Patient Access to Health Records Under section seven of the Data Protection Act, patients have the right to apply for access to their health records. Provided that a written application is made and a fee has been paid the Practice is obliged to comply with a request for access subject to certain exceptions (please ask the Practice Manager for further details). The Practice also has a duty to maintain the Medical confidentiality of patient information and to satisfy itself that the applicant is entitled to have access before releasing information.

‘Responsible GP’ Partnership Having, several years ago, done away with the concept of patients having www.dengiemedicalpartnership.nhs.uk a named GP responsible for their care, the government has now st acknowledged the benefit of this concept and has decreed that from 1 Information Leaflet for Patients April 2015, GP Practices are required to allocate every patient with a named ‘Responsible GP’. Although your named GP will have nominal responsibility for the care and support that the surgery provides to you, as they always have done, you are very welcome to see any other GP in the Dr Mike North MB BS DRCOG FRCGP practice including partners and locums. Dr Julie McGeachy BM BS MRCGP Dr Daniel Hancock MB BS MRCGP

Clinical Commissioning Group Medical Centre Medical Centre The organisation responsible for providing care to patients of mid is: Imperial Avenue 61 South Street NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group. Wren House, Hedgerows Maylandsea Tillingham Business Park, Colchester Road, , Essex, CM2 5PF. CM3 6AH CM0 7TH Tel: 01245 398750 Tel:01621 742233 Tel:01621 778383

Fax:01621 742917 Fax:01621 778034

A Final Point (Opposite the shops) Although we strive to maintain the highest possible standards of care for our patients, we are human. If you feel we have failed to live up to your Surgery Hours expectations in any way, please tell us in order that we might further improve our practice. (We are, of course, also delighted to receive praise.) One or both surgeries are open between 07:30 and 18:30 from Monday to Friday. Please contact reception to book an appointment at the site of your choice.

Last updated by Mike 22 September 2015 INVESTOR IN PAPER 8 Practice Area The Practice accepts patients whose postal address is Mayland, Adult Immunisation Maylandsea, Steeple and St Lawrence Bay, Tillingham, , Tetanus is still a fatal disease and Essex has a comparatively high Dengie and Bradwell-on-Sea. The practice is also required to define an incidence of this. It may be prevented by ten-yearly boosters until you outer boundary which covers the whole of the Dengie. We do not routinely have had a total of 5 injections in your life (an initial course of 3, plus 2 accept patients from this area but if a registered patient moves from our boosters). Appointments should be made with the nursing team. designated practice area, they may be retained. Holiday Immunisations How to Register Immunisations of some description are recommended for most foreign You may register by bringing in your signed Medical Card to either surgery travel, though travel agents often understate the need for this. Please ask or, if you do not have one, the receptionist will ask you to complete a form. at reception to complete a travel questionnaire in plenty of time for your holiday prior to booking an appointment with a member of the nursing We ask that you complete a New Patient Questionnaire and make an team who will then check what cover you require. appointment with a nurse for a health check. Please bring the completed questionnaire and a sample of urine with you. The nurses will also record Whilst it is not our policy to charge for most immunisations, Hepatitis B details of your past medical history and it would be helpful if you know the and Malaria tablets are not available under the NHS and have a charge. dates of any immunisations, operations or smear results. Our receptionists will be able to advise you as to the cost of these.

Practice Building Minor Surgery The Maylandsea Medical Centre and Tillingham Medical Centre Some minor operations are carried out at the practice rather than by incorporate waiting rooms, consulting rooms, treatment rooms, toilets, referral to outpatients with the consequent waiting and travel problems. offices and dispensary. There is disabled access to all areas other than first floor office space. There is an in-house pharmacy at Maylandsea Accidents and Emergencies available to all patients, regardless of whether they are registered with the Our nearest A&E department is at Broomfield Hospital, some 20-25 miles practice. away. If your injury is relatively minor, it may be dealt with at the surgery. Please telephone for advice if you think we may be able to help you avoid Clinical Team the travel and wait for hospital treatment. Dr Mike North MB BS, DRCOG, FRCGP Dr Julie McGeachy BM BS MRCGP Pathology Tests Dr Daniel Hancock MB BS MRCGP Any necessary blood or other tests are taken at the practice and we also . arrange for these to be transported to the hospital for you. To check the Cally Fearn RN. Cally is our Nurse Practitioner and able to treat and results of any tests performed at the Maylandsea Medical Centre, please prescribe for most minor ailments. She conducts her own clinics for phone the main surgery number after 2pm on Mondays to Fridays. For chronic conditions e.g. diabetes and hypertension. tests performed at the Tillingham Medical Centre, please call the dedicated Blood Line on 01621 779496 between 13:00 and 14:00 on Sally Huggett SRN and Karen Randall RN. Sally and Karen are our Tuesdays and 13:00 and 15:00 on Thursdays. Practice Nurses. They conduct their own surgery sessions and are responsible for immunisations and vaccinations, dressings, ear syringing Confidentiality and removal of sutures, as well as assisting at most clinical procedures. Currently, we are able to maintain confidentiality within the practice team. Unfortunately, as with all surgeries, your medical record is now held Please be prepared to give the receptionist some brief detail so they can centrally on computer and the practice has no control over how the advise the most appropriate clinician available to suit your needs. government chooses to handle your data. 2 7 Additional Services Offered Practice Management: Karen Slater In addition to the general management of acute and chronic illness we offer a variety of other services to our patients. Rather than organise Receptionists: Our receptionists will be happy you help you at either site. these into set ‘clinics’ at limited times, most of these are available during Some of our receptionists also work in the dispensary at Tillingham. ordinary surgery hours as we find that this enables patients to attend at a Maggie Shipton (Dispensary/Reception Manager), Sue Cole, Pauline time that suits their situation best. Roche, Sue Willis, Adele Hatton, Hannah Gymer, Yvonne Turbin, Marian Bays, Tina Davies Contraception Contraceptive advice is available in most areas including ‘the pill’, Surgery Opening Hours injections and the fitting of intra-uterine devices (‘coils’). Leaflets giving The reception desks are available to take calls at either site from 7.30 am more information about long acting reversible contraception are available to 6.30 pm on Mondays to Fridays. Between these times, appointments on request. may be made and enquiries dealt with.

Antenatal and Postnatal Care Maylandsea: open 7:30am – 4pm Monday The majority of antenatal care is provided by a midwife. Initial booking with 7:30am – 6:30pm Tuesday to Friday the midwife should be made by phoning 01621 725305. Postnatal checks Tillingham : open 7:30am – 6:30pm Monday and 6 week checks on your baby are performed by the GPs. 7:30am – 4pm Tuesday to Friday

Cervical Smears Patients can collect medication at Maylandsea between 8am and 6:30pm This is a painless test performed to detect changes in the neck of the Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. womb, which may, if left undetected, develop into cancer. If this is Patients can collect medication at Tillingham between 8am and 6:30pm on detected at an early stage it can almost always be treated effectively Mondays and 8am - 4pm Tuesday to Friday. without even the need for an operation. Consulting Hours If you wish to arrange to have a smear please ensure that you are “mid- Early morning ‘walk-in’ surgeries are available at both sites, and are cycle” (half way between periods) and mention when you make your essentially for ‘quick’ consultations intended mainly for children on their appointment that it is for a smear. way to school and adults who go to work.

Child Immunisation Patients are seen at this surgery on a first come - first served basis. In keeping with our strong belief in prevention rather than cure we urge Occasionally, these surgeries can fill quickly at busy periods and if this is parents to maintain their children’s immunity to the various potentially the case you may be offered one for later that day. For those able to plan serious, but preventable, diseases. Almost 100% of children registered their attendance we also offer pre-bookable early morning appointments at with us are fully immunised. 07:40 and 07:50.

Appointments for these should be made with the nurses. Sometimes Morning and evening surgeries are the main consulting sessions of the problems arise with newly registered children when it may take some time day and are when the majority of patients are seen. for the records to be passed on from your previous doctor. If you are a new patient and have a record of your child’s immunisations, please let the Patients are seen on an appointment basis at ten-minute intervals and it is nurses know so that your record may be updated. almost always possible for you to be seen on the day of your choice, so long as you phone early. If you feel that you may need a longer appointment, please tell the receptionist when you book. 6 3 Evening surgeries are mainly intended for patients who are unable to Telephone Requests To speak to the Doctor or Nurse attend earlier surgeries. Like morning surgeries, they operate by If you wish to speak to a member of the clinical team on the telephone, appointment at ten-minute intervals. this can be arranged by the receptionist.

If you find you are unable to attend or keep an appointment you have The receptionist will either ask you to ring back at a time when they are booked, please inform the surgery as soon as possible so that we can likely to be free or take your details and get them to call you back. offer it to another patient. Emergency calls will be put through immediately. If you are over 75 and have not been seen within the last year, or are between 16 and 75 years and have not been seen within the last three Repeat Prescriptions years, you may request a basic health check with one of the nurses. Please order repeat prescriptions of your medication by ticking only the items you require on your repeat request slip and returning it to the Aggressive Patients surgery or pharmacy. We are now able to offer an online prescription The NHS has a zero-tolerance approach to aggression towards staff. ordering service. If you would like to take advantage of this method of Patients who exhibit threatening behaviour will be removed from the reordering your medication please ask at the reception desk. We can also practice list and seen by prior arrangement by an appointed doctor at accept requests by Fax or by mail at any time. Police Station. In case we have to order your medication we ask for 48 hours notice. Consultations with Nurses These surgeries generally run at the same time as GP surgeries, though Dispensing of prescriptions there are no ‘walk-in’ appointments. Cally, our Nurse Practitioner, also The practice is allowed to dispense medication directly to patients who live holds sessions every afternoon except Thursday at Tillingham during outside a mile radius of an independent pharmacy – contact Reception to which she is able to treat most minor ailments. Appointments should be see if this service is available for you. If you live within a mile radius of a made in the usual way via reception where the receptionist will be able to pharmacy, including the Maylandsea Pharmacy, you have the option of advise which nurse is available to help you. having your prescription either transferred electronically to a pharmacy of your choice or printed for you to take with you. If you wish to have your Making Appointments medication dispensed by the Maylandsea Pharmacy, you simply need to To make an appointment with a member of the clinical team, please sign a form in the pharmacy. telephone the surgery number during opening hours. Please remember that the ten-minute appointment is intended for one person only. If you are Out of Hours Cover concerned at having to wait in the waiting room, please mention this to the Whenever the surgery is closed dialling the usual telephone number, receptionist when you telephone. 742233 or 778383, will transfer you to NHS111 who will ascertain the most appropriate course of action for you. They can also be contacted by Please let us know if you are unable to keep your appointment. simply dialling 111 at any time.

Home Visits You may be offered telephone advice if appropriate or, if the patient needs If you feel you are too ill to come to the surgery and may require a visit, to be seen and is fit to travel, they may arrange for you to attend an Out of please telephone the surgery as soon after 8:00am as possible. You will Hours Centre in Maldon or Chelmsford. If the patient is too ill to travel, a generally be phoned back by a GP to discuss your problem and if a visit is home visit may be arranged. Please do not simply attend A&E unless the necessary, it will generally be performed in the afternoon. problem is obviously serious as the triage service now operating there may well send you home to contact your GP service. 4 5