Update for Patients July 2021
We are open (and have been open) for face to face appointments throughout the pandemic. We are however working differently to how we were before March 2020.
We will continue to ask all staff and visitors to wear face coverings when they attend the surgery this is to help protect all from the virus particularly sick, vulnerable and immunosuppressed patients.
We are currently using a different entrance to our surgery. We are using a rear entrance to the surgery (through main car park, towards rear of Marks and Spencer, you will see our staff car park, our rear entrance is to the right hand side of the building. Please ring bell for assistance.
We are doing this to help maintain safety for patients and staff, screening temperature checks and brief questions will be asked before entry to the building is permitted. Our reception seating area is small and we cannot safely accommodate large numbers of patients whilst adhering to social distance guidelines. You may be asked to leave by a different entrance when you have attended your appointment.
For appointment requests our preferred route is for you to submit and eConsult via our website, see link below.
If you cannot request access via our on-line platform eConsult our receptionist will assist you with this over the telephone, please note the increasing number of patients choosing to request access over the telephone has led to increase in queues and waiting times for calls to be answered. An eLite triage template can take up to 10 minutes per patient to process.
If you cannot do either of these options and attend the surgery instead, then we will assist you in completing a triage template. Please be patient as this may take some time; the receptionist will need to call a colleague to assist you and you may have a wait until the colleague is free.
We will continue to ask you to request your prescriptions electronically either via our website or by email warccg.prescriptionsteam@nhs.net
or you can post your request in the box on the gate to our staff car park. You can collect your prescriptions direct from pharmacy (we will send your prescription electronically to the pharmacy of your choice).
We will also ask you to submit admin queries via eConsult, see link below. If you cannot do this, we will assist you at the back door reception but you may have to wait a while for additional assistance.
When we are closed please call NHS 111 for advice. In an emergency call 999.
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NHS App
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/nhs-app-guidance-for-gp-practices/covid-19-vaccination-status
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/nhs-app-guidance-for-gp-practices/nhs-covid-pass
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/demonstrating-your-covid-19-vaccination-status-when-travelling-abroad
EConsult can be used for getting advice to help yourself/advice from pharmacy or advice from your GP or Clinical team. eConsult request for advice from GP can be submitted Monday to Friday 8am to 6.30pm. During our out of hours 6.30pm to 8am Monday to Friday and from 6.30pm Friday until 8am Monday you can gain advice to help yourself or for advice from pharmacy. If you require urgent assistance when we are closed please call 111 or 999 if an emergency.
Clinical eConsults will be responded to by 6.30pm the next working day. This could by text from our Assistant Practitioner with further information to help your condition/advice to visit local pharmacist or offer of telephone consultation with GP or Nurse Practitioner as appropriate for your condition.
GP surgeries everywhere are dealing with high demand because of the COVID pandemic. Many surgeries have had to make urgent requests a priority. Please use the correct eConsult template for your condition.
Please be patient if you have sent in a non-urgent or routine request. Your surgery will contact you as soon as possible. Administration queries will be dealt with within 3 working days. Please do not email the surgery with your query, unfortunately, we do not have capacity in our staffing numbers to deal with increase in email traffic. Your best route is via the eConsult admin tab.
Do not use eConsult to contact your surgery about the COVID vaccine. The NHS will contact you when it's your turn..
Video featuring local GPs urges people not to delay seeking treatment for any health concerns
COVID-19 - AZ Vaccination Guide
Covid Vaccination Programme update 27.4.2021
Our service is providing vaccinations to people in cohorts 1-9 and this will continue.
We are continuing to book in people in cohorts 1-9 who have not yet been vaccinated for their first dose and we will carry on doing this to make sure that no-one is left behind.
People in cohorts 1 - 9 who haven’t had a first dose yet should contact the practice now for a first dose appointment.
We will be able to give the second dose to everyone who has had their first dose of the vaccine with us and we will continue to invite people for their second dose when this is due.
We will not be providing a vaccination service for people aged 18 to 49 when they become eligible. We were set up as a service for cohorts 1-9 only and there are a wide range of alternative local options for people who are due to be vaccinated next.
If you are in this younger cohort, you will be able to get your vaccination at other local vaccination services including hospital hubs, community pharmacies and larger vaccination centres
When you become eligible, you will be able to book your vaccine and choose a local service through the national booking service at www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination or by phoning 119. or https://warrington.nhsbookings.com/v2/
Other services in this area have sufficient capacity to be able to vaccinate everyone who is eligible when it is their turn.
The sender ID will be SHMC
CALLING ALL VETERANS
We are trying to identify patients who are military veterans. Did you serve for at least one day as either a Regular or Reservist in the British Armed Forces? Then please inform the practice either speak to our receptionist or email warccg.stocktonheathadmin@nhs.net
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/military-healthcare/priority-nhs-treatment-for-veterans/
In accordance with GP contract 2019, we have now stopped using our fax machines.
We will send correspondence by secure nhs.net mail.
We will send and receive documents via a secure NHS mail;
For General enquiries:
warccg.StocktonHeathMC@nhs.net
For prescription queries/orders please use
warccg.prescriptionsteam@nhs.net
My Life Warrington website gives information about what is available in Warrington for the following topics. Health and Wellbeing, Support for Carers and Child Care. Our Patient Advisors will use this site to help navigate you to services to give you extra support.
https://www.mylifewarrington.co.uk/kb5/warrington/directory/home.page
Referal to secondary care or community care
NHS England, BMA and N.A.P.P have provided a new patient information leaflet to explain what happens when a patient is referred to a specialist/consultant and what the process is with regards medication and fit to work notes when under the care of the specialist/consultant. See the link below:
Click below to read patient information about what we prescribe in Warrington.......
General Data Protection
Data Protection - Your Personal Data is Safe
We are aware that recent events highlighted in the media concerning sharing your personal data may have left you confused and worried.
This has led to a rise in the number of queries asking us who we actually share your personal data with, do we have the rights to and can we trust these external organisations to look after your personal data.
We would like to assure you that as a practice we take your personal data very seriously and we have certain processes in place to make sure your personal data is in safe hands at all times.
As a practice we must adhere to UK Data Protection laws, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, both pieces of legislation are around to make sure we look after your data. Where we do not follow any part of the Data Protection laws we are at risk of being investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO) on your behalf, and possibly being issued with a fine or warning. The ICO is an independent advisory body who report directly to Parliament and make sure your rights around your personal data are protected.
To help us keep on track and make sure we abide by these laws we complete something called the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) that incorporates the laws. It helps us measure how we are doing and keeps us in line with the law and we are required to complete this annually.
There will be times when we have to share your personal data with external organisations / companies in order to provide you with the care you need. However, we only do this where we need to, where we have a legal reason to do so and when we are happy they will continue to safeguard your personal data. An example would be the Clinical IT system we use that holds your medical records, this is supplied by an IT company who will host your personal data to enable us to use the system.
In any event where we share your personal data we will conduct the necessary Data Protection checks with the external organisation. Like us, they are required by data protection law to provide us with relevant assurances that any personal data we share with them will remain secure. Under the UK GDPR they are required to provide us with documents to assure us and this will include contracts which must include UK GDPR clauses. If an organisation does not process your personal data in line with law they too will be investigated by the ICO.
We cannot share your personal data without a legal basis, which means we cannot give your personal data to anyone ‘just because’ they want it. The UK GDPR sets out 6 legal bases we can use, the most common one you would have heard of is ‘consent.’ Consent is not often used in healthcare and where we are using your personal data for direct care, it just would not work and the UK GDPR recognise this so we apply a legal basis called ‘public tasks.’ Public tasks covers the use of personal data where it relates to either being in the interest of the patients care or the public interest. This means that we do not need to ask for your consent, although we are obliged to be open and transparent with your personal data which we do via our Privacy Notice (insert link).
We certainly will not sell your personal data to anyone.
When we share your personal data we need to abide by the UK GDPR principles, one of which is called ‘data minimisation’ – this means we can legally only share what is relevant and necessary for the task.
Finally along with completing the DSPT (as mentioned above) where we have any data protection concerns or need advice we have a dedicated Information Governance team who are on hand to guide us through the do’s and don’ts.
I hope this information has provided you with assurance that we take the necessary steps to make sure your personal data is safe when in our care and that where we share your personal data we do so only if the law allows us to.
Thank you
Patient Privacy Notice
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/e-referral-service/document-library/privacy-statement---nhs-e-referral-service
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/gp-privacy-notice
Make your choice about sharing data from your health records - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Privacy Notice - GP connect South Warrington Network
General Practice Transparency Notice for GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19)
Prescription Collection
On 25th May 2018 General Data Protection Regulations are changed and Stockton Heath Medical Centre will be breaching these regulations if we give your prescription to someone without your permission.
If you want to delegate responsibility to another person (including a pharmacy) to pick up your prescription speak to your local pharmacy to arrange this service.
Important points of note:
- You can withdraw permission at any time by informing the Surgery and the Pharmacy.
- Some pharmacies no longer pick up paper prescriptions for patients.
- Your prescription can be automatically sent to a pharmacy so no one has to pick it up from the GP surgery (dependent on medications).
Collecting letters/Fit to Work notes/copies of blood forms/results:
We will ask you to provide proof of your ID when you collect the paperwork and we log this on your medical record. If you are asking someone else to collect on your behalf, you will need to let us know the name of the person and ask them to bring proof of ID with them.
CQC Focused Inspection July 2018
CQC Follow up Inspection March 2017
CQC report February 2016
(Site updated 30/07/2021)