The Oaks Surgery

Welcome to the website for

The Oaks Surgery

The Oaks Partnership is not closed, but in the light of the current Coronavirus pandemic we have changed the way we manage our work in order to minimise the risks to our patients and staff.

If you need medical help you should still contact your GP Practice by telephone, or if we are not available use NHS 111 Online or Call 111. If you are told to go to hospital it is important that you go to hospital.

All patients needing a GP appointment are asked to telephone the surgery or use our new Doctorlink online service to arrange a telephone appointment. Patients using Doctor Link will find that their requests forwarded to the GP practice where appropriate. They will then be contacted by a member of the medical team. If appropriate, necessary and safe to do so, they may be offered an appointment to be seen at the Surgery.

If you are worried about COVID-19 symptoms please use the symptom checkers available via Doctor Link or NHS111. If you become breathless, or are you more breathless than usual it is essential you seek medical help on the telephone from your GP or if we are closed from NHS111.

Recognising Heart Attacks, Strokes and Heart Failure during the Coronavirus pandemic and beyond

Latest health guidance regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19)

If you have Coronavirus symptoms, such as:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

STAY AT HOME

Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

Useful information can be found on the

111 coronavirus service

How long to stay at home

if you have coronavirus symptoms, you'll need to stay at home for 7 days
if you live with someone who has symptoms, you'll need to stay at home for 14 days from the day the first person in the home started having symptoms

If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days. If you have to stay at home together, try to keep away from each other as much as possible.

Guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as high risk from COVID-19

Please note, those in this extremely vulnerable group have now received letters letting them know they are in this group. The government is currently dvising patients in this group to shield until 30th June 2020.

In addition to High Risk patients, there are also vulnerable patients who may require help with shopping or prescriptions. Please do contact us if you require help if you cannot get out to the shops. We can help put you in contact with Volunteer Responders that be able to help with shopping or collecting prescriptions. Alternatively, patients may self refer online or by telephoning 0808 196 3382. Swanley Council are also offering a telephone number for vulnerable people to contact who may need help, cannot leave the house and do not have support in place - please call 01322 665855

Sickness/MED3 certificates for patients self-isolating

Practices are being inundated with requests for Med 3 certificates from patients that are self-isolating due to Covid 19. We have been advised that patients should contact NHS 111 Online and follow the instructions to obtain a self-isolation notice which can be given to employers.

Visit NHS 111 Online or call NHS 111 for further advice; follow the guidance from the NHS and Public Health England and information on what you need to know.

The Oaks Partnership would like to invite you to join DoctorLink

We have been looking at how we can improve access to Practice services; DoctorLink is our new online service where you can access advice, arrange telephone appointments and request fitness notes online.

Registration is simple and you can register here.

For all urgent appointments, we ask that you undertake a symptom assessment through DoctorLink.

The symptom checker will ask you a number of questions to help to identify your problem. The outcome of your assessment will direct you to the right treatment, whether emergency care, your GP, nurse or self-care. If your outcome indicates that an appointment is required, you simply click on the request appointment link.

Once the request has been submitted, you will then be contacted by the Practice Team, to arrange a telephone appointment within the identified timeframe (as outlined in the outcome of your symptom checker).

The information you provide will be shared with our clinical team (where appropriate) and will assist in providing robust information of your problem to the required clinical team member prior to your appointment.

You can even download the App:

Other useful information in relation to COVID-19/Coronavirus

Guidance on Social Distancing

Useful activities and links whilst staying at home

Useful digital resources for Public Health in Kent

One You Kent: information and guidance for healthy lifestyle choices, with a selection of free Apps and support offered via telephone;
Live Well Kent: online & telephone mental and physical health support service;
Your Sexual Health Matters: sexual health information, access to condoms and STI online testing;
Health Visiting Service - contacts for Kent Health Visitors.
VitaMinds is your local NHS talking therapies service, known as IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies). It is a free service. We all experience times when we feel like we can’t cope, sometimes this can start to affect our everyday lives and prevent us from doing the things we normally do. VitaMinds can help. If you are over 17 and a half and live in Dartford, Gravesham, Swanley and Swale they can support you and provide you with the tools you need to get things back on track. Please call on 0333 0153 495 or you can self-refer online. One of the therapists will take the time to talk with you about what’s concerning you and provide you with the best options and next steps that can help. The initial appointments will be offered by telephone.
Supporting children and young people’s mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic
For people of all ages needing immediate mental health support, just text the word “Kent” or “Medway” to 85258. This is a new 24/7 text service provided by SHOUT and the Crisis Text Line as part of the Kent and Medway Release the Pressure campaign.

Are you a carer? Go to our carers page for further information.

#kenttogether

A 24 hour helpline, called Kent Together, has been set up to support vulnerable people in the county who need urgent help, or supplies. Kent County Council is working with all of the local authorities, fire, health and police services to organise help and assistance for the communities and vulnerable people across Kent. If you are vulnerable and have an urgent non-medical need, you can fill in a form at www.kent.gov.uk/KentTogether or call 03000 41 92 92 to request support. It is a 24 hour service.

Your GP cannot test for COVID-19

All GP surgeries have been instructed by NHSE to

a) cancel all routine face to face appointments,

b) switch all appointments to telephone/video consultations

c) if a clinician feels a patient needs a face to face assessment after telephone/video consultation then they will be asked to come in.

If you are seen at the surgery your clinician may need to wear gloves, gown and mask so do not be alarmed.

If you have been tested for Coronavirus (COVID-19), your testing centre is responsible for issuing your results and any subsequent action to you directly. Public Health England have confirmed that the surgery cannot become involved in chasing any results on your behalf, as you need to receive results and any subsequent advice and guidance directly from the testing centre you attended.

Please go do https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-pharmacy/ for local Kent pharmacy opening hours.

Flu Vaccine

Please book at for a flu jab if you are eligible. Everyone aged 65 or older can have a flu jab. Also people of any age who have certain chronic condition such as diabetes, asthma, chronic obstructive airways disease heart disease etc. Children aged 2-4 years are also eligible but this is a nasal spray rather than a needle. people who are very overweight are also eligible.

Telephone System

The telephone system has recently been changed. We are now recording telephone calls for training and quality purposes. There are 4 options on the telephone system - these have changed to make the telephone system easier to use - please listen carefully to the options available. Thank you. Please click here for our privacy notice.

CQC inspection

We have recently been inspected by the CQC and rated GOOD in all areas

MDT meetings - information sharing

We are participating in a local MDT (multidisciplinary team) with other practices and health care organisations in the DGS CCG locality to help improve the care particularly of patients with multiple chronic conditions. In order to work safely and professionally we need to share relevant parts of your medical record at these meetings. These are subect to a confidentially agreement. Please click here for more information.

Carers

Are you a carer? Please let us know, either email us or complete a form at Reception when you visit the practice. We will add you to our carer's register and put you in touch with local services which you may find of use.

Direct access counselling

Feeling low, anxious or stressed? There is now a free direct access counselling service run by Insight. Click here for more details and self-referral form.

Controlled drugs

In line with recent national guidance we are no longer able to process requests for Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs as repeat prescriptions. This includes drugs such as Tramadol and ADHD medications. Please could you request these drugs monthly as non-repeat drugs which means your request will be reviewed by a doctor before issuing the prescription.

GDPR

We have have always taken very seriously our responsibilities for confidentiality and security of your records. The new GDPR legislation which comes into force on 25th May 2018 further strengthens the law in this area. There are two new leaflets for basic information: GDPR patient information, and How we use your records. For more information and to see our 4 privacy notices please see the Policies and information section of this website.

Repeat prescription reordering service

Repeat prescription requests are processed by the NHS Prescription Ordering Direct Service and the practice will no longer take requests for repeat prescriptions from your pharmacy.

You will need to phone the POD service on 0300 131 1100 to order your medicines instead of phoning or visiting your pharmacy to make an order. The POD will arrange for your prescription to be sent electronically to a pharmacy of your choice and dispensed as normal.

From Monday 4^th May the POD service will be changing it’s opening hours to 8am – 5pm.

For your information, their busiest period tends to be on Monday & Tuesday with call volumes reduced significantly from Wednesday onwards. Please bear this in mind when placing orders for your medication.

Patient Services Online

The Oaks Partnership would like to encourage our patients to sign up to our new online services for access to appointments online and even ordering repeat medication. Signing up to our online services, provided by Patient Access, will give patients more choice and flexibility in how they access the practice and allow patient access to services even when we are closed.

Please download a registration form or collect one from reception. You will need to provide proof of address and ID. Repeat prescription ordering will shortly be through Patient Access. You can continue to use the Prescription request form on this website for non-repeat items but will need to provide additional information for each drug requested. We do not currently offer online registrations for under 16 year olds. It is also possible to view a summary of your records if you choose to enable this on registration. You can view allergy and prescription records, your test results and medical history with appropriate consent.

Friends and family test results for March 2020

51 Extremely likely to recommend

25 Likely

2 Neither likely nor unlikely

1 Unlikely

2 Extremely unlikely

1 Don't know

We would like to contact you!

We are hoping to use texts and emails increasingly to contact you instead of letters. Please could you ensure we have your current contact details. If you do not want us to contact you in this way please let us know and we will amend your record appropriately.

Minor surgery

Funding has recently been withdrawn for GP minor surgery cosmetic procedures such as removal of moles where there is no suspicion of cancer. Regrettably this will greatly curtail the service we have been providing. We can still remove lesions where there is repeated infection or bleeding and we would still encourage you to see us if there has been any change in an existing mole