Dr Sophie Douglas is stepping down as a GP Partner, but we are pleased to say she will remain with us as a salaried GP.

Dr Douglas will now work Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon. She will no longer hold a patient list.

All patients currently registered with Dr Douglas will be transferred to Dr Hannah Hill by the end of February.

We kindly ask that you bear with us during this transition period.

Please don’t hesitate to speak to us if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you.

NHMP

Dr. John Nabbs has sadly left New Horizons Medical Partnership. He has taken up a position nearer to home.

Dr. Nabbs' patients will be informed that they are being moved on a permanent basis to another GP within the practice.

We wish Dr. Nabbs well for the future.

Thank you,

NHMP Partners

Yesterday (10th August), you may have received a text message from us regarding this autumns flu vaccinations... This message was for information purposes only. Once the details have been finalised we will send another message with details on how you can book your vaccination with us. Please do not call the surgery for more information at this time. Thank you for your patience and understanding! 

 Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight CCG is currently reviewing ENT services in Hampshire.  If you have used Ear Nose and Throat services in the past five years we would like to hear about your experience. 

Please complete this survey https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/HSICCGENT/ and let us know how it was for you, good, bad or just OK.

There will be opportunities to take part in focus groups in the autumn if you would like to.

NHS Digital use of patient data for Planning or Research

Patient data from GP medical records, stored by GP practices in England is used every day to improve health, care and related services through planning and research, helping to find better treatments and improve patient care. The NHS is introducing an improved way to share this information - called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.

NHS Digital will collect, analyse, publish, and share this patient data to improve health and care services for everyone, including your individual health care needs. This includes:

• informing and developing health and social care policy
• planning and commissioning health and care services
• taking steps to protect public health (including managing and monitoring the coronavirus pandemic)
• in exceptional circumstances, providing you with individual care
• enabling healthcare and scientific research

Any data that NHS Digital collects will only be used for health and care purposes. It is never shared with marketing or insurance companies.

What patient data they collect

This collection will start from 1 September 2021. Patient data will be collected from GP medical records about:

• any living patient registered at a GP
• any patient who died after the data collection started, and was previously registered at a GP practice in England when the data collection started

They will not collect your name or where you live.

Other data that could directly identify you, for example:

• NHS number,
• General Practice Local Patient Number,
• full postcode
• date of birth,

is replaced with unique codes which are produced by de-identification software before the data is shared with NHS Digital.

This process is called pseudonymisation and means that no one will be able to directly identify you in the data.

Opting out of NHS Digital using your data

If you do not wish to have your personal identifiable data to be used to assist the NHS in developing new improved care and treatment in this way, you can Opt Out.

Type 1 Opt Out – This means your individual medical data will not leave the practice.  It will not be shared with NHS Digital or any other organisation except where it is for your individual direct care.

How to apply this – the patient has to inform the practice by way of a form or verbally that they wish to apply a Type 1 Opt Out.

National Data Opt Out – This means that a Patient’s data will be shared with NHS Digital but will not be used for Planning or Research.

How to apply this opt out – The patient must go online to ‘Your Data Matters’ or telephone them to apply their own preferences - 0300 303 5678 . The GP practice cannot do this for you.

A Patient may also

Opt out of having a Summary Care Record - SCR

A Summary Care Record is a minimal data set which is shared by the Practice to create a basic record in NHS Digital. This will be used by other NHS Organisations to provide the patient with individual health care. The record contains important health care information such as current conditions, medication, and allergies. This is important for emergency care.

How to request this – complete form and take in to Practice.

If you wish to have a Type 1 Opt Out applied before the first NHS Digital data collection, you will need to inform your practice by 23^rd August 2021.  You can request any of the opt outs at any time, and your data will not be collected for future data collections.

No Personal Identifiable data is used for Planning or Research.

Further information regarding this topic can be found online – here.

If you would like to help the Ashurst Hospital and Family Health and Wellbeing Centre plan for the future, please click here to view their latest newsletter.

Please click here for further information from local CCGs regarding the proposed CCG reform in Hampshire & Isle of Wight. They give an update on their plans and invite any observations and feedback that you may have.

Important changes to appointment system

You may have noticed that it is becoming more difficult to make an appointment.

This is a national problem and one we are feeling acutely in Totton as we have been unable to replace medical staff who have retired along with unexpected long-term sickness which has been difficult to cover.

This is not a result of the merger, indeed one of the advantages of merger has been patients can now be seen on both sites - Totton Health Centre and Forest Gate Surgery.

Over the last year we have successfully recruited 2 highly qualified doctors as GP Partners and we are continuing to advertise for more GPs. We are still short, and the national shortage of doctors is not going to be resolved in the short to medium term. This means we have not been able to fully replace the doctor time lost and are consequently significantly short of appointments. There are also national shortages of practice nursing staff.

We are determined to continue to offer our patients the level of service they are used to and have chosen to embrace new ways of working to achieve this. We are going to employ a variety of professionals, including Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Paramedics and Pharmacists, and offer a variety of consultations (telephone, online and face to face) to ensure patients continue to have access to timely and appropriate primary health care. 

This is of course a departure from the traditional model of General Practice but we believe that through being innovative and dynamic we can protect and preserve both our surgeries and the care of our patients.

These changes started to come into effect on Monday October 16th and mean that most people needing routine appointments will be seen at our Forest Gate Surgery building and most people needing urgent appointments will be seen at our Totton Health Centre building.

We ask for your support with these changes, please pop into the surgery to collect an information leaflet if you would like to learn more.

A new campaign, Use the Right Service, which helps people access the correct NHS service, has been launched across south west Hampshire and Southampton.

Use the Right Service promotes alternatives to A&E for non-emergencies, such as home care, pharmacies, 111 and Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs), and is designed to support the reduction of pressure on A&E at Southampton General Hospital.

Over the coming months we will be promoting our integrated, cross partner campaign, via radio advertising on Heart FM and Smooth FM, digital and social media updates, street and transport advertising, as well as spreading the message through the distribution channels of local partners, such as GPs, councils, schools, voluntary organisations and community centres.

Use the Right Service has its own website – https://usetherightservice.com/– and has been formed through a collaboration of 10 partners across the region:

·     Care UK

·     Hampshire County Council

·     Partnering Health Limited (PHL)

·     Solent NHS Trust

·     South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

·     Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group

·     Southampton City Council

·     Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

·     University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

·     West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group

As NHS staff we have an important role to play as ‘ambassadors’, to ensure that people access the right NHS service, receive the highest quality care and to ensure that A&E and 999 services are used for those that urgently need them.

Please promote the ‘Use the Right Service’ campaign with colleagues, friends and family. Feel free to follow us on http://www.twitter.com/NHSRightServiceand www.facebook.com/usetherightservice.

New Horizons Medical Partnership has recently received accreditation from the Royal College of General Practitioners as an Armed Forces Veteran Friendly GP practice. 

If you believe yourself to be a military veteran (and remember this is defined as "anyone who has served for at least one day in the Armed Forces, whether regular or reserve") and would like this to be noted in your medical record then please let us know.