Meadowside
Medical Practice
Summer
2002 Newsletter
It
is now officially British Summer Time and whatever the weather we extend a warm
welcome to all new patients at Meadowside.
We do aim to be a friendly and efficient practice and we
hope to keep improving. Please ask at
reception about any information you need.
We can always arrange further privacy if necessary.
We have a new, improved website in the design stage – the
address will be the same: www.go.to/Meadowside.
It will be up and running by 1st July 2002 – please take a
look and let us know if you have any comments by emailing msidesurg@aol.com.
·
All staff are
bound by strict confidentiality rules so that any information that is provided
by you remains confidential.
·
All the nurses and doctors and allied team
members who consult with you do so confidentially.
·
If you are being referred for a hospital
appointment information is passed in confidence to the appropriate consultant,
normally by letter.
·
Sometimes, for example, a university will
ring requesting information about a student who is unwell when taking important
exams. We cannot impart any information
without your verbal and written consent.
·
Children and teenagers are also entitled
to a totally confidential and personal service and often prefer to be seen on
their own. We are sure parents and
guardians will appreciate this fact. It
is nowadays not uncommon for parents to be asked to sit in the waiting room
when a child consults if this is appropriate.
The person consulting must be able to trust the health professional and
we respect every aspect of privacy.
Over
the past month we have had the exterior cleaned and painted a deep blue
colour. Inside you notice the reception
staff wearing their new multicoloured blouses.
Our nurses have a new uniform.
Our gardener is smartening up the hedges and garden. Next we are tackling the interior paint work
room by room. If you have any ideas or
comments, please use our suggestions box.
Congratulations to our Practice Manager, Vicky Jameson
and her partner Jeff on their first born, sweet little daughter Alice, who was
born on
Lisa Duxbury, our new practice
secretary, has written the following:
“I
used to work in Xray at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and before that I worked in a local solicitors.
I have all my secretarial qualifications and am currently doing a course
equivalent to the AMSPAR diploma. In my
spare time I enjoy going out with friends”.
Dr Robert Shawcross, our previous house officer, was with
us from December 2001 to April 2002, and we thank him for his contribution to
the work of the practice. He has joined
the staff of the medical team at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and we wish him
all the best in his career.
Dr Marcus Jacobs, our new house
officer, started with us in April and launched straight in to the London
Marathon. Thank you for your generous
contributions. He has written this piece
for our newsletter:
“Born
in Portsmouth, I trained at St Andrews and Manchester Universities, qualifying
as a doctor last summer. I have spent
the past 8 months working at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, firstly in Medicine
and more recently in Surgery, Urology and Orthopaedics. Outside of work I follow my hometown football
club to away matches and enjoy running.
I have just completed the London Marathon and survived!”
He has already become
a valued member of our team and is seeing patients at the surgery, at home and
in hospital. He started videoing his
surgeries to see how he is consulting.
Dr Maycock, our registrar. We are wishing
her the best for her exams for the Royal College of General Practitioners, she
deserves success. She is also preparing
for marriage in July to Kevin, who is an anaesthetist, so this is a busy
time. She also videos
her surgeries.
The video films that
are produced are for training purposes only.
They are only viewed by the GP Trainers and college examiners. They are looking for competence of the doctor
– for the perfect consultation. Then
they are destroyed. If you volunteer to
have your consultation videod, thank you for your co-operation. The assessors are NOT looking for potential
actors for TV doctor drama shows (sorry to disappoint you!) though we do find
that children are naturals and are able to ignore the camera and be themselves.
Dr
Denver would like to inform patients that he has started to work in a voluntary
capacity for Med-Alert, the All Lancashire Emergency Response Organisation.
Med-Alert
was founded in 1990 by a group of doctors in Preston. Since then the charity has expanded to cover
most of Lancashire.
The
doctors volunteer to attend accidents and medical emergencies at the request of
the ambulance service, and have to undertake training in driving, safety,
accident management and out of hospital emergency medical techniques.
They
turn out day or night in all weathers and conditions when the Air Ambulance
cannot fly and frequently go to accidents where it cannot land. They are often required when patients need
helicopter evacuation.
Each
doctor carries protective clothing and extensive emergency equipment. There are fourteen doctors in the scheme
throughout
If
a serious incident occurs during surgery, Dr Denver may have to leave
occasionally, but patients will be offered an appointment later the same day or
with another doctor.
o
Dr Denver and Dr Durham, the A & E Consultant at the
Royal Lancaster Infirmary are the only doctors covering Lancaster and
surrounding areas.
o
Med-Alert doctors wear bright fluorescent jackets and use
blue lights and sirens on their cars to reach the emergencies they attend.
o
Med-Alert doctors are mobilised by pager on the basis of
details given to ambulance control by the person making the 999 call or at the
request of the ambulance crew on scene.
o
In the last year Med-Alert attended 800 road accidents as
well as aircraft and rail emergencies, fires, chemical incidents, firearms
incidents and stabbings to name but a few.
If
you see Dr Denver rushing off to an accident in his black mini, please move
over!!
Care of the
Over 75
In
the past Chris Caton, our nurse who looks after the over 75s, has attempted to
see every patient over 75 annually. With
increasing numbers the way she has worked in the past has to change
slightly. She is still available for
advice and help as before, but will not be routinely visiting. She works on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and you
can contact her in two ways. You can
contact her via the Health Visitors on Tel 843421 and arrange to see her or you
can ring the surgery Tel 32622 and arrange to see her in the clinic on a
Wednesday morning.
Stair Lift
You
will notice we now have a stairlift to the rear staircase and reception staff
will accompany those using it.
Equipment Fund
THANK
YOU for your generous donations to our medical equipment fund. We ran a most successful Easter raffle, woolly chicks, Easter eggs and notelets were
sold. We have been overwhelmed by your
generosity; the nebuliser has been pledged and garden plants provided. We have also bought an oxygen monitor
(oximeter).
We
are saving towards a family of mannequins to practise our resuscitation skills,
both cardiac and respiratory, on the lifelike models. These are for regular staff training.
Dr
Denver has suggested that we buy a small portable ECG (electrocardiograph)
machine to record heart rhythms and heart attacks when on home visits to people
who are seriously ill. This will cost
over £1000, therefore the Queens Golden Jubilee Raffle has greatly contributed
to this. Again a big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who contributed a prize or
bought tickets.
Volunteers
Wanted
The
Morecambe Bay Health Authority are looking for
patients who would like to be on a panel of patients who can represent PATIENTS
VIEWS. If anyone is interested, please
speak to Dion Feather.