The Group Practice at River Place Newsletter March / April 2012

Staff news

Dr Maria Sa had a baby boy in February and

is now on maternity leave until early September.

Dr Hannah Home is looking after her

patients whilst she is away.

One of our Practice Nurses Trish Bewley is retiring in the summer. She has worked at the practice for over 20 years and has finally decided to become a lady of leisure. We are currently looking to recruit someone to join our nursing team.

Feedback from Patients

We welcome comments from our patients to improve the service we offer you. Please write in to our Practice Manager Renata Johnstone or email her on

We also have a Patient Participation Group which meets to discuss patients’ ideas, comments and any changes planned for the practice. Minutes from these meetings and the Annual Report can be accessed via our website www.riverplacegrouppractice.co.uk .

One of the comments we addressed recently was the issue of confidentiality at the reception desk. To improve this we turned the chairs in the waiting room around so patients at the reception desk are not being watched by patients in the waiting room.

Our next meeting is on Thursday 10th May 6.30pm – 8.00pm why not come along and discuss your ideas and hear of any changes. Contact Renata for further details.

We recently received a letter from one of the Palliative Care nurses who was working with the GP’s at River Place. We would like to share some of the letter with you:

‘During my time in Islington I have been struck with the care, compassion and excellent care that the General Practitioners at River Place gave to all their patients. They would often go above and beyond which made their patients feel valued, safe and secure at a particularly vulnerable time in their lives. This practice was not limited to just a few of the General Practitioners, but to the surgery as a whole, it seems that it reflected values which all the doctors, nurses, administrators and health care assistants shared.

I would like to thank River Place for being such a fantastic surgery and hope that they are able to continue this fantastic work and maybe others too will be encouraged to follow their fantastic lead. I will miss working with them.’

The whole letter can be seen on our website www.riverplacegrouppractice.co.uk

Online facilities for patients

We continue to offer patients the facility to book appointments online and to order repeat prescriptions. Currently 212 patients are registered for these services.

Making appointments - Patients can view, book and cancel appointments on-line whatever time of the day or night. Currently you can only make one appointment with a GP at a time on-line but if you need to make another appointment you can still do this in person or over the phone. If you make an appointment on-line and subsequently fail to attend we may suspend the facility to make appointments on-line for a short period.

Requesting medication - Patients can request repeat prescriptions from home. Once requested you can track progress of your request and simply collect your prescription from the practice or chemist after 48 working hours.

In order to use EMIS Access you must first register for this service by asking reception for an online registration form. We will print you a registration letter with all the information you need including your PIN, practice ID, Access ID and NHS number you can create your account using our website www.riverplacegrouppractice.co.uk or www.emisaccess.co.uk

Opening hours and surgery times

The reception desk is open at the following times:

Monday 8.00 – 6.30

Tuesday 8.00 – 7.00

Wednesday 8.00 – 5.00

Thursday 8.00 – 7.00

Friday 8.00 – 6.30

There are surgeries at the following times

Monday 8.45 – 12.00 3.30 – 6.00

Tuesday 8.00 – 12.00 3.30 – 7.00

Wednesday 8.00 – 12.00 closed

Thursday 8.45 – 12.00 3.30 – 7.00

Friday 8.00 – 11.30 2.00 – 4.00

4.00 – 6.00 (emergencies only)

We have recently changed the times of our walk in blood clinics and we can now see patients on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 8.00am – 11.30am.