Kings Medical Practice News www.kingmedicalpractice.co.uk

We are keen to help our patients who smoke, stop. You can access help in a variety of ways and in a variety of settings We are referring a lot of people who want help to stop to our local Health Trainers. They see people in our surgery in a one to one setting to help you to stop. To get access to this service ask at reception, fill in a referral form and they will be in touch. We refer people to the Wakefield District Smoking Cessation Service - they will visit the housebound and are very helpful for people who have previously had failed quit attempts. You can ask at the pharmacist. All the pharmacies in Normanton provide Quit Smoking services and we regularly write prescriptions for some of the medications they recommend. Our practice nursing team will also provide one to one help if you want help quitting. And we are just about to start a new mass mailing to all our patients with long term conditions that are worsened by smoking (heart disease, asthma, COPD , diabetes etc) and

Diclofenac is a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used to treat arthritis and other painful conditions. But there is increasing evidence that it is not as safe as other NSAIDs. For example in February this year the UK National Prescribing Centre reported on a meta analysis that showed that people taking diclofenac had a four fold increased risk of cardiovascular death compared to people taking naproxen. A meta analysis report pools data from many drug trials and it can be used to analyse lots of data. In this meta analysis there were 116,429 patients who had been involved in 31 trials and had taken NSAIDs for 117,218 years. To read more about this analysis click here . We have started writing to patients and swapping their diclofenac to naproxen. Naproxen is as strong as diclofenac and the only difference is that it is usually taken twice a day instead of three times a day. And for once this drug switch is not due to cost as both drugs cost the same. We are

We are holding 'flu vaccination clinics on three Saturdays in October - the 8th, 15th and 22nd. 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 0844 815 1340 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 name and password. The online flu

I am now a GP Board Member of Wakefield Alliance - the Clinical Commissioning Group responsible for commissioning services for our patients. Just over a week ago I went to a top secret meeting with other board members from Wakefield Alliance and staff from Mid Yorks Hospital Trust. The meeting was to tell the Board about Mid Yorks plans for reshuffling hospital services across Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury. They are only just at the beginning of this project. They need to reshuffle their services because they need to substantially cut their budget over the next two years as well as continue to meet access targets (for patients referred for treatment and patients in A&E) and continue to improve the clinical quality of the services they provide - quite a few plates to juggle and keep in the air at the same time! The meeting I went to outlined some of the criteria against which any changes options would be assessed. Their were a few things that the changes must do. The changes mu

It is the first week in August and it is all change for doctors in training. We are saying goodbye to Dr Mamta Prabhu - she has passed all her exams and needs another 12 months part time training to complete her workplace based assessments to qualify as a GP. She is moving to College Lane Surgery at Ackworth. Dr Azeem Sarfraz has also passed all his exams and has another 3 months with us to complete his workplace based assessments and qualify as a GP. Dr Richard Holborough has passed everything, has got is Certificate of Completed Training and will be joining us full time at Kings Medical Centre from Wednesday 3rd August. We are very pleased he will be staying with us. We have three new doctors joining us; Dr Uzma Aziz for 9 months, Dr Hadiba Mirza for 12 months and Dr Annette Kemshell for 6 months. And not forgetting Dr Katie McGowan who is with us till April next year (I think!) We wish Dr Prabhu 'Bon Voyage' and a very warm welcome to all the new doctors who are joining us.