Clinical Issues

Flu Vaccine: Influenza (flu) occurs most often in winter and usually peaks between December and March in the northern hemisphere. . The influenza virus is unstable and new strains and variants are constantly emerging. This is why it is necessary to have the vaccine every year.

For most people influenza infection is just a nasty experience, but for some it can lead to more serious illnesses. The most common complications of influenza are bronchitis and secondary bacterial pneumonia. These illnesses may require treatment in hospital and can be life threatening.

The symptoms of flu are high fever, headache, aching limbs, possibly a cough, runny nose and no energy. They can last up to 1 week and sometimes it can take up to 3 weeks to feel better after a bout of flu.

The flu vaccine is recommended if you are over 65 years or if you have a chronic disease such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease , angina , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, some neurological disorders or if you have lowered immunity due to a serious disease.

The flu vaccine is very effective and you would be very unlikely to get flu if vaccinated. It is also a very safe vaccine, but can sometimes have mild side effects such as a slight temperature and aching muscles for serveral days after vaccination. Only people who are allergic to hens eggs or are pregnant cannot have the vaccine.

Please book your appointment at your earliest convenience.

Staff News

Doctors

We are pleased to announce that Dr Reid has now joined the practice as a GP Partner having worked at Stockbridge initially as a GP Trainee in 2002 then on the “GP Retainer scheme” whilst having 2 young children. Dr Reid works part-time Monday, Wednesday and Friday and is currently completing the course to become a GP Trainer. She has a background in general adult medicine and also has an interest in women’s health.

For family reasons Dr Sayers will be working as a GP Retainer in the practice for the next 2 years. Appointments can be booked with her on Tues day mornings/ All day Wednesday and Friday mornings. She is planning to rejoin the practice as a Partner in 2009.

GP Registrar

In August of this year our new GP Registrar, Dr Katherine Robertson joined the team. Dr Robertson has previously worked in Internal Medicine for several years at the Western General and more recently has done attachments in A and E and Psychiatry. She will spend a year with us at the practice whilst undertaking her final exams in general practice – MRCGP. We are always delighted to have registrars who keep us up to date and who contribute a great deal in their 12months with us!

Midwifery

There has been a change in the community midwife team, with our practice attached midwife Diane McInally leaving for a post in another area. Diane has enjoyed her time in Stockbridge and has provided an excellent service for our patients over the years. We wish her well and welcome Isobel Wilson to the practice as her replacement. Isobel comes with many years of community midwifery experience and will be working with us and providing services in much the same way as Diane

Practice Nurse Team

Congratulations to Alison Donald (now Connolly) on her marriage in September to Malcom in St Andrews: the bride and groom both looked fantastic. Alison and Kirstine Adams are both now undertaking further qualifications in asthma and Kirstine is also doing a diabetes diploma, adding further expertise to the nurse team. Finally – well done to Pauline Waugh who completed the Edinburgh Moonwalk back in June – doing the equivalent of a half-marathon in the night to raise over £500 for Breast Cancer.

Christmas 2007

Patient Service Information:
Practice Learning Time – ‘PLT’

Once a month the practice closes for a Wednesday afternoon for practice development time. So what do we get up to? This is a rare opportunity for us to meet on a multidisciplinary basis – doctors, district nurses, practice nurses, health visiting team, reception/admin/IT staff – and we use the time to cover an enormous variety of practice/learning needs. For example…. resuscitation and anaphylaxis training; telephone/communication skills for reception staff; peer review of video consultations for GP’s ; updating in-house guidelines on diabetes, osteoporosis etc; child protection training; practice development planning……

We have found these sessions of protected time invaluable in carrying out essential work and ongoing education, and they also contribute greatly to the sense of teamwork – the working day rarely allows time for discussion around practice issues. Clinical care during these sessions is by either a locum doctor employed by the practice, or by NHS24 Edinburgh wide on alternate Wednesdays.

Green Practice Workload Figures for October 2007

• 111 new patients registered with us during the month
• 102 patients left the list for ‘pastures new’ during the month
• 1,830 patients were seen in GP appointments during the month
• 678 patient were seen by Practice Nurses during the month
• 278 patients were seen by the Health Care Assistant during the month
• 99 patients Did Not Attend their booked appointment during the month
• 345 patients called for a ‘telephone consultation’ with their GP who returned the call giving appropriate advice
• 223 patients were referred to hospital for a specialist opinion
• 97 repeat prescription requests where actioned by the reception team on one morning alone
• 346 test samples were sent to the laboratories in one week of October

Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire

The Practice would like to thank all patients who participated in this exercise earlier this year. Your views and comments are important to us. We as a team have met and discussed these and will report in a separate newsletter on our progress in implementing any possible suggestions identified by your comments.

May we take this opportunity to wish all our patients a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for 2008