Following this weekend’s Welsh Government advice to hospitals to cancel all non-urgent work in the coming months, as well as our trial at telephoning all routine appointments on Friday which massively inhibited our ability to deal with urgent cases - we have decided as of tomorrow (Monday 16th March) to cancel all pre-booked GP appointments with immediate effect, and you will now not automatically receive a call from a GP if you did have something booked. We are constantly liaising with the University Health Board as well as other practices in our Cluster area, and will update this information as and when required.
If you feel your issue is urgent, then please ring and advise the receptionist of your problem (they are bound by confidentiality like your GP) and you will be added to an emergency triage list where we shall endeavour to get back to you over the day, prioritising by clinical need.
Alternatively, use our e-consult service which is proving invaluable at this difficult time, via our website www.eglwysbachsurgery.com
We will also not be allowing any GP appointments to be made in advance until further notice, and will not book any patients in to appointments if they simply turn up to surgery requesting an appointment. Please only attend surgery if you have been invited on the day by a member of staff / GP, with the following exceptions:
We fully appreciate the above plan is not our normal practice, but these are not normal times, and together with the significant impact of our recent flooding, as well as the likelihood of staff needing to self-isolate and / or go off sick which will reduce our capability - we hope our patients can understand these are necessary measures to continue provision of essential services. We ask that you display patience with all our staff who are dealing with a rapidly changing situation day to day.
If you are unwell with flu-like symptoms that you feel are mild to moderate, we ask you to follow government advice , and only contact 111 if your symptoms are becoming severe. Most patients who get coronavirus will only experience a mild illness which can be treated with good fluid intake, rest and over the counter remedies such as paracetamol.
Government advice is that anybody with a temperature of 37.8C or above, and / or a persistent new cough (lasting more than half a day) should self-isolate for 7 days, click here for further info.
Our waiting rooms are significant potential sites of cross-infection, and part of the reason for speaking to all patients via phone before bringing anyone down to surgery is to minimise this risk, but again we would urge you to avoid coming to surgery unless you feel it is really necessary and you have been invited to do so.
In common with many other practices, we are utilising just one of our sites for our potentially infected patients to reduce exposure to others. Until further notice this will be our Ynysybwl site, which will remain locked and only open to these specific patients who are told to attend there, who will be let in through the rear door by the car-park. When arriving, please ring the surgery to inform us you are here, and then wait in your car where possible, again, to minimise risks.
The only other patients to attend Ynysybwl will be those needing blood tests, who will be let in through the front door and kept separately in the main waiting room.
Ynysybwl patients with non-infective symptoms and issues will need to attend Eglwysbach if needed.
All prescriptions will be sent to your designated chemist, if you do not usually use a chemist for this service, please notify us of your preferred chemist or we will likely send to the nearest one to your address. This is to reduce footfall within waiting rooms. The same applies to requesting repeat prescriptions which must now be done only online or via your chemist.
Please note, repeat prescriptions will be dealt with as usual with relaxed criteria for reviews to ensure no-one misses out on medication, and please bear in mind there is no suggestion of shortages of medication so please do not ask us for larger quantities than usual.
Once again we thankyou for your support and help in these matters, and re-emphasise that all changes have been carefully considered in terms of providing the best care we can to all of our patients. Rest assured, if your need is great, your concern is valid or your health is in doubt, we will be there for you.
But this does mean that if we don’t get back in touch immediately, then you must try not to worry as it simply means there are patients who are in greater need, and we are working our way towards dealing with your request.
Finally, can we please, please, please ask that you like/share this message and for friends/relatives you have who may not be online, please advise them of these changes to make this easier and safer for everybody.
If you feel your issue is urgent, then please ring and advise the receptionist of your problem (they are bound by confidentiality like your GP) and you will be added to an emergency triage list where we shall endeavour to get back to you over the day, prioritising by clinical need.
Alternatively, use our e-consult service which is proving invaluable at this difficult time, via our website www.eglwysbachsurgery.com
We will also not be allowing any GP appointments to be made in advance until further notice, and will not book any patients in to appointments if they simply turn up to surgery requesting an appointment. Please only attend surgery if you have been invited on the day by a member of staff / GP, with the following exceptions:
- Blood appointments - if you feel they are urgent - eg shared-care drug monitoring, INRs etc and if you have no viral symptoms eg cough, temperature, sore throat etc.
- Nursing appt’s - if it is for a smear / baby check etc (Ynysybwl baby clinic location TBC). All other pre-booked nurse slots will be contacted by phone similar to last Friday which worked well.
- Minor Surgery - Joint Injections - Until further notice we intend to honour booked minor surgery / joint injections appointments etc, however you will be contacted on the day to discuss this, and check you do not have any viral symptoms etc.
We fully appreciate the above plan is not our normal practice, but these are not normal times, and together with the significant impact of our recent flooding, as well as the likelihood of staff needing to self-isolate and / or go off sick which will reduce our capability - we hope our patients can understand these are necessary measures to continue provision of essential services. We ask that you display patience with all our staff who are dealing with a rapidly changing situation day to day.
If you are unwell with flu-like symptoms that you feel are mild to moderate, we ask you to follow government advice , and only contact 111 if your symptoms are becoming severe. Most patients who get coronavirus will only experience a mild illness which can be treated with good fluid intake, rest and over the counter remedies such as paracetamol.
Government advice is that anybody with a temperature of 37.8C or above, and / or a persistent new cough (lasting more than half a day) should self-isolate for 7 days, click here for further info.
Our waiting rooms are significant potential sites of cross-infection, and part of the reason for speaking to all patients via phone before bringing anyone down to surgery is to minimise this risk, but again we would urge you to avoid coming to surgery unless you feel it is really necessary and you have been invited to do so.
In common with many other practices, we are utilising just one of our sites for our potentially infected patients to reduce exposure to others. Until further notice this will be our Ynysybwl site, which will remain locked and only open to these specific patients who are told to attend there, who will be let in through the rear door by the car-park. When arriving, please ring the surgery to inform us you are here, and then wait in your car where possible, again, to minimise risks.
The only other patients to attend Ynysybwl will be those needing blood tests, who will be let in through the front door and kept separately in the main waiting room.
Ynysybwl patients with non-infective symptoms and issues will need to attend Eglwysbach if needed.
All prescriptions will be sent to your designated chemist, if you do not usually use a chemist for this service, please notify us of your preferred chemist or we will likely send to the nearest one to your address. This is to reduce footfall within waiting rooms. The same applies to requesting repeat prescriptions which must now be done only online or via your chemist.
Please note, repeat prescriptions will be dealt with as usual with relaxed criteria for reviews to ensure no-one misses out on medication, and please bear in mind there is no suggestion of shortages of medication so please do not ask us for larger quantities than usual.
Once again we thankyou for your support and help in these matters, and re-emphasise that all changes have been carefully considered in terms of providing the best care we can to all of our patients. Rest assured, if your need is great, your concern is valid or your health is in doubt, we will be there for you.
But this does mean that if we don’t get back in touch immediately, then you must try not to worry as it simply means there are patients who are in greater need, and we are working our way towards dealing with your request.
Finally, can we please, please, please ask that you like/share this message and for friends/relatives you have who may not be online, please advise them of these changes to make this easier and safer for everybody.
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