Please find a breakdown below of the Practice's performance over the past few months. We have concentrated on trying to reduce the amount of time it takes to get through to the Practice. As you can see this ebbs and flows but, on the whole, it usually takes an average of 70-80 seconds until you speak to someone. If you allow for the fact that 30 seconds of the wait is the recorded message in effect it takes, on average, less than a minute from the end of the message until you get through to a member of the team.  

As ever, Monday remains by far the busiest day in any given week (unless there is a bank holiday when it then always the Tuesday following the extra day off) so, for routine matters, we would encourage you to call on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays when lines tend to be quieter.

We hope this information is useful.

• Measles is extremely infectious and can be serious
• Make sure your children get two MMR vaccines on time; the first at 1 year of age and the second at 3 years, 4 months 
• If you or your children missed these vaccines, it's not too late. Ask for the free vaccine from your family doctor (GP) if you or your children aren't
  up-to-date 
• If you have symptoms of measles stay at home and phone your GP or NHS 111 for advice. STAY AWAY from GP surgeries and A&E departments -you could spread the illness to others 
• Symptoms include: high fever; sore red, watery eyes; coughing; aching and feeling generally unwell; a blotchy red brown rash, which usually appears after the first symptoms 
• Please go to nhs.uk for more measles information

The Rookery is proud to be a RCGP acccredited Veteran Friendly Practice. This means that we abide by the Armed Forces Covenent which states the following: 

• The Armed Forces community should enjoy the same standard of, and access to healthcare as that received by any other UK citizen in the area they live.
• Family members should retain their place on any NHS waiting list, if moved around the UK due to the service person being posted.
• Veterans should receive priority treatment for a condition which relates to their service, subject to clinical need.
• Those injured in service should be cared for in a way that reflects the nation's moral obligation to them, by healthcare professionals who understand the Armed Forces culture.

This is recognised in the NHS Constitution, which states:

"The NHS will ensure that in line with the Armed Forces Covenant, those in the Armed Forces, reservists, their families and veterans are not disadvantaged in accessing health services in the area they reside".

Please see below for the services you can access from your Community Pharmacy

The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the strain on all NHS services. As a result of this, waiting list times for outpatient and specialist appointments and procedures have increased for everybody.

As we do not directly manage the wait times for the hospitals we ask that you please look at the My Planned Care website for the current wait times. This can be found at https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk 

My Planned Care gives you advice and support while you wait and helps you to prepare for your hospital consultation, treatment, or surgery. This includes giving you information about waiting times at your hospital and other supporting and local services while you wait.

This site is updated weekly and can be viewed by anyone, which means you, your family or carer as well as your NHS team can all see the latest information. Your hospital team will be in touch with you as soon as they can. If you are looking for an update, please check this website before contacting your hospital.

We appreciate that long waits can cause worry and uncertainty about when you will eventually receive an appointment. However, the practice has no direct access to the hospital appointment lists.

Please only call the practice if your condition has genuinely deteriorated when you will be reviewed by one of the clinical team and appropriate action can be taken in regard to your care.

Dear patients

We will be starting the co-administration of the flu vaccination and Covid booster campaign on week commencing Monday 18th September. This will be targetted at those aged over 65 in the first instance. If you are in this cohort we will be contacting you to make an appointment in the next few days.

Those patients who also qualify because they are aged between 16 and 64 and are in a 'at-risk' group will be invited to attend once we have concluded inviting those patients aged over 65. We will aim to contact you sometime in the week commencing 11th September.

If you would like any further information please call the practice or email rookery.admin@nhs.net 

Best wishes

The Rookery

Dear all

Please find info attached here regarding help and information being provided for patients living with Learning Disability / Autism.

Thanks

The Rookery

There are lots of different kinds of healthcare professionals working in your GP surgery, besides your GP. They each have distinct roles and specialist skills.

When you contact the surgery, you will be offered an appointment with the person who is best placed to help your needs.

Dear all

My thanks to everyone who took the time to complete this year's patient survey. Your feedback is very much appreciated and really does help inform us about which areas to prioritise. As usual, I have been through all the figures and comments and the analysis can be accessed via the link below:

Survey 2023 Analysis.pdf

Thanks again

Best wishes
Scott
Practice Manager

If you are 18 or over and suffering from anxiety or depression you can self-refer to a talking therapies service.

Please click here for more information 

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/