Kings Medical Practice News www.kingmedicalpractice.co.uk

We are holding 'flu vaccination clinics on three Saturdays in October - the 6th, 13th and 20th. 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. Th...

NHS Wakefield Commissioning Group has launched a new campaign to encourage patients to seek help first from their GP rather than going to A&E. It is entitled 'Your GP will see you now' and has a nice coloured leaflet. Click here to see a copy, and the campaign even has a Facebook page - click here . Our local A&E Departments are under a lot of pressure from patients attending who could have seen their GP first. The Commissioning Group has invested in extra capacity at GPs surgeries across Wakefield to make it easier for patients to see their GP rather than going to A&E. We have looked at the numbers of our patients attending A&E and there is a peak on weekdays between 5pm and 6pm. This is when the surgery is open and patients could have come to us. We have used the investment from the Commissioning Group to have extra appointments every weekday between 5.00 and 6.00 pm. So, if you are thinking of going to A&E during the daytime, when the surgery is open:...

If you have ever had a consultation with me you will know that on my windowsill I have a beautiful orchid. It has been in flower since last November. But all good things come to an end and over the last month the flowers on it have started to die and there is now a new shoot spurting up offering the promise of more new flowers again. I am often asked 'is it real?' Yes it is, quickly followed by 'how do you look after it because mine always die?' So here is my easy guide to looking after orchids (well not really my guide more based on what my wife has told me to because she is the one in our house with green fingers - I am just the hired help!) Find a position they like - mine is on a north facing windowsill and it loves it Don't over water - I water mine once a week with half a cup of water Prune dead flower spikes off at the bottom of the shoot above a bud Don't throw them away when the flowers drop off, keep them and wait till you get another flower sp...

The surgery is closed for the August Bank Holiday on Monday 27th August. If you need a doctor when we are closed ring our normal number - 0844 815 1340 - and your call will automatically be transferred to the out of hours service. Our opening times over the Bank Holiday Weekend are: Friday 24th August - 8.00 am - 6.30 pm Saturday 25th August - extended access surgery 8.00 am - 11.00 am. Sunday 26th August - closed Monday 27th August - closed Tuesday 28th August - 8.00 am - 6.30 pm (and extended access surgery 6.30 - 8.00 pm) Wednesday 29th August - 8.00 am - 6.30 pm Thursday 30th August - 8.00 am - 6.30 pm (and extended access surgery 7.00 am -8.00 am) Friday 31st August - 8.00 am - 6.30 pm If you ring our normal telephone number (0844 815 1340) when we are closed you will be automatically transferred to our Out of Hours provider. But there are other services available when we are closed that might be able to help you. LLoyds  Pharmacy at 6-8 High Street op...

Although patients report high levels of satisfaction with contacting the practice by telephone (84% of users were satisfied in the last NHS Annual Survey) the use of an 0844 number to contact the practice has consistently been one of the issues that patients have feedback to us via the Patient Participation Group and also our in-house survey of Patient Satisfaction. Last week I signed a contract with our telephone provider to move to a geographical number. It is likely that the system will be install in September or October of this year. In the meantime if you are concerned about the cost of your call to our 0844 telephone number tell the member of staff and they will ring you back. Our 0844 practice number is going to change - watch this space for the new number!

Its not very often that blogs I write have been prompted by patient encounters but this week I saw a patient who had what sounded like a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) two weeks ago and had waited for a routine appointment to see me. TIAs are mini strokes in which patients have the symptom's of a stroke but then fully recover. The significance of TIAs are there there is a one in chance that those who have had a TIA will experience a full stroke during the four weeks following the TIA. The symptoms of a stroke or TIA are remembered with the mnemonic FAST: F ACE: the face may have dropped to one side A RMS: person may not be able to lift one or both arms and keep them there S PEECH: may slurred or garbled T IME: it is time to dial 999 immediately if you see any of these signs or symptoms A stroke is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical attention. So recognising the signs of stroke and calling 999 for an ambulance is crucial. The sooner somebody who is ha...

We are a GP Training practice and regularly have doctors attached to us who are training to become GP's. In the practice there are three approved GP Trainers - Dr Brown, Dr Walsh and Dr Harding. Trainees are attached to the practice for either six or twelve months and change around at the start of August and February. Change over day this time is Wednesday, 1st August. We are saying goodbye to Dr Mirza (she is now fully qualified and going to do sessions at the Olympics), Dr Hilton (Kings Medical Practice was her first post on a three year GP training post and she is going to do Emergency Medicine at Leeds), Dr Towers (she will be entering her second year of training and is going to Pinderfields to do Paediatrics) and Dr Rafique (who is going to College Lane Surgery at Ackworth to complete his training). The doctors who are replacing them are; Dr Mo Sinha, Dr Prab Matharu, Dr Emma Barker and Dr Amina Vandu-Chikolo. We have more training doctors attached to us and just to comple...