact  

Everyone is being reminded to follow Public Health England Advice.

For support form Macmillan for pateints, family and frieds, please phone 01695 402164

Changes to the practice appointment system

Due to the present health climate and in the best interests of patients and staff, the practice is moving to telephone triage as of Monday 16th March.

This includes both doctors and nurses appointments and the Walk in Clinic .

Prescription Ordering

24.3.20 Update regarding post circulating on social media

Posts started circulating over the weekend on social media advising patients with COPD to contact their GP to order Rescue Pack. These posts were NOT from an offical source and the advice was incorrect. Our GPs, pharmacist and POD in WLancs are working incredibly hard with patients that require medication and repeat prescriptions to ensure that they have what they need.

It is vitally important that you only share clinical advice from trusted sources, such as the NHS or Public Health England.

For anyone with pre-existing respiratory condition such as Asthma or COPD, please ignore these rescue pack posts if you see them and instead, you should continue to manage your condition in the usual way and if you have symptoms of COVID 19, go to the dedicated NHS websites before doing anything else.

How to Order Prescriptions

We are no longer taking paper order forms for prescriptions. Please either phone the POD on 01772 214852 between 8.30 to 11.30am and 2.30 to 4.30pm

To order Online please ring the practice on 01695 588710. We will also ask for you to nominate a pharmacy

Please note that the POD is currently dealing with an exceptionally high level of demand for prescription requests. They are only able to issue your usual supply of medication if it is due. The earliest you are able to order is 7 days in advance, any request beyond this timeframe will not be accepted.

The POD are not able to accept requests for paracetamol on prescription, this can be obtained over the counter in shops or pharmacies. They are also unable to accept requests for inhalers, unless you are on an inhaler regularly for a respiratory condition.

If you do not want to wait in the queue for the POD, please sign up to Patient Access or the myGP app where you can order your medication online.

We thank you for your understanding and co-operation at this time.

Advice Regarding Sick Notes (MED3 Certificates)

The government's rules around issuing a sick note (MED3) are that a medical professional can only issue a MED3 certificate when an individual has had more than seven continuous calender days off sick due to an illness (this includes weekends).

For any period of illness less than seven days, you are able to complete a self-certificate and provide this to your employer. In the unlikely event that your employer does not accept self-certificates, then your doctor may be able to issue a private sick note for which you may be charged.

In light of the current coronavirus situation, it is inevitable that a number of employees may be required to quarantine themselves at home, for example, due to the nature of any recent travel (even in the absence of any symptoms). In these cases, your GP will not be able to issue a sick note as the time off work is not due to an illness, and isn't affecting your ability to work, rather it is a precaution to avoid transmission of any illness that is yet to produce symptoms.

We therefore expect your employer to be sympathetic to you if you are required to self-isolate for 14 days and to understand that the reason for this is to protect the welfare of your work colleagues and the wider community. We understand that you may also be able to call NHS 111 to request an email confirmation of the suspected coronavirus diagnosis, to show your employer if needed.

Whilst we appreciate that this may cause some difficulties between you and your employer, equally GP's have a responsibility to prioritise the assessment and management of the healthcare needs of patients who are acutely unwell, rather than spending time dealing with requests for sick notes, particularly when they aren't in a position to issue one.

Also, for children taking time off school, there is no NHS requirement for GP's to provide letters for the school to confirm this. As I am sure you will appreciate, with the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation, and the already existing pressure on GP's to meet day to day demands from ill patients, the practice is unable to accomodate a school request for a GP letter. We hope that schools will work with parents to ensure that any time off is appropriately recorded, obviating the needs for a doctors note.

We would like to thank you for your co-operation in relation to the above.

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Welcome to the website for The Elms Medical Practice

Mission Statement: Our Service is to Care

Practice contact number is 01695 588710

 Practice Fax number is 01695 588712

Please phone NHS 111 for advice when the practice is closed or use the online 111 website: https://111.nhs.uk/