Kings Medical Practice News www.kingmedicalpractice.co.uk

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...

At the practice we are just about to start taking part in the Productive General Practice improvement programme. The programme is designed to help general practice continue to deliver high quality care whilst meeting increasing levels of demand and diverse expectations. At the core of the programme is looking at how we do things and how we can change the way we do things so that we can release time to invest in improving patient outcomes and staff well being. The Productive General Practice website can be found by clicking here . I went to an introductory workshop for the programme about three weeks ago and one of the ice breakers was how to fold a T shirt in two seconds - if you click here you can see a YouTube demonstration of how to do it! I have just come back from a two week break in Italy. We hired a car and before I went I got my old driving licence out. I have had it since I passed my driving test when I was 17 (passed first time!) and I still have the old style ...

The practice has computerised clinical records and the software we use is called SystmOne - click here to go to their website. SystmOne is a computerised clinical record that lots of GPs and other healthcare departments and units use. Currently GPs can see all the information that is entered onto your clinical records by non-GP units but non-GP units can only see data on your GP record if the non-GP departments ask for a 'share' of your records. The way that patient data is shared between different departments and units on SystmOne is about to fundamentally change so that it is much more explicit who patients have given consent to view and share their records. The new system is called the Enhanced Data Sharing Model (eDSM) and it will allow staff the opportunity to record patient's explicit consent for sharing their records. With eDSM patients will be asked whether they would like to Share In and Share Out at each care service or department they are registered with. P...

If you have been into the surgery this week you might have come across a couple of new faces. Last week Helen, who is a fourth year medical student at Newcastle joined us for four weeks and Rachel who is an Open University nursing student joined us for eight weeks. Rachel is employed as a Healthcare Assistant at St James in Leeds as is undergoing training to become a registered nurse via the Open University route for Healthcare Assistants. It is a really good way to become a registered nurse because you are in a job and get paid and currently Health Education Yorkshire and Humber pays for your training - its brilliant! To find out more about how the OU helps people to become registered nurses click here . And we also have two new apprentices, Justine and Olivia, who have joined us to train in the admin role of providing healthcare. Apprenticeship train young people in work-based training programmes that lead to national recognised qualifications. To find out more about apprentices c...

The NHS has allowed the prescription of gluten free foods to people with coeliac disease for some time. People with coeliac disease need to have a gluten free diet otherwise they will become ill. Gluten is present in flour but there are gluten free substitutes available. The NHS advices that staple gluten-free foods should be available to all people diagnosed with coeliac disease. This includes bread/rolls, crackers and crispbreads, flour/flour type mixes, pasta and pizza bases. But in line with healthy eating and advice from Coeliac UK (click here for a link) , Wakefield CCG has advised all Wakefield practices to no longer prescribe cakes/cakes mixes, biscuits and sweet products. People who wish to include these products in their diet are being advised to buy them from the supermarket instead. It is accepted that commercial gluten free products are more expensive that equivalent standard gluten containing products but even Coeliac UK accepts that there is no justification for the ...