Welcome to Woodland Road Surgery

email – woodlandroad.surgery@nhs.net

Prescription ordering email – woodlandroad.prescriptions@nhs.net

Woodland Road Surgery is a forward thinking general practice whose roots are firmly planted in the much loved traditions of general practice.  We focus on providing excellent care for all of our patients in a way that is easy to access and provides continuity of care by a close-knit team of doctors, nurses and support staff.

COVID 19 – PLEASE REMEMBER

If you, or any member of your household, is experiencing –

• New, continuous cough or
• Temperature or fever symptoms or
• Loss of smell and/or taste

You MUST isolate at home.  You should remain isolated for 7 days if you are the one experiencing symptoms or 14 days if someone you live with is affected.

If you need advice or guidance you can call us and ask to speak to a Dr or you can contact NHS111 online or by telephone.

Further advice and guidance can also be found at the NHS Coronavirus Advice page.

COVID 19 – TESTING

Anyone over the age of 5 who is experiencing symptoms should now be tested for Covid 19.  Please click here to access the testing service.  You should be in the first 5 days of symptoms; ideally you should book your test within the first 3 days of experiencing symptoms.

If you know of someone who is not able to arrange a test online please advise them that they can now call 119.

Unfortunately the surgery cannot arrange testing on your behalf.

NHS TEST AND TRACE

With effect from 28th May 2020 the government has reinstated the test and trace process.  Where a person tests positive for Covid 19 they will be signposted to the NHS Test and Trace service which will guide them through a process of identifying anyone they may have come into contact with during the period when they may have been contagious.

Please engage with the Test and Trace service if you have a positive test for Covid 19 and also isolate yourself if you are asked to by NHS contact tracers.

More information on the whole process can be found here.

CURRENT PRACTICE SERVICE UPDATE

There is no way we can bring back Open Surgery while the pandemic continues.  Until there are readily available vaccines or successful treatments for Covid 19 there is no safe way we can operate any of our walk in services and maintain social distancing and a safe practice environment for patients and the team.

There are a variety of ways in which you can now access care –

Telephone Triage – unlimited access for a GP to call you back on the same day. The Dr can very safely treat a whole range of problems without needing to see you.  You can also discuss fit notes, tests and test results, referrals, ongoing condition management and many other issues.  Just call us and we will add you to the list to call you back.

Video Consultation – if after speaking to you on the phone a Dr or nurse feels they do need to see you then you will be offered a video consultation. The clinician will talk through the process with you.  You can’t book a video consult as the Dr needs to be the one who decides if this is a safe way to consult.

Online Consult – this is a new service which we will be rolling out through June 2020. You will access it from this website and it will enable to access advice and treatment through an online tool that links to the practice and a variety of self-care guides.  It is fully integrated into the practice systems and as such is completely secure.  You can use the system to discuss a specific condition or to raise any other queries you may have.  We will be texting all patients once the service is live.

Email – our email address is at the top of this page. You can email us with any queries you may have that aren’t of a clinical nature.  For example you could ask for test results, a prescription, chase up a referral or just ask for advice.

Prescriptions – please use the dedicated email address at the top of this page or alternatively sign up for online access and use this system.  If you need to telephone your orders then please contact your pharmacy, we do not take orders by phone.

Home Visits – we will still be able to arrange a home visit if you are housebound or shielding. Home visits aren’t offered to normally mobile patients.  During the pandemic you may be visited by a Dr or Paramedic who do not work at the surgery as we are working with our local colleagues to maintain this service.

Face to Face Consultation – as we come down from the initial peak of Covid 19 cases we are starting to reinstate more face to face consultations. These may be for a new/acute problem or for ongoing management of a long term condition.  All face to face consultations will be subject to an initial telephone call to ensure you are free from Covid symptoms and you will be given a set time to attend.

Nursing – throughout the pandemic we have maintained many of our nursing services. These will now be increased and we will soon be able to restart cervical screening and more chronic disease management.  Routine blood tests and some injections will also increase in availability for those who can safely come to the surgery.  Please understand that all services must be risk assessed and reinstated only when it is safe to do so.

In an effort to restart as many routine services as possible we have undertaken a full risk assessment of the building to understand how to make it as safe as possible and start bringing more patients in to be seen face to face.  The steps we are taking are –

1. We will be implementing a one way flow through the building, from the front door, through the main waiting room and out of the back door.
2. To make the one way system safe we will be CLOSING THE PRACTICE CAR PARK so patients can leave by the back door and walk back up the drive without cars trying to access the area.
3. We will be strictly limiting the number of people in the waiting room to no more than 7 at any time.
4. Chairs will be taped off to enforce social distancing.
5. All practice staff involved in consultations will be wearing full PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).
6. ALL PATIENTS ATTENDING AN APPOINTMENT WILL BE ASKED TO WEAR A FACE COVERING AND TO KEEP THEIR NOSE AND MOUTH COVERED WHILE THEY ARE IN THE BUILDING.
7. If you have an appointment at the practice you will be asked to attend alone (unless you have a known carer) and not to arrive until the actual time of your appointment. This is to limit the number of people in the waiting room at any one time.

Unless you have an appointment or you are just calling to collect something we ask that you DO NOT come into the building asking to be seen or to discuss a query.  The telephone triage service is unlimited in the same way open surgery used to be.  Patients coming in to the building will be asked to provide their contact number and leave; we will call you back on the same day to address your query.

Any patients who refuse to leave the building when asked are putting themselves, other patients and our staff at risk and we will regard this as behaviour that falls under our zero tolerance procedure which may result in your removal from the practice list.

 HELP US TO HELP YOU

There are a variety of ways that you can help us –

Register for and use online systems wherever possible as it alleviates the pressure on our phones and helps those without online access to contact us more easily.

Utilise the Birmingham and Solihull NHS App. Click here.

Nominate a pharmacy where we can send your prescriptions electronically. It is a quick and efficient system and helps us to reduce the number of people coming into the building which is safer all round.

Stay at home whenever possible and always contact us online or by telephone in the first instance.

BE KIND – as a team we have worked throughout the pandemic, maintained services and kept the practice open. All that we ask is that you listen to us and follow our advice.  We never do anything to be difficult or to make your life any harder than we know it already is right now.  However we are experiencing a sudden increase in patients turning up at the practice, demanding to be seen immediately, refusing to listen to staff and even shouting or being abusive.

None of the staff at the practice deserve to be treated this way and we will not tolerate anyone putting our staff or other patients at risk.

Please help us to help you and BE KIND

We want all of our patients to stay safe during the pandemic, please remember we are here whenever you need us.  If you are struggling to cope, feeling isolated or you are worried about a medical condition then get in contact and we will do everything we can to help.