LATEST NEWS

Our Mission Statement

To deliver high quality health care to our community with purpose and kindness, ensuring easy access to excellent patient services. Providing an open and supportive environment for patients and staff, promoting a culture of fairness and equality to all.

We are always happy to welcome new patients from people residing within the practice boundary. See our Registration page.

 

Patient Feedback

We are very pleased to have received excellent feedback in the August Friends and Family test. The themes are summarised in the tag cloud above, 96% of patients were either 'extremely likely' or 'likely' to recommend our services. To read more please visit our Patient Feedback page.

 

Important Patient Updates

FLU & COVID VACCINATION CLINICS

Flu and Covid vaccinations for eligible patients will take place in September and October.  Appointments are currently available on:

• Wednesday 18th October - Combined Flu/Covid vaccine appointments (age 18+).
• Saturday 21st October – Combined Flu/Covid vaccine appointments (age 18+).

Appointments are available to book via:

• Patient access app
• MyGP app
• NHS app
• Telephone - 01995 607399

We would like to encourage patients to book online if they have the facility to do so to relieve pressure on our telephone lines. If you are ringing to book a vaccination appointment, please avoid calling between 8am and 10am when we are busiest and over lunchtime (12pm-2pm) where we have less staff manning the phone line.

When booking online please ensure you book the correct appointment depending on your age/eligibility group i.e., Aged 65 years and over OR Aged under 65 years in an AT RISK GROUP.

Vaccinations are available to anyone aged 65 and over (by 31st March 24) and those under 65 in a clinically at-risk group. To check if you are in one of the at-risk groups please visit:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jcvi-advises-on-eligible-groups-for-2023-autumn-booster

At this stage, we are only able to offer Covid vaccination to eligible patients aged 18 years+. At risk patients under 18 are asked to contact the National Booking Service on 111 or online to arrange vaccination at another vaccination site.

 

 

A Respectful and Heartfelt Plea to our patients

 

Right Person, Right Care 

Did you know general practice has a range of healthcare professionals who can help with health issues? Practices across Lancashire and South Cumbria are supporting the #RightPersonRightCare campaign. 

General practice now offers much more than just being able to see your GP. From advanced nurse practitioners to pharmacists and physiotherapists to social prescribers, these specialists can give comprehensive advice on specific health issues.  

Our trained receptionists may offer you an appointment with a healthcare professional other than your GP. This could mean you get the right, specialist care for your condition, save you time waiting for an appointment with a GP and help your local NHS manage the current extraordinary demand.  

If you think another healthcare professional can help, please mention this to our reception team when getting in touch.  

Find out more by visiting https://healthierlsc.co.uk/primarycare . 

Reception staff are trained care navigators and ask questions about your symptoms and/or condition to ensure you get the correct, specialist care in a timely manner. This may also include a referral outside of general practice where relevant, for example to a community pharmacist, who can treat minor illnesses and issue urgent supplies of prescribed medicine.

If an appointment with your GP remains the most appropriate choice for your condition, this will be arranged for you.

The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) is a community pharmacist led clinical service for people with a minor illness or who require an urgent supply of their regular medicines, to get help at a community pharmacy instead.

If, during your initial assessment we think you will get the quickest and safest care via a consultation with a pharmacist, we will arrange that for you, so you avoid having a long wait.

 

Appointment Cancellation Line 

We are still seeing a high volume of missed appointments, with 272 appointments not attended in the past month. We have, therefore, been looking at ways to make it easier for patients to cancel unwanted appointments. Along with the methods detailed below, we have now introduced an Appointment Cancellation Line. This can be accessed via our main phone line by pressing option 1 for the Surgery, followed by option 4 for the Cancellation voicemail. Please leave your name, date of birth and details of the appointment you wish to cancel. Please note, this is a cancellation line only. If you wish to rearrange your appointment, please call the surgery and speak to a receptionist to make a new appointment.   

You can also cancel your appointment: 

• via Patient Access or the myGP app.
  You can cancel appointments here even if they were not booked via online services 
   
• by responding 'CANCEL' to your text message reminder  
  Please ensure we have your current mobile phone number so that text message reminders of your appointments can be sent. For any patient aged 0-15 years, please provide a mobile number for a parent/guardian.
   
•   or by calling reception on 01995 607399. 

To cancel an Evening & Weekend appointment, arranged with the Extended Access Service, please contact 01253 952950.

 

Home Visit Requests

Please note that you do have the option to press 2 to request a home visit. This is to assist our more vulnerable patients. Please do not use this option for anything other than to request a home visit for a housebound patient.  

 

Healthy Young Minds

NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board has launched a brand-new mental health campaign aimed at children and young people.

The campaign encourages young people who may be feeling anxious about school, finding it hard to fit in, or having negative thoughts about how they look, to find help and support on the Healthy Young Minds Website.

It also encourages parents and carers to talk more to their children about mental health concerns.

The campaign, which features young people from the Blackburn Youth Zone, will mainly be seen on social media channels TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

You can find out more on the campaign page of the Healthy Young Minds website.

 

Macmillan Cancer Support Clinics 

Macmillan aim to help everyone with Cancer to live life as fully as they can. They offer a range of support for patients, families and carers and can provide information and support services; emotional and practical support; financial support and benefit advice. 

Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Clinics are held here at Garstang Medical Practice on the first Friday of each month. If you would like the opportunity to see or speak to the Macmillan Advisor, please contact the Cancer Patient Priority Care Line on 01995 608107 or Reception on 01995 607399 to arrange an appointment.

Local Macmillan Cancer Information & Support Services can also be accessed via:

• Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Service Preston
  Rosemere Cancer Centre, Royal Preston Hospital, Sharoe Green Lane, Fulwood, PR2 9HT, Telephone 01772 523709 Email cancerinfocentre@lthtr.nhs.uk

• Macmillan Cancer Information & Support Centre Lancaster, Macmillan Hub, Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Ashton Road, Lancaster LA1 4RP Telephone 01524 519578 or 07972 639424 Email: macmillan.info@mbht.nhs.uk

• Macmillan Cancer Information & Support Centre Blackpool, Windmill Unit, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, Whinney Heys Road, Blackpool, FY3 8NR Tel 01253 955710 Email: bfwh.macmillan.info@nhs.net

Macmillan have a phone line which anyone affected by cancer can call where cancer experts can answer people’s questions and worries, or just listen if they need to chat.  Please call 0808 808 00 00. 

Macmillan Website

 

Evidence of vaccination (Digital NHS COVID Pass)

People in England who have satisfied vaccine requirements against COVID-19 can use the NHS COVID Pass to demonstrate their COVID-19 status.

If you’re aged 18 or over, you can get an NHS COVID Pass for domestic use where certain venues and events in England choose to use COVID-19 certification.

If you’re aged 12 or over you can get an NHS COVID Pass for travel abroad but you should follow the entry requirements of the country you are travelling to. See the GOV.UK website for more information about the NHS COVID Pass for children.

A full course is currently two doses of the Moderna, AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine, or one dose of the Janssen single-dose vaccine. Vaccine status will be available through the NHS COVID Pass service from: 

• the NHS App which you can download from app stores 
• the NHS website 
• 119 - by requesting a paper letter

You will need to register to use the online services, if you have not already. It may take more than a week for your identity to be checked and verified.

If you cannot access the online services, and you have had both doses of the vaccine, you can request a paper letter from the NHS by calling 119. Only call 119 if you are due to travel outside the UK in the near future and have had your second dose (or one dose of the Janssen single-dose vaccine) more than 5 working days ago. It may take up to 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. Please do not contact the practice about your COVID-19 vaccination status unless you have been advised to by the 119 service.

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

 

Veterans Priority NHS Treatment

All patients who have served in the armed forces are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated with their time within the armed forces (service-related). This includes veteran-specific services like prosthetics and mental health. Please let the surgery know if you are a veteran so that this can be recorded in your medical record. For further information, see NHS page - priority NHS treatment for veterans.

Garstang Medical Practice is an Armed Forces Veteran Friendly Accredited GP Practice.

Easy Eye Care

Easy Eye Care is available for people with learning disabilities and autistic people of all ages. Appointments are available locally at Clare & Howard Opticians, High Street, Garstang.

For easy read information about having an eye test, visit www.seeability.org/EReyetest
For more information, please contact Steve Kill on 07738 040307 or s.kill@seeability.org 

 

Wyre and Fylde Rural Extended Network (WREN)

On 1st July 2019 Garstang Medical Practice officially became part of the Wyre & Fylde Rural Extended Network (WREN). This is a new collaboration between the five practices in Kirkham, Great Eccleston, Preesall and Garstang. The network is part of the new NHS Long Term Plan and aims to develop over the next few years.

The initial stages will focus on building strong working relationships with the other practices to collaborate on improving services and access.

As the network matures we have been asked to develop a better understanding of our shared population. This will allow us to work with our local community health services to improve quality of care to our patients. This will continue to support and extend the WREN Integrated Care Team that is led by our lead nurse Helen Kerrigan-Hawkes.

Within this we have also been asked to work closely with the local authorities and voluntary agencies to improve the health and care of the whole population. Through the ICT we already have good relationships with the agencies and will look to build and strengthen these.

Dr John Miles has been chosen as the Clinical Director for the network and as such has responsibility to work for all of the practices towards these aims and objectives. We will also be sharing learning with the other local networks across the Fylde Coast and working with the wider health economy to ensure that we meet these aims and objectives.

 

Clinical Practice Research Datalink

This practice contributes to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). Information in patient records is important for medical research to develop new treatments and test the safety of medicinces. This practice supports medical research by sending some of the information from patient records to the CPRD.

CPRD is a Government organisation that provides anonymised patient data for research to improve patient and public health. You cannot be identified from the information sent to CPRD.

If you do not want anonymised information from your patient record to be used in research you can opt out by speaking to your doctor. For more information about how your data is used visit the CPRD Website or view our Privacy Notice.

 

Audiology Screening Service

We are now able to offer a free to access screening service for patients who are suffering from hearing related difficulties. This service is provided by Scrivens Audiology at Garstang Medical Practice. A limited number of appointments are available each week for patients aged 55 years+. If the screening identifies a hearing loss, patients will be referred to the appropriate Audiology or ENT service. If you believe that you are suffering from hearing related difficulties, please contact the surgery to arrange an appointment. For further information, please contact the surgery on 01995 607399 or Scrivens Patient Services on 0800 027 4487.

 

Medical Records update

Lancashire and South Cumbria has been chosen by NHS England to be a national pilot for the digitisation of Medical Records.  Scanning these paper based records and making them digital will enable better utilisation of space, creating more clinical space, staff areas, multi team space and video hubs, removing the need for some practices to build extensions. In addition it will also make your record more easily and speedily accessible to clinical staff within your practice.

Your complete GP medical record will be digital and stored in a secure cloud based clinical system (only accessible by your GP practice) with the paper based records being securely destroyed following BS EN 15713:2009 Secure destruction of confidential material.  Your GP will still be able to access your records easily within this system. The scanning and destruction of the paper records will follow strict data protection guidelines adhered to by the NHS.  As with paper based records, digital records are stored for the durations specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care. For GP patient records, this states that they may be destroyed 10 years after the patient’s death if they are no longer needed.

For more information, please see FAQS. If you wish to discuss the scheme, please inform the Practice direct either by letter or via e-mail.

 

Hospital Blood Requests

Due to the pandemic, we are currently unable to book appointments for patients who need bloods requested by the hospital. We are not responsible for doing bloods requested by the hospital and need to reserve our appointments for blood tests requested by our clinicians at the surgery.

Hospital blood request appointments should be arranged directly with the relevant hospital blood clinic. Details as follows:

Royal Preston Hospital
Blood clinics are currently running by appointment only. Open 8:30am – 4:45pm Monday to Friday. Tel: 01772 524143. Please take the blood form from your consultant with you. If you do not have a blood form please give the name of your consultant when booking.

Lancaster Royal Infirmary
Please attend RLI Blood Clinic. No appointment needed. Please take the blood form from your consultant with you. If you do not have a blood form please give the name of your consultant when booking in. Please avoid attending in mornings as this is their busiest time.

Bookable appointments are available at Dalton Square surgery on Fridays. Please ring 01539 715700 to arrange your appointment (lines open Monday to Friday 10am – 2pm).

 

Digital Diabetes Education Resource Now Available

Your Diabetes Your Way is an easy to use interactive website available to help support people living with diabetes. You'll find leaflets, videos, educational tools and games containing information about diabetes.

Register now at: Your Diabetes Your Way or ask your local healthcare team to help you sign up!

 

NHS Diabetes Helpline

NHS England and NHS Improvement have launched a new helpline in response to disruption to normal diabetes services due to the COVID-19 pandemic and response.

The service is for adults living with diabetes who use insulin to manage their condition and require immediate clinical advice. Whether you or a member of your household have caught the virus, or routine care has been disrupted, the helpline is available for immediate clinical advice to help you un...derstand how to effectively manage their diabetes.

You can access NHS Diabetes Advice via Diabetes UK's support line on 0345 123 2399 Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm.

 

George Cross Medal awarded to Garstang Medical Practice

We are very excited to be able to announce that, following nomination by one of our lovely patients, Angela Mather, we have received the George Cross Medal from the Queen!! 🎉🥳🍾

This honour was given to the NHS as a whole last year, but only those who are specifically nominated receive their own George Cross Medal.

Angela Mather applied for our medal in appreciation of the great work we do. She especially recognised our contribution during the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination programme.

Thank you Angela! We are overwhelmed by your support and this great honour. 💙

 

Wear A Hat Day for Brain Tumour Research

On Friday 31st March GMP and KLP staff joined together to raise money for #WearAHatDay. An amazing £224.82 was raised!

Comic Relief Red Nose Day 2023

On Friday 17th March GMP staff wore red to raise money for Comic Relief. A total of 124.05 was raised!

BBC Children in Need 2022

On Friday 18th November 2022 staff members joined in the rest of the country by wearing our PJ's to work to help raise money for #Childreninneed2022. A total of £40.95 was raised!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month & 'Wear It Pink' Day - 21st October 2022

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a worldwide annual campaign taking place in October, involving thousands of organisations, to highlight the importance of breast awareness, education and research.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Now aimed to get as many people as possible involved in raising awareness and funds to help support life-saving research and life-changing support.

As the UK's largest breast cancer research charity, along with their supporters, they aim to do this through campaigning, raising money and an array of events across the UK including 'Wear It Pink' on Breast Cancer Awareness Day - 21st October 2022.

On Breast Cancer Awareness Day the surgery staff wore pink to raise money and awareness and to support the 'Wear It Pink' campaign. A total of £243.70 was raised!

Macmillan Coffee Morning 2022

Garstang Medical Practice staff came together on Friday 30th September 2022 to eat cake & donate for Macmillan Cancer Support. We are very pleased to have raised an amazing £153.69!!! We know that every single penny raised will help Macmillan do whatever it takes to help people living with cancer.

 

Organ Donation

Did you know? The law around organ donation has changed. Find out what this means for you at: Organ donation website
#organdonation

 

International Nurses Day - 'Shine a light'

On 12th May 2020 we marked International Nurses Day, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale and “shined a light” on our fantastic nursing team here at Garstang Medical Practice. Here are just some of our wonderful nursing team but we want to recognise and thank the whole team for their hard work and support, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Winmarleigh School Visit November 2019

We were happy to welcome the children from Winmarleigh School who visited both Garstang Medical Practice and Kepple Lane Pharmacy in November.

Jeans for Genes - 16th to 20th September 2019

Jeans for Genes is the annual fundraising campaign for Genetic Disorders UK, the national charity that supports individuals and families affected by a genetic disorder.

Monies raised through Jeans for Genes fund the work of the charity and provide grants to organisations for projects that aim to transform the lives of children with genetic disorders.

During the week our surgery staff dressed in jeans (or something denim) to support this campaign and raised money towards the work of Genetic Disorders UK.

 

Dementia Action Week 2019

In order to raise awareness and show our support for those with Dementia, the surgery team had a 'Wear something purple for Dementia' day on Wednesday 22nd May 2019 in exchange for a donation to the Garstang Memory Café.  

During the week members of our PPG (Patient Participation Group) had a 'Listening stand' in the main foyer with the aim of raising awareness and providing information and support for those with Dementia and their carers. 
The donations raised by our staff were presented to Sandra Perkins, a member of our PPG and co-ordinator of the Garstang Memory Cafe. Sandra was absolutely thrilled by the gesture.

For more information, support and advice please visit the Alzheimers or Dementia UK websites.

 

Garstang Town Council Good Citizen of the Year Award

Congratulations to our Lead Nurse Helen Kerrigan-Hawkes who was given this truly deserved accolade at the Town Council Awards on 25th April 2019.  As Chair of our WREN Integrated Care Community she has worked tirelessly for our patients and for all patients across our WREN network and her dedication and enthusiasm has been both infectious and admirable. Huge congratulations Helen from all of us; we are very proud of you and all you have achieved.

 

Countryfile Ramble for Children in Need

As part of the Countryfile Ramble for Children in Need, staff, friends and dogs of the Garstang Medical Centre enjoyed a Ramble on the 7th October 2018 covering 12km. We are very pleased to have raised £680. A massive thank you to everyone who donated.