CORONA VIRUS INFORMATION 13/03/2020
IF YOU ARE UNWELL AND SUSPECT YOU HAVE CORONAVIRUS/OR HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO IT
PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE SURGERY
TELEPHONE NHS 111
Due to current issues with corona virus and current government advice we have put a plan in place for DeWinton Field Practice @ Tonypandy Health Centre.
It is imperative that we reduce unnecessary visits to the surgery and reduce foot fall in the building to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to our patient population who are most vulnerable.
These actions are in place to protect you and others from coming into contact with the virus and to reduce the transmission of the virus to vulnerable people.
We already have advice signs in place at the entrance of the surgery.
Please adhere to the information provided.
If you are unwell with cough, sore throat, have a fever or any history of exposure to an infected person or have had recent travel to a high risk country, then you must not enter the building and you should contact NHS 111 services from a mobile phone or ring NHS direct on 08454647 or Public Health on 0300 0030032.
Please do not make unnecessary visits to the surgery (e.g. collecting prescriptions, making appointments, general queries) and contact via telephone if in any doubt or you have queries.
Our plan is as follows:
GP Appointments
Routine booked appointments have been cancelled and converted to telephone consultations.
We have suspended pre-bookable appointments for the time being.
Any requests for appointments will be dealt with by a GP via telephone triage. We hope that most problems can be dealt with over the phone but if necessary we will see patients in the surgery only if they have been triaged first. This will be assessed on a case by case basis.
Med 3 certificates (Sick notes) can be done over the phone and posted to individuals.
Please bear in mind that we serve a patient population in excess of 9,000 patients currently and we will have an unusually large volume of telephone calls during this period, therefore it may take longer to deal with all queries.
Nurse/HCA/Blood test Appointments
All routine bloods have been cancelled. We will continue to do necessary blood tests such as drug monitoring and INR, and any other blood investigations deemed necessary.
All routine BPs/ ECGs/Smears/non–urgent investigations have been suspended.
Oral contraceptive prescriptions can be dealt with over the phone via GP/nurse.
We will continue depot contraceptive services.
Diabetic/ Asthma and COPD reviews will be undertaken over the phone by the nurses.
Prescriptions
Please do not come to collect any prescriptions from the practice building.
Acute and repeat prescriptions will be delivered to your nominated pharmacy.
If you do not have a nominated pharmacy your prescription will be delivered to Shepards or Wells Pharmacy according to your surname;
A - L Shepperds Tonypandy
M - Z Wells Tonypandy
All medication reviews booked with the pharmacist have been cancelled and will be converted to telephone reviews.
Home Visits
We will continue to telephone triage our home visits as normal, however our threshold for visiting patients at home will have to be increased.
We will aim to manage most problems over the phone.
Please do not request for the GP to visit unless this is absolutely necessary.
This situation is constantly changing and we are receiving more information day by day.
Some of our plans may change as the days pass due to guidance given to us from the Local Health Board and from Public Health Wales.
We will endeavour to update this information as often as possible or if there are any new developments.
In the meantime, we would be grateful if you could persist with the practice and the inconveniences that this will inevitably cause. We are doing our best to keep everyone as safe as we can by following guidance and taking necessary precautions.
Dr Williams, Dr Pitrola and Dr Davies on behalf of
De Winton Field Practice