Kings Medical Practice News www.kingmedicalpractice.co.uk

We are holding 'flu vaccination clinics on the following three Saturdays - October 4th. October 18th and October 25th. 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 at reception or the next practice member of staff you see for a user ...

The surgery is closed on August Bank Holiday Monday 25th August, 2014. We are open for pre-booked appointments on Saturday 23rd August, 8.00 am - 11.00 am, as usual but are closed on Monday 25th August. We reopen, as normal on Tuesday, 26th August at 8.00 am. We have our usual pre-booked evening appointments on Tuesday 26th August from 6.30 pm - 8.00 pm. If you need urgent GP assistance or advice over the weekend then dial 111. Have a good weekend and I am hoping it warms up!

Had difficulty making an appointment? Concerned that you have not been able to see the same doctor?  Want to have a longer consultation? We would like to be able to offer more appointments, offer longer appointments and ensure that our systems enable people to see the same doctor but general practice is under huge pressure. Last year the number of patients the practice saw increased from 45,584 in the 12 months ending March 2013 to 77,953 in the 12 months ending March 2014. That is a huge increase of nearly 70%! Its a mind boggling huge increase. However funding for general practice is a historic low of 8.39% of the NHS budget and is projected to plunge to just 7.29% by 2017. Indeed this month we have received notification from NHS England that our budget will be cut by £150,000 by the end of March 2017! So, we are facing a crisis - huge increase in workload and budget cuts. No wonder you are having difficulty getting appointments!. The Royal College of General Practitione...

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 swap over in August and February of each year. This week we have said goodbye to Dr Pang, Dr Kirkham and Dr Alim - they have now all successfully completed their training. Dr Pang has got a job in Outwood, Wakefield and Dr Kirkham and Dr Alim have got posts in Bradford. Dr Richardson has just finished his second year of training. He has another year to do and is going to College Lane Surgery at Ackworth. We still have Dr Mou Sinha and Dr Mohammed Shaikh with us. They are both working part-time and will finish their training in November. Joining us are Dr Suesanne Samara, Dr Katrina Hydon and Dr 'Ronnie' Banerjee who are all in their third year of training and will be with us until July 2015. Also joining us is Dr Aly Damji, he has successfully completed all his GP training but has chosen to do an additional fourth year of training...

The GP Patient Survey is a national survey run by Ipsos MORI , an independent survey agency, that administers the survey on behalf of NHS England. The survey is sent out twice a year in January and July. We have just had the results for the January survey. You can find the full survey results here and by clicking on the links get the full report. In January 355 surveys were sent out, 116 were sent back with a completion rate of 33%. The practice does best at: 95% of respondents find it easy to get through to this surgery by phone (regional average 72%) 94% of respondents would recommend this surgery to someone new to the area (regional average 79%) 88% of respondents describe their experience of making an appointment as good (regional average 74%) Patients are currently being sent surveys for July and if you have received a survey form and want to fill it out online click here .

The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of all health and social care in England. They are given powers by the government to register, monitor and inspect all health and social care services. In July they are coming to Wakefield to inspect our hospitals and also local GP practices. They are keen to hear your views about your experiences of care you have received from our local hospitals and from local GP practices in Wakefield. By the end of March 2016 they will have visited every GP practice in England. They are visiting 10 practices in Wakefield. We are not one of those being visited in this first round but our turn will come! To receive feedback they are holding a public meeting on Monday 14 July at 6.30 pm at York House Hotel, 10 Drury Lane, Wakefield. You can also email the CQC at enquires@cqc.org.uk or even give them a ring on 03000 616161.

Just a quick reminder that if you are planning to go somewhere hot the practice provides a full travel advice service to our patients including travel vaccinations, travel health advice, advice about malaria prophylaxis and Yellow Fever vaccinations. Most travel vaccinations are free - the exceptions are generally if you are going to unusual places or doing something unusual e.g. back packing trips in the wilds or staying somewhere for longer than three months. The commonest vaccinations patients have to pay for are Yellow Fever, Hepatitis B and Rabies vaccinations. You will also have to pay for malaria tablets but the practice does not charge if you need a private prescription for malaria prophylaxis tablets. The practice is a registered Yellow Fever Vaccination centre. We also provide Yellow Fever Vaccinations and Travel Advice to patients who are not registered with the practice. Our travel advice service is run by our nursing team and they would like you to fill ...