COVID update
Although the Staff and Doctors at the Surgery have continued to work throughout lockdown and continued to provide appointments via telephone and video consultations, we have had less patients coming into the surgery. We provided over 6000 telephone appointments during the lockdown as well as continuing to see patients face to face for GP and Nurse appointments as necessary.
We have taken advantage of the reduced footfall to give the surgery some much needed attention. The carpets have been replaced with washable flooring in the waiting areas, corridors, toilets and 2 of the consulting rooms (we hope to do the rest as funds allow). We have also had the decorators in to give the walls a fresh coat of paint and although it is work in progress we are very pleased with the results so far.
As lockdown for shielded patients comes to an end in August and we start to return to some sort of normality we are thinking about patient safety in and around the surgery.
The reception and dispensary windows have been fitted with protective screens to help keep everyone safe and all patients are required to wear masks when inside the surgery
We will be operating a ‘one in one out’ system for patients attending the surgery for reception and dispensary queries or collections and you will also see less chairs in the waiting room so that we can maintain social distancing.
Appointments
We respectfully ask patients to telephone rather than visit the surgery where possible and only come to the surgery if you have a confirmed appointment or to make a collection from the dispensary which will be open between 10am -12pm and 3pm – 6pm.
Telephone triage will continue for now with the Doctors making face to face appointments as required following a telephone consultation
Dispensary
Our dispensary is open for all your dispensing requirements; you qualify for dispensing directly from the Surgery if you live more than 1 mile (as the crow flies) from your nearest pharmacy. If you would like to have your medication dispensed by our surgery team please call the surgery and ask to speak to one of the dispensers
The prescription line closes at the end of July and prescription requests can no longer be made via the telephone. As from 1st August prescription requests should be made via, patient access (speak to reception if you haven’t yet signed up for this) email ardleighsurgery@ nhs.net or drop your request into the letter box at either Ardleigh or Dedham Surgery. If you have any problems with ordering your medication please call the surgery and ask to discuss with the Practice Manager.
Flu Vaccinations
As you will possibly have seen in the media we are expecting a very busy flu season and plans are under way to provide our patients with a safe and efficient flu vaccination service. Further details will follow shortly but depending on delivery dates we hope to start flu clinics at the end of September or beginning of October.
We do not anticipate any supply issues and should have enough vaccines for all those patients in the flu vaccination criteria
We would like to ask our patients to have their flu vaccination here at the surgery and help support their local GP services.
Thank you from everyone here at the surgery for your continued support and understanding at this unusual time
“The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light