Kings Medical Practice News www.kingmedicalpractice.co.uk

The practice is participating in the national shingles immunisation programme. 90% of all adults in the UK have had chickenpox. After chickenpox, the virus stays inside your body and can recur as shingles later in life. Even those people who had a mild case of chickenpox as a child, or didn't have any obvious symptoms may still be at risk of developing shingles. Although not everyone develops shingles as we get older our immune system weakens which increases the risk of getting shingles. Unfortunately shingles in older people tends to be more severe than in younger people. This is why the Department of Health has introduced a recommendation that shingles vaccine should be offered to people aged 70 years. They have also introduced a catch-up programme which initially targets people aged 79 years of age. You can find more details about the national programme if you click here . The practice is writing to people who were 70 or 79 on the 1st September to invite them to ring and mak...

The practice is taking part in a new NHS service that will help us to spot whether you need more help to manage your health. The service is called 'risk profiling'. Using information from your health records, a secure NHS computer system will look at any recent treatments you have had in hospital or at the surgery, and any existing health problems that you have, and alert the practice to the likelihood of any possible future hospital admissions. The clinical team at the surgery will use this information to help you get early care and treatment where it is needed. The information will only be seen by practice staff who are bound to keep your information confidential. NHS security systems will protect your health information and guarantee patient confidentiality at all times. If you don't want the information contained in your records to be used in this way then please contact our practice manager who will arrange that your records are not included in this new service. To...

If you use our Online services to make appointments, order repeat prescriptions and send us messages you can now do it via an app for iPhones and iPad. The app is free and can be downloaded from Apples App store. Search for 'SystmOnline' or click here to go direct to the app. Our software supplier says that they are developing an Android version but of course Apple got there first (as usual?).

Its that time of the year again when we start our 'flu vaccination campaign. We are holding 'flu vaccination clinics on the following three Saturdays - September 28th, October 5th and October 12th. We recommend 'flu vaccinations to anyone who would be at more risk of the serious complications of 'flu than the general population. This means people over 65, those with a chronic lung or chest condition like asthma or COPD, people who have diabetes and people with heart disease. If you  click here  you can follow a link to the page on our website where you can download our 'flu information leaflet and consent form. The 'flu vaccination clinics are being held between 8.30 and 12 each Saturday morning. To make an appointment you can either ring our appointments number on 01924 223909 option 1 or  click here  to go direct to our online appointments booking. To book an appointment via the Internet you have to be registered with SystmOne Online - to do this either ask...

Every six months the NHS carries out a survey of patients' experience of the access and quality of care they receive from their local GPs. The results are now out and can be found if you click here . This time NHS England West Yorkshire Area Team has selected five questions for analysis: Generally how easy is it go through to someone at your GP surgery on the phone? We scored 96.9% with the local average being 73.9% How convenient was the appointment time you were able to get? We scored 96.5% with the local average being 91.8% Overall, how would you describe your experience of making an appointment? We scored 88.3% with the local area being 74.8% How satisfied are you with the hours that your GP surgery is open? We scored 92.9% with the local average being 69.5% Overall how would you describe you experience of your GP surgery? We scored 92.8% with the local average being 85.4% These results are pretty good with the practice scoring significantly above the local average f...

The practice is an approved GP training practice and we train doctors to become GP's. They spend either six or twelve months with us and they swap over in August and February of each year. This week we have said goodbye to Dr Amina Vandu-Chikolo, she has now successfully completed her training and is working as a locum in Leeds, Dr Kate Heels who has gone to A&E at Pinderfields and Dr Sarah Graham who has gone to Psychiatry at Fieldhead Hospital. Dr Emma Still finished her training at the end of July but is staying on with us to do Dr Rebecca Hardings maternity locum. We still have Dr Mou Sinha and Dr Mohammed Shaikh with us. They are both working part-time and I know they will eventually finish but they have been with us for ages and I am not sure when they will complete their training! Joining us are Dr Danielle Kirkham, Dr Serena Alim and Dr Bing-Chiu Pang - who are in their third year of training and will be with us until July 2013 and Dr Thangiarubian Thurairajah (kno...

I was browsing the internet this week (like you do ...!) and came across this guide to getting the most out of your appointment with your doctor or nurse. Click here for the link. The guide is not rocket science, it just details the three steps that we train doctors and nurses to follow when seeing patients. Step 1 - saying what you want to get out of today. You know why you have come today but have you thought about what you expect or want to happen? For example do you want a diagnosis, reassurance that it is not something serious (if so what are you worried about most), to see a specialist. It is really useful to let your doctor know. Step 2 - saying what you think is going on. If you have any thoughts about what is causing the problem, do say so. It really helps the conversation with your doctor if you share these ideas. Step 3 - agree a plan of action and what to do if things don't go as expected. Before you leave are clear about what happens next? Do you know wh...