We have made changes so that we can provide the safest possible care for patients.
Please contact us if you need a consultation with a GP, nurse practitioner or nurse. Do not save things up – it may adversely affect your health in the long term.
What we are doing to keep everyone safe:
- Seeing our patients with respiratory symptoms in a different part of the building, so they don’t come to the main entrance.
- Checking that people entering the practice do not have Covid-like symptoms.
- A one-way system through the practice.
- Using Personal Protective Equipment (face masks and visors, aprons and gloves)
- Continuing to offer vital immunisation programmes to protect babies, children and adults.
- Regularly reviewing the safety measures that we take to see if they need to change.
We offer (via the practice team):
- Telephone consultations, with the option to change to video consultation in call if that is agreed to be beneficial.
- eConsult – a secure online consultation service available through the eConsult link on our website www.stalbansmc.co.uk . You choose the topic that you wish to discuss and fill in a tailored questionnaire which then comes through to the practice and is forwarded to a GP. You will get a reply by 6.30 p.m. on the next working day. The GP assesses the information provided and can either issue a prescription for treatment, email you back with advice, or set up a telephone, video or face to face appointment depending on the circumstances. The eConsult system has been developed by GPs and the questionnaires are very detailed – it also has a safety net built in. For example, if you give certain “red flag” answers then you will be prompted to get in touch with us more urgently and are not permitted to complete the questionnaire.
- Face to face appointments with GP
- Face to face appointments with nurses – we will make you an appointment for the procedures that the nurses are carrying out. We have reintroduced most services (see below for information on restricted services).
Other services that are available for you to contact direct:
- NEW Self-referral physiotherapy service online at www.mskdorset.nhs.uk . complete the referral form on the site and a physiotherapist will be in touch. This is only available online, so if you don’t have access to the internet, speak to a GP or nurse practitioner at the practice.
- Direct access Eye clinic – if you have an acute eye issue, contact 0800 112 0070. A specialist nurse practitioner will assess you on the phone and may offer a face to face appointment if needed.
- Steps2Wellbeing offer mental health support – you can self-refer online at www.steps2wellbeing.co.uk , by phone on 0300 790 0542, or by email dhc.bc.s2w@nhs.net
- LiveWell Dorset offer support with cutting down on alcohol, weight management, exercise and smoking cessation. You can register online at www.livewelldorset.nhs.uk or call them on 0800 840 1628
There are some services that we cannot offer or are offering on a reduced basis:
- Ear Syringing – we are not able to do this as the process generates droplets in the air (an aerosol generating procedure) which increases the risk of transmission of virus from an infected person.
So, PLEASE, get in touch if you need our help.