Latest News Archives - Tavyside Health Centre

August 26, 2021

Latest News

BLOOD BOTTLE SHORTAGE

There is a national shortage of blood bottles within the UK until further notice. This means that all UK GP practices are affected by the current shortage and we are taking urgent steps alongside our hospitals to prioritise their use. This means that we are taking appointments for URGENT blood tests only.

We have been given a national guidance on how to manage this shortage and we are currently taking steps to put these in place. As a result, we will be cancelling or delaying any ROUTINE or NON-URGENT blood tests and only booking in URGENT blood tests. If you already have a ROUTINE or NON-URGENT test booked, our GP’s will be looking into whether or not these can be cancelled / re-scheduled and you may receive either a telephone call or Text message informing you of the cancellation.

Please do not call us or contact us with regards to re-schedule your appointment or to make a new ROUTINE or NON-URGENT appointment. Our Clinicians will continue to evaluate your medical need for these tests and will allocate you an URGENT blood appointment if needed.

These changes are likely to be with us for at least the whole of September. We will continue to update you via this website.

We fully understand the frustration this is likely to cause and apologise for any inconvenience.

Kind regards

Tavyside Health Centre

August 23, 2021

Latest News

Veterans

We are conscious that some patients registered at Tavyside Health Centre may be affected by current events in Afghanistan. Tavyside Health Centre is accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners as one which specialises in the care of military veterans and their families. All the team have been trained in the care of military veterans and their families. If recent events have affected you and you wish to seek help, please come forward.

August 18, 2021

Information around Flu Clinics

We have received some questions from patients around why we are unable to offer flu vaccination appointments at our Lifton Branch Surgery and we would like to explain the reasoning behind this decision.

Whilst it may appear that Coronavirus rules have now gone and we are returning to ‘normal’, we are in fact still in the midst of the pandemic and must still adhere to social distancing advisories. Whilst Covid-19 guidelines have been reduced in most settings, healthcare settings are still required to adhere to safe distancing and the wearing of face masks, except by medical exemption

Due to the size of Lifton surgery, we are not able to ensure our patients will be able to safely distance and have decided that to protect our more vulnerable and elderly patients all flu vaccines this year will only be offered at the Tavyside Health Centre.

We will be offering patients with reduced mobility or transport issues the ability to book into a clinic at Lifton where we can safely social distance.

Kind regards

Tavyside Health Centre

August 6, 2021

Latest News

Tesco Pharmacy (Launceston)

Tesco Pharmacy at Launceston will be closed from 14:00 today and will remain closed throughout tomorrow. They are anticipating a return to normal working hours on Sunday, however, please check before attending the pharmacy to ensure they have re-opened.

https://www.tesco.com/…/launceston/tavistock-rd/pharmacy

July 16, 2021

Latest News

Practice Half Day Closure

We are closed on Wednesday 21st July 2021 from 13:00 for staff training. We will re-open as normal on Thursday morning.

During this time, if you need advice and are unable to wait until we re-open, please call NHS 111.

For medical emergencies, dial 999.

If you are able to wait until the following morning, we recommend filling out an online form to save you having to queue on our phone lines in the morning. https://florey.accurx.com/p/L83038

July 9, 2021

Covid Restriction Update:

Throughout the pandemic we have strived to make the surgery as safe as possible for all our patients and staff. We will continue to do so going forward.

From the 19th July nothing will change at the surgery – patients will need to still wear a mask, socially distance and use hand sanitiser in the surgery and staff will continue to wear PPE. We do understand that it can be frustrating but we know that when people come to us they are sick and vulnerable (and some cannot receive the covid vaccinations due to medical reasons) so we feel it would be wrong to not take these small precautions that can protect people.

In terms of opening up, as many of you know, we have never been shut and in fact have consulted with much higher numbers of patients than we did pre-covid (face to face, by phone, by e consult and by video), not counting vaccinating 90% of the adult population twice in the last 6 months.

Tavyside Health Centre has come so far in trying to minimise the impact of Covid and we are sure you understand that we need to keep the surgery as safe for ALL patients as we can.

Kind regards

Tavyside Health Centre

May 26, 2021

INFORMATION: First dose Covid-19 vaccines for those patients aged 18-39.

As COVID-19 rates continue to come under control, the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), are advising that adults aged 18 to 39 years with no underlying health conditions are offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, if available and if it does not cause delays in having the vaccine. The advice is specific to circumstances in the UK at this time and maximises use of the wide portfolio of vaccines available.

https://www.gov.uk/…/jcvi-advises-on-covid-19-vaccine…

At Tavyside, we are currently only receiving AstraZeneca vaccines and are therefore not offering first dose vaccines to those under 40. When we have more first dose Pfizer/Moderna vaccines available, we will contact all those still awaiting a vaccine. In the meantime, we would suggest calling 119 to book an appointment if you have been invited to do so.

If you are under 40 and have already been administered with an AstraZeneca vaccine, you are still encouraged to attend for your second dose.

May 15, 2021

Proof of Covid-19 Vaccination

From 17 May 2021, people in England who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can demonstrate their vaccination status for international travel. A full course is currently two doses of any approved vaccine. Vaccine status will be available from:

the NHS App which you can download from app stores
the NHS website (from 17 May 2021)

It may take more than a week for your identity to be checked and verified so you can use these services.

If you cannot access these online services, and you have had 2 vaccines, you can request a paper letter from the NHS by calling 119. Only call 119 if you had your second dose more than 5 working days ago. It may take 7 working days for the letter to arrive.

This practice is not able to provide you with a letter that shows your COVID-19 vaccination status.

When you’re planning your travel, check the latest information on demonstrating your COVID-19 status when travelling abroad on the gov.uk website. Make sure there is time to get proof of your vaccination status before you leave.

May 6, 2021

Latest News

Blood Pressure

Blood pressure

As a GP, I must send out so many messages to patients to update their blood pressure (BP) – some days I feel like I’m obsessed with it, but that’s because it’s simultaneously very important to our long term health and usually causes no early identifying symptoms, so unless you’re looking for it, a high blood pressure can go unnoticed for many years.

The reason it’s important, is that a high blood pressure ongoing for months or years, puts extra strain on the body’s systems and is a risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, dementia and kidney disease among other things.

Because high blood pressure can exist for many years without causing any symptoms, even though it’s gradually causing problems in the background, we are asked to try and make sure that we have a blood pressure reading every five years or so in all our patients who are aged over 40. So that may be the only reason we send you a message asking you to ‘update your BP’.

For many patients, we strive to have much more regular BP checks. Patients who have illnesses that already put them at a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease for example diabetes, kidney disease, schizophrenia, previous mini-stroke, rheumatoid arthritis and many others. Patients who are on certain medications, for example, the combined contraceptive pill or HRT and of course anyone who has already been identified as having high or borderline blood pressure whether or not they are on blood pressure medication, should have their BP monitored at least yearly.

What we do with the results, depend on two factors – the result AND the patient. There is no one number that is a definite threshold for saying below this your BP is fine and above this your BP is high and you need medicines. Blood pressure is part of the complex story for each individual patient and only one of the risk factors impacting our long term health. So we would be much more likely to want to treat BP with medications in a young diabetic than we would in a fit and healthy 92 year old – even though the numbers may be the same.

However there are some useful guidelines for when to prompt a review by your GP, if you are checking your own blood pressure at home but are otherwise well.

If your BP is over 180/120 on repeated testing you should make contact with your GP that day to assess you.

If your BP is between 140-180/90-120 you might have high blood pressure and you should alert your GP so that over a few weeks they can assess you and arrange appropriate blood pressure and blood tests to be able to advise you appropriately.

If your BP is between 120-140/80-90 you may be at higher risk of developing high blood pressure. For these people especially, but for us all, there are lots of things we can do to reduce our blood pressure and long term risk of disease.

· Decrease the salt in your diet and increase the fibre

· Limit your alcohol to the recommended 14 units per week

· Lose weight if your are overweight

· Increase activity in any way you can but 150 minutes of moderate activity like brisk walking is ideal

· Decreasing caffeine if your intake is high

· And to complete this classic list of things your GP will tell you is important whatever you go to them about – stop smoking. Smoking doesn’t actually cause high blood pressure but

hugely increases the risk of arterial disease and therefore raises the risk of significant illness associated with high blood pressure.

There are some great resources on the NHS and the British Heart Foundation websites that contain lots of useful resources and information https://www.nhs.uk/cond…/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/

https://www.bhf.org.uk/…/risk-factors/high-blood-pressure

Dr Jo Coldron (Senior Partner)

May 6, 2021

Latest News

Contacting a GP

Dear Patients,

As always, thank you so much for all your support and kind messages over the past few months. Each one of these has had such a positive impact on us all at the Tavyside and Lifton Surgeries.

It has been a year like no other in General Practice and the combination of an ongoing pandemic, a strained and intermittently paralysed secondary care system, and our role leading the delivery of Covid vaccinations to our community has certainly pushed the whole surgery team to the extremes of what they can cope with.

Throughout this, our primary aim has been to continue to deliver appropriate and responsive medical care to all our patients who are in need. Moving forward we hope that working together with our patients, we can continue to do this as effectively as possible, despite the ongoing workload and extra demands which show no sign of abating.

In order to be able to prioritise those patients that need our care most and prevent unnecessary delays for you, can we ask, wherever possible, that you use the self-referral routes to access physiotherapy, get help and advice for minor illness from your pharmacist, access urgent eye care via the Royal Eye Infirmary advice line and minor injuries care at the local Minor Injury Units. You can find details of these on our website (www.tavyside.org) or by searching on the internet.

We have lots of resources available which offer advice on how to manage many common presentations like knee pain, skin disorders, coughs, colds and sore throats or almost any symptom or illness you can think of. These resources can effectively explain what things can be self-managed and how, and which of these needs a discussion with a doctor. If you go to the NHS website www.nhs.uk and type your symptom or condition into the search box, you can find all the up-to-date patient advice.

If you wish to speak to a GP at Tavyside or Lifton, you can arrange this on the same day (subject to availability) by contacting reception before 11am, or by booking a phone consultation online. These slots will be filled to capacity each day so please contact reception as soon as you can in the day to book one of these. For ongoing complex issues, it is possible to book ahead with a doctor of your choice. We highly encourage all patients, when possible, to use our online contact form (found on the front page of our website) to prompt an appropriate doctor contact rather than ringing into reception. This allows doctors to more effectively triage daily patient needs and provide advice and treatment as efficiently as possible.

It is as much of a frustration for the doctors and nurses as it is for the patients that things aren’t ‘back to normal’ and the pressure of workload and the limits of infection control mean that we continue to a slightly more remote system than previously. Rest assured however, that for any patient that requires a review in person, this is possible to arrange quickly and safely at the surgery.

Kind regards, Tavyside Health Centre