During the current pandemic any information below concerning hours and access should be disregarded and you should make enquiries at the practice concerned.

Health Information - December 2019

Published by Neil Churcher (Chair) - Caradoc Patient Participating Group (PPG)

Extended Hours – Clinics

Extended Hours' Clinics are available at Clacton Hospital for Caradoc patients but you will need to book an appointment by phoning the surgery or, if it is closed, by phoning 111 as these clinics are not "walk-in" clinics.

Appointments at the Extended Hours' Clinics will be during the following hours as of December 2019:
Mon-Fri 18:30 pm - 20:00 pm, and Sat and Sunday from 8:00 am - 18:30 pm

See more information regarding extended hours at www.caradocsurgery.co.uk/practice_news/extended-hours

Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs)

UTCs are available at both Colchester Hospital and Clacton Hospital and include the following services:

Minor Injury service

This service is a "Walk-in Centre" and will treat problems such as:

• suspected broken limbs
• strains and sprains
• cuts and grazes
• bites and stings
• scalds and burns
• minor head injuries
• ear, nose and throat conditions
• skin infections
• long-term conditions

Urgent Minor Illness services

This is an "Appointments only" service which you will need to book via your Surgery, or by phoning 111 (if out of hours).

The Caradoc Surgery at Station Approach – Update

You can find further information at the Caradoc surgery's website: www.caradocsurgery.co.uk

There is no longer a "Hub", "Care Navigation", or indeed any "Care Navigators" at the Surgery. Instead there is a much more efficient system whereby anyone wanting an appointment can phone the surgery between 08:00 am and 10:00 am.

You will be asked for your details and then you will be called back by a GP who will assess the situation and organise an appointment with an appropriate clinician, if necessary. The surgery will only call back once, so it's important to keep your phone to hand.

Although the actual call in to the Surgery should only take 20 seconds, or so, there will only be about four phone lines, so the lines could be engaged. So Neil Churcher - Chair of the PPG (Patient Participating Group) - advises everyone to be patient, no pun intended!

Note: Anyone going in person to Reception to request an appointment will be put on the "call back" list.

Staff at the Surgery

There is now a new Practice Manager, two permanent locums, a nurse who deals with COPD and Asthma, a Pharmacist, and a Paramedic (who will also do home visits).

The Systmonline Service at Caradoc Surgery

This is a service which you will need to be registered with if you wish to use the facility. Amongst other things it allows you to:

• Book on-line any GP triage call backs which have already been listed on the system for that day before 8 am, instead of phoning after 8 am;
• Look up your own test results;
• Order repeat prescriptions which you can have sent electronically to your chosen pharmacy.

In order to register for the Systmonline Service, you will need to go in person to the Caradoc Surgery Reception and complete a form.

Note: Anyone who is not physically able to attend the Surgery should inform Reception, by phone. The Receptionist will then be able to explain the procedures which will need to be adopted in order for you to register for this Service.

Seeing your GP

When we get to see a GP, we only get about nine or ten minutes to explain our problem to a person who is seeing about 6 patients an hour. The GP will probably will not remember our history and will need time to look it up on our notes. Therefore, it saves time if we can give them a quick precis of our concerns, symptoms and relevant history.

Be honest, there's little point in seeking advice if the Doctor doesn't have all the details. Making a note beforehand of these, plus how long we have had the symptoms, can be useful to ensure we don't forget anything in the heat of the moment.

We also need to be really honest about our concerns and must ask for clarification if we aren't really sure about what's been said. It's our appointment, for our benefit. We also don't want to be interrupted by our phones, so they should be switched off, or on 'silent'.

If the Doctor says they want to see you again, make sure they either enter it on your computer record, or give you a slip of paper saying so. You can then take this to Reception and make another appointment. The rules are, that under these circumstances, you don't have to phone in again!