**PLEASE NOTE: We are experiencing intermittent issues with our phone lines. We are trying to resolve this as soon as possible. UPDATE: the lines appear to be back to normal. Please keep an eye on the website and our Facebook page for the latest information. Thanks (updated 13:30)
Welcome to our website which we hope you will find both useful and informative.
The surgery will be closing between 1pm - 2pm every day from 26th March 2020. For urgent enquiries only, please call 07395 935774
If you are requesting a repeat prescription these can be sent to us at: dispensary.saxmundhamhealth@nhs.net
Please include your name, date of birth, address and details of all the medication that you are requesting.
The Government recently announced the introduction of a test to detect the presence of the Covid 19 antibody. It is not fully understood what a positive antibody test means in terms of immunity and future risk from COVID-19. At the moment, tests are only available for the purpose of increasing understanding of who has (or has not) had an immune response. There is little clinical benefit in knowing this information as the evidence so far does not show that having had the virus once provides immunity to prevent a patient getting the virus a second time. Hence it is extremely important that we all continue with the current approach of social distancing, hand washing, infection control procedures and so on. The test may be offered, if deemed appropriate, to those patients who are having a blood test for another clinical reason.
The antibody test is not currently being offered to the general population. Some patients have said that their employer has asked for the test to be undertaken before they return to work. This is not in line with current government guidance
Please find via the link, information in relation to the COVID- 19 World Pandemic that has been produced by Doctors Of The World available in 32 different languages:
Information for the public on the outbreak of coronavirus, including the current situation in the UK and information about the virus and its symptoms.
Corona Virus Frequently Asked Questions
COVID Symptom Tracker - Take 1 minute to report your health daily, even if you're well
Please read our newsletter for May 2020.
The NHS across Suffolk will be better prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases, if the public follows Public Health England advice.
The NHS has put in place measures to ensure the safety of patients and staff which may mean your patient experience is subject to change.
The Chief Medical Officer announced on Friday 13 March that the country is moving into the ‘Delay’ stage of the response to coronavirus (Covid-19).
The new advice issued by the Chief Medical Officer is to stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or a hospital. You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home.
Use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service if:
Only call 111 if you cannot get help online.
Stay At Home Advice can be found on the NHS website.
For the latest Covid-19 advice please watch the following video created by Dr Havard.
Everyone is being reminded to follow Public Health England advice to:
Information remains subject to regular change and updates. More information can be found on the NHS website.
As you are all aware the current COVID-19 poses one of the greatest challenges that society has faced in recent times, and we have all had to make changes to our daily lives to ensure that we work together to protect the most vulnerable members of society. At the Practice we have had to make a number of responsive changes following recent developments to ensure the maximum safety of our patients, and to protect our staff as much as possible to ensure that the NHS can keep working in an effective manner and can continue to provide the best level of care possible.
As such, during the current period of emergency measures many routine services will be subject to short notice change and many administrative tasks will be streamlined to ensure that we focus more of our time and resources on the delivery of care to those that need it the most.
As part of this streamlining of administration tasks, the Practice will be changing its complaints procedures, during this period of crisis. As of 24th March 2020, we will now be reviewing complaints on a weekly basis at our Practice Clinical Meeting, to ensure that any high priority complaints that fall within the following categories can be swiftly discussed and any resulting changes to our Practice can be immediately implemented:
Should your complaint not fall into these categories, then it will be dealt with when we have capacity to do so, and unfortunately at this time, the timeframe for this is uncertain. We appreciate your understanding whilst our Practice is dealing with unprecedented demand.
The Government’s rules around issuing a sick note (Med3) are that a medical professional can only issue a Med3 when an individual has had more than seven continuous calendar days off sick due to an illness (including weekends).
For any period of illness less than seven days, you are able to complete a self-certification certificate and provide this to your employer. In the unlikely event that your employer does not accept a self-certification then your doctor may be able to issue a private sick note for which you may get 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 recent travel, even in the absence of any symptoms of an illness. In these cases, your GP will not be abIe to issue a sick note as the time off work is not due to an illness, and isn’t affecting your ability to work, but rather is a precaution to avoid transmission of any illness that is yet to produce symptoms.
We therefore expect your employer to be sympathetic 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 to your employer if needed.
Whilst we appreciate this may cause some difficulties between you and your employer, equally GPs 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 GPs to provide letters to the school to confirm this. As I am sure you will appreciate, with the rapidly evolving Coronavirus situation, and the already existing pressures on GPs to meet the day to day demands from ill patients, the practice is unable to accommodate a school request for a GP letter. We hope that schools will work with parents to ensure any time off is appropriately recorded, obviating the need for a doctor’s note. This briefing has been written for and on behalf of your GP surgery, so please accept this as a reply to your request for a sick note/letter from the surgery.
My Care Record 
My Care Record enables health and care professionals directly involved in your care to access information about you.
Providing you with:
Your GP, hospital, community health, mental health and social care teams may all hold important information about your care. We know that when information is made available between services in a more joined-up way, we can better meet your health and wellbeing needs.
We now have a common agreement that health and care organisations within our region will follow. We are calling this My Care Record. Where it is in place, professionals can access relevant information from other organisations that will help to deliver better care to you. For example, a doctor treating you in hospital or a nurse working in the community could view the information they need from your GP record.
Access to your records is made possible by several different types of secure technology. Information about you will only be accessed by health or care professionals who are directly involved in your care. Health and care professionals may access your records from different services to improve the care you receive as a whole.
In some areas, information from care records may also be used to help to plan and design how we deliver better services for you and the local population as a whole. In these cases, your name or any other recognisable information about you are not used so no-one working with the information would be able to identify you.
My Care Record is a key part of wider work to provide more joined-up care, connecting people, services and systems. As more care providers develop the technologies to view records across services, the benefits will increase.
Our organisation is part of the My Care Record approach which is supporting the work of health and care organisations across the East of England as they respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For example, we are working to make sure doctors, nurses and co-ordination staff at places you may receive advice or treatment can see important information from your patient record. This could include NHS treatment centres such as the London NHS Nightingale Hospital. This will make it easier and faster for them to deliver effective care.
More information, including answers to frequently asked questions and a list of the organisations that are taking part can be found at the My Care Record website.
Please see information regarding Pharmacy2U released by the National Pharmacy Association.
From 1 April 2020 NHS Prescription charges are:
£9.15 per prescription per item
£29.65 for a 3 month prepayment certificate
£105.90 for a 12 month prepayment certificate
Information about help with health costs
Please note, as from April 1st 2019 Gabapentin and Pregabalin are now Controlled Drugs and we will only prescribe a 28 day supply. The prescription is also valid for only 28 days. Further details regarding Pregabalin and Gabapentin.
Please read about our new Paramedic and Urgent Care scheme
At Saxmundham Health we are proud to have introduced a system called Care Navigation which aims to get all our patients seen by the most appropriate person, first time, in good time.
Further details about Care Navigation
All of our telephone calls are recorded as part of our telephone call recording policy. Access and playback of recordings is carefully controlled and governed by data protection legislation. Only suitably training staff with the appropriate authority can access calls.
Access to calls may be for a number of reasons. The three main reasons are checking accuracy, answering complaints, and for staff training to improve service and skills.
To ensure the safety of our patients whilst out of the area Saxmundham Health will no longer provide medication for periods of travel longer than 28 days. This is important because medical conditions should have ongoing clinical oversight which cannot be provided whilst patients are absent. Our new rule is in line with guidelines issued by the Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group and is NHS policy . If you are planning to be away please give our Dispensary as much notice as possible that you will need up to 28 days’ medication from the first day of your planned trip. Thank you for your understanding.
Up to 60 patients per week fail to attend their appointments with us (DNA - did not attend) wasting valuable NHS resources. We now have a new policy to help deal with this growing problem - Read our DNA Policy.
Did you know we have a Patient Participation Group?
The purpose of the Patient Participation Group is to help us access and use your ideas for new projects, and gaining your views as to how the practice can improve and develop.
Patient Group Page
'Choose' Well by choosing the right service. The short video below is all about Choosing the Right Service.
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111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It's fast, easy and free. Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals.
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The NHS website. Take control of your health and wellbeing. Get medical advice, information about healthcare services and support for a healthy life.
Patient is one of the most trusted medical resources online, supplying evidence based information on a wide range of medical and health topics to patients and health professionals.
