Latest news page updated 06/07/2010

DR SUE GOODFELLOW’S CHARITY BIKE RIDE

Dr Goodfellow has set herself a challenge by taking part in the London to Paris Charity Bike Ride which is taking place on the 21^st July 2010.

 Dr Goodfellow has been training hard all summer and can often be seen cycling through the roads of the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband, cardiologist Dr Jon Goodfellow.  Dr Goodfellow is raising money for Action Medical Research, a children’s charity.  If you want to sponsor Dr Goodfellow, please visit www.action.org.uk/sponsor/suegoodfellow.

COVER UP AND ENJOY THE SUN

Enjoy the summer but please remember to cover up with the appropriate sum block if you are going on holidays this year, event if it is in this country

SURGERY CLOSURE

Please note that the surgery will be closed from 12 noon on Wednesday 21st July for GP/staff training as arranged by the local health board.

In an emergency please contact 01446 733355 you will be transferred to Primecare who will deal with your call.

The surgery will reopen on Thursday 22nd July at 8am.

NEW GP  REGISTRARS

The practice will have two new Registrars, starting in August.  Drs Emily Williams and Roya Basir will be joining the Practice for a period of twelve months.

Dr James Martin joining the practice

 Dr James Martin, who is currently a Registrar at the Practice has successfully passed his exams and will now be employed at the Practice for a further twelve months. 

RHOOSE SURGERY

It is our intention to increase our surgery commitment at Rhoose later on in the year.  We are hoping to be able to offer patients appointments at our branch surgery every morning plus four afternoons per week.  We are not sure yet when we will be doing this but it is likely to be in August/September.

New TELEPHONE AND APPOINTMENTS SYSTEM

When we move to our new building, the Practice will have a state of the art telephone system installed, which we hope will meet your needs when contacting the surgery.  We will also be changing the way you can book appointments with our doctors and nurses.  After November, you will be able to ring the surgery at any time of the day or night and book an appointment over the telephone using an automated system.  If we have your mobile phone number, you will receive a confirmation message of your booking.  Your will also be able to cancel and change appointments using this system.  We hope that this will alleviate the difficulties you have when trying to contact the surgery first thing in the morning.  The Welsh Assembly Government has also told us that an on-line appointment booking system will be available to GP practices to use by the end of the year.

During the summer months, we will be asking you for an up to date mobile telephone number, if you have one so that we can include this information in your personal details.  We will use the number you give to confirm any appointment you have made with us and to also send you details of flu clinics or other clinics which you attend.

213 appointments were missed last month (June 2010)

If you were unable to obtain an appointment this week, one of the reasons could be that the number above is the amount of failed attendance for booked appointments. You must contact the surgery in advance to prevent receiving a letter and to allow other patients the opportunity of an appointment.

Doctors Telephone Consultation Service

The Practice has recently introduced a doctor's telephone consultation service at Barry. To find out more about this new service please visit our Appointments page.

SYMPTOMS OF SWINE FLU

The symptoms of swine flu are broadly the same as those of ordinary flu, but may be more severe and cause more serious complaints.

The typical symptoms are:

- sudden fever (a high body temperature of 38C/100.4F or above), and
- sudden cough

Other symptoms may include:

- headache
- tiredness
- chills
- aching muscles
- limb or joint pain
- diarrhoea or stomach upset
- sore throat
- runny nose
- sneezing, and
- loss of appetite

INFORMATION AND STATISTICS

 In the period April 2009 to March 2010, the Practice clinical staff had a total of 71,311 appointments – that’s nearly 6 appointments for each patient registered with the Practice.

Unfortunately, more than 2,500 appointments were missed – this is the equivalent of three GP surgeries per week.  So, please if you cannot make an appointment or you feel that you no longer need an appointment, please let us know so we can re-allocate it to another patient.

During last winter we immunised more than 2,000 patients against seasonal flu and a further 1,800 patients were also vaccinated against swine flu.

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