Our Spring Newsletter is now available to view!

This season's issue covers:

• COVID-19 vaccination information.
• An update about our practice refurbishment in Oulton.
• Resources and information regarding mental health, bereavement, unpaid carers and more.

The surgery will be CLOSED for BANK HOLIDAY on: 

• Monday 27th December (Christmas Day Substitute)
• Tuesday 28th December (Boxing Day Substitute)

So please make sure you:

• Stock up on your regular medications
• Order repeat prescriptions in plenty of time
• If you need oxygen, make sue you have an adequate supply 

Click here to see pharmacy opening times during the Bank Holiday.

If you need urgent medical attention during the holiday period, call your normal surgery number and you will be directed to the out-of-hours service - 111

If you require health information or advice you can also:

Log on to NHS Choices online at www.nhs.uk

They will help you get you the right treatment.

Thursday 24th December

The practice has been made aware that some people have received fraudulent calls and text messages offering the COVID-19 vaccination.

The scammers are sadly targeting the most vulnerable members of our community.

People have either been asked to press a number on their keypad or to send a text message to confirm they want to receive the vaccine. Doing so is likely to result in a charge being applied to their phone bill. In other cases, people are being called and offered the vaccine for a fee and the caller is asking for bank details. 

Please familiarise yourself with the information below to reduce the risk of being scammed.

The vaccine is only available from the NHS for free and you will be contacted you when it is your turn. If members of our team call you to offer an appointment, we will only ask you to confirm your name, address or date of birth to confirm your identity over the phone. We will never ask for bank details. 

The NHS will:

• NEVER ask you to press a button on your keypad or send a text asking you to confirm you want the vaccine.
• NEVER ask for payment for the vaccine or for your bank details.

Saturday 19th December

On Saturday we successfully held our first COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Gibson Lane Practice. A big thank you to our lovely team members who volunteered their time this weekend to protect the most vulnerable members of our community. We are excited to continue this important work moving forward. 
Reminder: Please do not call the surgery about the vaccination as patients will be contacted directly to arrange an appointment. For more information about the vaccine follow this link.

Message for all patients

We are currently experiencing an extraordinary number of calls to the surgery.  In the hopes of reducing waiting times to speak to a receptionist please can we ask that, if your call is not urgent, you consider using our online e-consult service. Click here to be taken to the homepage.  More information about eConsult can be found on the ‘how to make an appointment’ page of this website. For minor ailments please use the NHS choices website or speak with your local pharmacist for advice.  We must triage our capacity for our most vulnerable patients and those patients needing urgent care.  Thank you for your patience in these most difficult times and we assure you that every member of our team is, as always, working hard to deliver excellent patient care.

The surgery is still here for all our patients who need urgent care and we strongly recommend that if you have any new, worrying and unexplained symptoms you do call us.

Many thanks

The doors to our surgeries are still closed to minimise the numbers of patients in practice at any given time. We have intercom systems installed which allow you to speak to reception from outside. Please note the intercom is only to be used if you have an appointment, have been invited into practice by a clinician or have a sample/prescription request to drop off. All other queries need to be directed to our phone lines, email or our online consultation service eConsult. This is to protect your data and reduce queues at the doors.

Please use the following contact numbers to call us between 8am and 6pm:

Oulton Medical Centre - 0113 282 2138

Marsh Street Surgery - 0113 282 1571

Swillington Health Practice - 0113 287 1444

Patients can email the following address (please note this is not appropriate for anything urgent) - oulton.marshstreet@nhs.net

eConsult is still available to use also. Follow this link to find the homepage. Tell us about your health concerns, request a callback and send us your administrative requests. Once on the homepage, follow the appropriate links and you will be asked to fill out a guided form. This is sent directly and securely to us. You do not need to make an account or remember any passwords either. eConsult is a great way to get in touch with us about non-urgent issues without having to wait in a phone queue. It can be used between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. We will action your submission in the appropriate way by the end of the following working day. 

CUES is a new service which has launched in Leeds to help people access urgent and emergency eyecare. The service is free to access for all patients and will predominantly be delivered over the phone or via a video consultation. 

Examples of when it is appropriate to access this service:

If you have any of the above symptoms you can visit the Primary Eyecare website to find which local optician is taking part in CUES. Or, ring your optician or GP, when your optician or GP is closed you can call NHS 111 (you can access NHS 111 online www.111.nhs.uk), they will assess the situation and if needed you will be referred into CUES. For further information about the service please see the youtube video below.

Coronavirus has led to a number of changes for our practice but we’re very much open and seeing patients.
To help keep everyone safe and to minimise the risk of infection, we’re currently doing most consultations by phone or video; however, if we need to see you, then we will ask you to come to the surgery or arrange a home visit.
We’re also carrying out routine and preventative care such as cervical screening tests, children’s immunisations and reviews for people with existing health conditions. If you receive a reminder about any of these, please make an appointment – you’ll be seen in a safe environment.
When you book an appointment, we will ask you a set of questions to make sure you don’t have symptoms associated with coronavirus, including a new continuous cough, loss or change of sense of smell or taste and a high temperature.
If you do have symptoms, you must self-isolate for 10 days, only leaving home to get tested. – visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or call NHS 119 to book an appointment at your nearest centre.
Anyone living with you will need to stay at home for 14 days. If your symptoms are serious, or get worse, contact NHS 111 and they will advise you what to do.
If you need to order medication, please ring the surgery or order it online.

We are dealing with all other requests as fast as we can, but please bear with us if some of these take a little longer than usual.
For the latest Covid-19 advice please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.

Please continue to maintain a 2 metre distance from others and follow signs at all times when attending the surgery.

Patients MUST speak to a receptionist using the intercom system on our main doors before entering the practice. Images can be found below under the title - 'What To Expect When You Visit Us'

Please arrive as close to your appointment time as possible to avoid unnecessary waiting in the surgery.

Staff at Dr Freeman & Partners are taking advantage of a new resource to make it easier for our patients to access trusted health information and guidance remotely.

As part of the COVID-19 response, NHSX (a joint unit bringing together teams from the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement) have secured free access for NHS staff and patients to an online Health and Care Video Library of over 600 simple and easy to follow information videos.

The clinically assured content has been produced to cover a range of topics and conditions in an easily accessible format, providing an alternative to written health information.

Example topics include:

• Diabetes
• Healthy Living and Diet
• Maternity
• Inhaler Use and Breathing Problems

We are happy to share this resource with our patients and hope to use the content to enhance the support we provide and that they/you will find it helpful to access the simple and visual health information at any time.

To view the Health and Care Video Library

Visit www.healthandcarevideos.uk or search for ‘Health and Care Videos’ in your app store to download the app version (available on Android and iOS)

If you haven't visited us since lockdown began, the practice will likely look a bit different. The main difference is that with strict social distancing guidelines in place, we have floor markers, posters and signs up all over the practice to help you know where to stand or sit during your time with us. Please follow these markers as closely as you can as well as respecting other patients and staff in the building by giving them plenty of space.  

We are still trying to perform most of our work online or over the telephone but if you are invited into practice for an appointment this is what you will be asked to do:

• Please arrive at your given appointment time. We are doing everything we can to reduce wait times and you can help us with this by doing your best to arrive on time. 
• Once you arrive, please use the intercom system at the main doors to speak to reception and they will be able to let you in. 
• We ask that you wear a face covering on entering the building - follow this link for guidance on how to make a cloth face covering at home.
• While waiting for your appointment please sit with plenty of distance from other patients. 

Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe

Monday 18th May 2020

From today, all individuals should self-isolate if they develop a new continuous cough, fever or anosmia (a loss of or change to your normal sense of smell). Anosmia has been recognised in recent data as a prevelant symptom of COVID-19. 

You can visit the official NHS webpage for Coronavirus here for more information.