COVID-19 & Practice updates

COVID UPDATE: Lancashire mass vaccination hub

Now that more doses of Covid-19 vaccines are available, the NHS is able to open more vaccination services in Lancashire and South Cumbria, including large Vaccination Centres and, in the near future, pharmacies.

 

People who are eligible, live near these new vaccination services and who haven’t already been vaccinated by their local GP led vaccination services or hospital hub, will receive letters from the NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service, telling them how they can book their appointment.

 

The NHS is rolling out additional services quickly, but it remains important that the public don’t try to book or go to these services before they receive their booking letter.

 

If you receive a letter from the national NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service and you book an appointment, please make sure you attend it. The sooner you get your vaccination, when eligible, the earlier you will be protected from Covid-19.

 

Vaccination centres offer an important additional option for people who are eligible, and we expect more sites to be available across Lancashire and South Cumbria in the coming days and weeks.

 

Please don’t delay having your vaccine, but if you can’t travel to a vaccination centre or you would rather wait for an appointment closer to home, you can choose to do that, and your local GP-led service will be in touch soon to offer an alternative.

 

In Lancashire and South Cumbria, we expect to put in place additional Vaccination Centres over the coming weeks in Central Lancashire, Fylde Coast, Morecambe Bay and Pennine Lancashire. As soon as these are ready and available they will appear on the national NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service.

 

We are continuing to vaccinate patients over the age of 80 years of age and are inviting people in according to the criteria and prioritisation set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

 

Like the rest of the NHS we are working to offer vaccines to everyone in the top priority groups by the middle of February.

 

Please do not contact us if you haven’t received an invite yet. We are very busy at the moment and doing so could prevent a patient who needs our help from getting through. We will contact you when it is the right time for you to book your appointment.

Darwen Healthlink are pleased to announce that they will be taking part in one of the very first covid vaccination community clinics.  We are working alongside Blackburn with Darwen to deliver this service to our patients so please don't telephone the practice to enquire about getting your vaccination if you think you are eligible.   We will contact you with an invitation to book.  Our telephone lines are extremely  busy at present and we need to ensure that we are there for the patients  who are acutely unwell.
 

Legal Duty to self-isolate after a positive COVID-19 Test

Legal duty to self-isolate - people in England will be required by law to self-isolate if they test positive for Covid-19 or are contacted by NHS Test and Trace. Fines will also be introduced from today for those breaching self-isolation rules, starting at £1,000, in line with the existing penalty for breaking quarantine after international travel. This could increase to up to £10,000 for repeat offences and the most serious breaches, including for those preventing others from self-isolating. Employers who force or allow staff to come to work when they should be selfisolating will also be liable for fines of up to £10,000.

Test and Trace

Protect your loved ones with the official NHS COVID-19 contact tracing app for England and Wales.

It's the fastest way of knowing when you're at risk from coronavirus (COVID-19). The quicker you know, the quicker you can alert your loved ones, and your community. 

The more of us that use it, the better we can control coronavirus.

Access to General Practice

Your GP Practice is still open

  • Due to the coronavirus outbreak, how you contact your GP surgery will be different at the moment. This is to limit face-face contact where possible and help stop the spread of coronavirus
  • Face-to-face appointments are available to all patients, but you may be asked to discuss your conditions over the phone or online first to assess what would be most appropriate for you.
  • In addition to face-to-face consultations, many GP practices are offering consultations online or over the phone. This can be a convenient and flexible way to receive healthcare but if you would prefer to see a GP or healthcare professional in person then this will be arranged for you.

Ways to seek healthcare advice from a GP

  • Call your surgery to discuss a face-to-face or virtual (telephone or video) appointment
  • Call NHS 111 or go online to seek advice https://111.nhs.uk/
  • Download the NHS App to order repeat prescriptions, book appointments and check your symptoms

 

 

Access to General Practice

 

What happens if I need an appointment?

  • Please do not attend to the surgery if at all possible to book an appointment.
  • You can contact us via telephone on 01254 226600 or use the MyGp App to book an available telephone slot.
  • When you contact the surgery for an appointment your receptionist will book you a telephone call slot.
  • The GP or Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) will then call you to discuss your problem.
  • If necessary the GP or ANP will invite you to the surgery to been seen face to face or alternatively manage your problem via the telephone or video call.
  • If you are asked to come into the surgery for a face to face appointment, please remember to wear a face covering. 
  • Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection if you are invited to the surgery.

 

 

Useful links during COVID-19

All information on the above links sourced through the most up-to date sources/ re-sources from the NHS UK website. www.nhs.uk

Wearing face masks

The government is advising that the public is to consider wearing face coverings in enclosed public spaces such as shops, when using public transport and visiting health settings including GP surgeries, to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. 


Darwen Healthlink is therefore promoting the use of face mask if at all possible when you attend the practice.  Further guidance on this can be found using the links below.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/public-advised-to-cover-faces-in-enclosed-spaces

 

Guide on making your own face mask

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-wear-and-make-a-cloth-face-covering/how-to-wear-and-make-a-cloth-face-covering

 

 

 

 

COVID-19 case numbers are rising rapidly across the whole of the UK and in other countries. We must act now to control the spread of the virus. The single most important action we can all take to fight coronavirus is to stay at home, to protect the NHS and save lives.

When we reduce our day-to-day contact with other people, we reduce the spread of the infection. 

For more information from the GOV website please click the image above 

PRACTICE UPDATES REGARDING COVID-19

Prescribing Desk

From the 10/06/2020 the prescribing desk will now be open each day:

 

09:00-10:00am - 1 hour

17:00-18:00pm - 1 hour

 

This is to limit the amount  of patients attending the surgery at any one time and therefore reduce the risk of potential covid-19 infection rates

The phone lines will remain the same open from 10:00am-12pm and 14:00pm -16:00pm for queries.

The Reception Desk

Telephone lines and reception desk

08:00am -18:30pm

 

Please only attend for an appointment if you have received a telephone call and been invited in by the GP Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Practice Nurse or Health Care Assistant. 

GP Practice One way system for social distancing

There is now a one way sysetm in operation at the surgery and social distancing measures are in place.

Patients will also notice protective screens are in place at the reception and prescriptions desks, these are purely to protect staff and patients to minimise infection risk.

Patients must follow the new system to abide by goverment social disctancing measures 

safer travel for commuters
Safer travel with others 3

What you can and cant do during COVID-19

Follow the link for what you can and cant do during COVID-19 Pandemic -        Sourced from Direct GOV UK

New message for Face to face appointments (PPE)

The new message is as follows:

"You have an appointment booked today at the surgery  and we ask that you wear a face covering, this can be a scarf or a face mask as a precautionary measure against Coronavirus.  Visit cdc.gov/coronavirus for more information about cloth face coverings".

Please note that the only way a Face to Face appointment can be made is by a clinician and you must have a telephone consultation prior

 

Quit for covid