What is a First Contact Practitioner? Roger Explains All...

Roger is a qualified and very experienced Physiotherapist who is working with us as a First Contact Practitioner (FCP). In this role he will be seeing people with new joint and muscular pains and problems. Whether it be muscular strains or hip/knee/ankle/neck/back/shoulder or elbow pains, it is possible to book in with Roger in the first instance. As well as having a wealth of experience, he is able to refer to appropriate services such as physiotherapy or the local specialist Musculoskeletal service. He is also able to refer for investigations such as scans.

Roger will be working with us on Tuesdays, and appointments can be booked via Reception.

To help us better understand, Roger has kindly put together a video for us below:

New Flu Vaccine Clinics Available - Book Now - Especially if Aged 50-64! 💉💉

DON’T DELAY, BOOK TODAY!

We have had new deliveries of flu vaccine so it now means we have new clinics available for you to book.

All appointments are now available to book online - please visit ONLINE SERVICES for help on using our online services, but of course you can still call if needed. The easiest way to book is via the NHS App.

And don’t forget, all adults aged 50-64 are eligible for the vaccine this year.

The new dates are as follows:

• Saturday 27th November - Age 65 and over

• Sunday 28th November - Age 64 and under

• Saturday December 4th - Age 64 and under

• Sunday December 5th - age 64 and under

To find out if you are eligible for the Flu vaccine please visit NHS.uk

Looking For a New Opportunity? Why Not Consider Being An On-call Firefighter? 🔥🔥

Warwickshire County Council are supporting our local Fire Service in recruiting On-Call Firefighters.

This maybe a great opportunity for some.

According to Warwickshire County Council:

“Warwickshire residents are being encouraged to consider gaining news skills by becoming on-call firefighters.

These firefighters commit to a number of hours of firefighting where they are available to be called out to incidents and people usually combine these roles with other jobs. On-call firefighters must live within five minutes of the station they serve and are called upon as needed throughout their shifts. On-call firefighters provide an invaluable service in protecting communities in Warwickshire.

Councillor Andy Crump, Portfolio Holder for Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service and Community Safety at Warwickshire County Council said: “With a rise in working from home and agile working, we anticipate that more people in Warwickshire may have the option of combining on-call firefighting with their current careers and this is an excellent time for them to join Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service. It’s a role that anyone that meets the initial entrance criteria can apply for and on-call firefighting is a brilliant way to learn new skills while serving your local community.  If you’re working from home and considering a change in your working life then this could be of interest to you.”

Prospective recruits must be aged 18 and over, a team player, passionate about serving the community and willing to pick up new skills. They will receive an extensive training of course and be expected to attend a drill night once a week. Candidates do not need any prior qualifications to apply for the role and anyone who considers themselves willing to work on their fitness and new skills should apply. On-call firefighters receive an annual wage plus additional payments for attending drill nights and incidents.”

— Warwickshire County Council Website

New Local Data Sharing Agreement

We will soon be joining hospitals, social care providers and GP practices in the area in implementing the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Record (ICR). This is a way of bringing together all your separate records from the different organisations involved in your health and social care. It will let health and social care professionals see relevant information about the care and treatment you’ve had across all services.

For more information, please:

• visit the Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership’s website at https://www.happyhealthylives.uk/integrated-care-record/

• Or click to view a document which provides further explanation

• Or see the video below

If you do not want your information to be shared in this way, please email:

collaborative.care.record@nhs.net or call 0345 6461163.

Please note, the ICR is different to anything you might have said no to before. So, if you don’t want your records to be available to view through the ICR, you’ll need to object.

World Antibiotic Awareness Week: 18th -24th November 2021

This week is World Antibiotic Awareness Week!

Antibiotics are essential for treating infections in both animals and humans but they are losing their effectiveness at an increasing rate.

Antibiotic Resistance

Bacteria can adapt and find ways to survive the effects of antibiotics, they become resistant and no longer work. The more you use an antibiotic the more bacteria become resistant to it.

How does this effect me?

The Public Health Campaign Video and their web page details the risks associated with overuse of antibiotics, please do take a read.

Routine treatments such as setting bones, basic operations and even chemotherapy all rely on antibiotics working, these will become increasingly dangerous should the bacteria become resistant to antibiotics.

What can I do?

• Ask your pharmacist to recommend medicines to help treat cold or flu symptoms or pain

• Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed, never save them for later, never share them with others

• Spread the word, tell your friends and family about antibiotic resistance

• Read this leaflet to learn how to look after yourself and your family.

Now a few words from our Dr Ramadani about the use of antibiotics:

“It is so important that we use antibiotics wisely, and it is widely understood that antibiotics are frequently given for viral infections, against which they offer no benefit.

When you see your GP with symptoms of an infection, your GP will be trying to judge the probability that your infection is due to a bacteria or a virus, and therefore whether antibiotics will offer any benefit. We do this very carefully and we respect our responsibility in controlling antibiotic prescriptions. The more antibiotics we prescribe, the more chance we have of developing antibiotic resistance. And the more we have antibiotic resistance, the more chance people will die from infections that we cannot treat. And as GP’s we do often see evidence of antibiotic resistance in our daily work. In addition, we do see frequent side effects from antibiotic use, such as diarrhoea, vomiting, rashes and thrush.

But of course, antibiotics remains really important in treating those who suffer serious illness due to bacterial infections.
”

— Dr Ramadani, GP

Welcome Aimee... 👏👏

We have an outstanding Administration Team at St Wulfstan.

And as we continue to grow, we need more outstanding members of staff, as such we are really happy to welcome Aimee to the team.

“Hello! I’m Aimee, and I feel privileged to say that I am the newest member of the Admin team at St Wulfstan Surgery. I have an extensive history in administration and prestigious customer care, and having experienced first-hand the exemplary care that St Wulfstan provides to their patients I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be part of such an incredible team. Outside of work, I love long walks with the dog exploring the local area and spending days baking up a storm with my little boy.”

— Aimee

Welcome to Our Reception Team Maria

We are really happy to welcome Maria to our fantastic Reception Team!

Now a few words from Maria:

“ Hello, I’m Maria and I am so happy be part of the amazing Reception team here at St Wulfstan Surgery. After being a patient here myself, I knew I was joining an outstanding doctors surgery and a friendly group of people. 

Outside work, I enjoy being outside, walking the dog,  going to the cinema and generally being creative with a range of craft activities. 

 I am looking forward to meeting and talking to all our wonderful patients. ”

— Maria

Job Alert: Receptionist Needed

We are recruiting for a part time receptionist to join our friendly team.

The successful candidate will work as part of team delivering our front of house services, this includes opening and closing, booking appointments, processing repeat prescriptions and samples. We are looking for a new recruit to join us, working 16 hours a week.

For further information and how to apply please click here or here

Closing date is 12th November 2021

Happy Diwali 2021

Happy Diwali and Bhandi Chor Divas to all our patients. Wishing you all good health and happiness!

Dr Viswa shares with us some tips on how to enjoy the festivities:

Diwali (Festival of Lights) symbolises the triumph of good over evil. As a community, we have responsibility to celebrate it in a safe and green way.

• Make Rangoli with flowers, turmeric and rice flour to make it chemical free and beautiful.

• Be considerate towards pets and elderly when doing fireworks as unexpected loud noises can cause fear and anxiety. Low noise fireworks are very popular this year and they are the quietest fireworks with same visual effects and colour but no loud noises.

• Do remember the fire risks and do not to leave the candles or oil lamps unattended and never place them near curtains/decorations.

• Traditional Diyas (oil lamps) are made of clay and are environment friendly.

• Switch to healthy versions of sweets with nuts, millets and jaggery instead of refined sugar. Avoiding food wastage is vital to save our planet.

• Say ‘No’ to plastic cutlery and plates and opt for reusable plates or biodegradable compostable plates like bamboo for guests.

• Organic/eco gifts like indoor plants and buying local would make valuable gifts and help our community small businesses. Avoid wrapping gifts in shiny plastic coated papers instead use fabric/recycled paper.

Finally, it is important to wear masks in gatherings and do regular lateral flow tests to protect yourself and others during the current pandemic.

Everyone from St Wulfstan’s surgery are wishing you all a very happy Green Diwali 2021.

Dr Viswa

International Stress Awareness Day 2021 😞

Stress, It affects us all. November 3rd is officially National Stress Awareness Day.

To help, Mental Health UK have kindly put together some really useful videos with tips and advice on how to better manage stress.

You can see the clips by visiting their website.

We have a fantastic local service If you are personally affected by stress and anxiety that can offer help and support. The local service can be accessed by visiting our local IAPT website, where you can self-refer for further help. And of course, you are welcome to speak to one of our GP’s if needed.

Op-Courage: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service

Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service

The first call for help takes courage. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health or wellbeing, expert help is available from Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service.

If you’re due to leave the Armed Forces, just left the Armed Forces or left many years ago, Op COURAGE is here to help. You will be able to speak to people who:

• understand the Armed Forces and military life

• are either from the Armed Forces community or highly experienced in working with Serving personnel, Reservists, Veterans and their families

• will work with you to make sure you get the right type of specialist care, support, and treatment.

The service can be contacted directly by yourself or you can ask your GP, a charity or someone else, such as a family member or friend, to do this on your behalf.

What will happen when you contact Op COURAGE

To make sure you get the right care and support, you will first have an assessment by someone who understands the specific needs of the Armed Forces community.

The service offers a range of treatment, which includes:

• working with Defence Medical Services to make sure you get mental health care and support as you transition from the military to civilian life

• recognising the early signs of mental health problems and providing care and treatment for this

• therapeutic treatment for more advanced mental health conditions and psychological trauma

• intensive emergency care and treatment if you’re in a crisis

• helping you to access other NHS services if needed, such as ‘Improving access to psychological therapies’ (IAPT) and eating disorder services

• working with charities and local organisations to support you with your wider health and wellbeing needs, such as housing, relationships, finances, employment, drug and alcohol misuse and social support.

For more information, visit the NHS website at www.nhs.uk/opcourage

For the Midlands Call 0300 323 0137 or email mevs.mhm@nhs.net

Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service is the new name for the Veterans’ Mental Health Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS), Veterans’ Mental Health Complex Treatment Service (CTS) and Veterans’ Mental Health High Intensity Service (HIS). The new name has been developed following feedback from veterans and their families to make it easier for those leaving the military and veterans to find help.

Flu Vaccine - New Clinics Added 💉

The vaccination programme has been more challenging this year, as national supplies are limited. This has meant we have to setup clinics at short notice, according to the supply of vaccines which we are given. Fortunately deliveries are due to continue into December.

We have had a further delivery of flu vaccines which means we have new clinics available on:

• Saturday 23rd October

• Saturday 27th November

• Sunday 28th November

We anticipate being able to add more clinics depending on further deliveries of vaccine.

If you are eligible for the flu vaccine, but have not yet had your vaccine then please feel free to book! This is best done online, but you can also book by calling reception.

To find out if you are eligible for the Flu vaccine please visit NHS.uk

New Flu Vaccine Clinics Added - 23rd October! 💉👍👍

Thank you to all of our patients who have had their Flu Vaccine to date, we are making great progress!

Just a reminder, everyone aged 50+ is eligible for the vaccine this year.

We have setup new clinics on Saturday 23rd October throughout the day.

If you are eligible for the flu vaccine, but have not yet had your vaccine then please feel free to book! This is best done online, but you can also book by calling reception. Please not that in rare circumstances the time of your appointment may need to change, and if this is the case you will get a text message with a revised time but we will try to avoid the need to do this where possible, and you can always let us know if this is not convenient for you.

To find out if you are eligible for the Flu vaccine please visit NHS.uk

Which COVID Test?

It is really important to know which COVID test to use and when, so we thought it would be useful to point out when to use which test.

Lateral Flow tests are rapid tests, used at home, when you don’t have any symptoms of COVID. They help confirm you are not an asymptomatic carrier of COVID. But because of their lack of sensitivity, a negative lateral flow test is not sufficient to exclude COVID infection once you have symptoms. In other words, a negative Lateral Flow Test does not mean you don’t have COVID if you have symptoms. Recent studies have suggested that the sensitivity of the lateral flow test in people with symptoms is 72%, which means it would only pickup 72 infected people out of 100, which means it would miss 28 infected people.

PCR tests can be done at home or in a test centre, and need to be sent back to a laboratory. This test is the one you need to use when you do have symptoms of COVID-19, because they are more accurate.

So, if you have symptoms of COVID then a Lateral Flow Test is not sufficient and you will need to arrange a PCR test.

To book a PCR test please visit the NHS website or call 119.

COVID Booster Vaccine Update 💉💉

We have been informed that the COVID Vaccine Booster program is due to commence from Southam Clinic from Thursday 7th October.

Eligible patients will receive a text message in due course inviting them to book an appointment. Please be patient as messages will likely be staggered according to vaccine supply.

Please also be aware that you can only have your booster vaccine if your second vaccine was more than 6 months ago.

The booster is available to the following people:

• people aged 50 and over

• people who live and work in care homes

• frontline health and social care workers

• people aged 16 and over with a health condition that puts them at high risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19

• carers aged 16 and over

• people aged 16 and over who live with someone who is more likely to get infections (such as someone who has HIV, has had a transplant or is having certain treatments for cancer, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis)

For more details on the booster program please visit NHS.uk

Please note - we are continuing to deliver Flu vaccines from the Surgery. We still have appointments available, so please book online if you have not yet had your Flu vaccine.