Newsletter: March 2023

The Surgery team continues to expand as we strive to meet the needs of our community.

Please do have a look at the photo board in the entrance lobby of the Surgery by the Dispensary hatch to familiarise yourself with our lovely team; we are going to need a bigger board soon!

Bourn Surgery is part of the Meridian Primary Care Network (PCN), and you may have already had contact from with our Health Coaches or Social Prescribing Link Workers, or you may have come to see our First  Contact Physiotherapist at the Surgery. More information about the team at Meridian PCN can be found here.

You will also find information about the various PCN services provided on their website, including the Menopause Support Group, Long Covid Support Group and Carer’s Café, as well as the Worthwhile Waiting  initiative.

Bourn Surgery also belongs to a local Federation of GP practices called Cambs GP Network.

Through this Federation we are able to access evening and weekend appointments to see a GP, Nurse, Healthcare Assistant or phlebotomist. These appointments are booked through Bourn Reception and can be  used to access healthcare in a more convenient way. We will also offer these appointments when we have reached capacity at the Surgery, or cannot provide you with an appointment at a time that is convenient for  you. These appointments are delivered at hubs across the area, with the closest being Comberton Surgery.

Appointments can be booked to see a GP, to see a nurse for smear tests, dressings, asthma or diabetes reviews, contraception reviews, or routine blood tests.

Communications:

We have now launched our new Bourn Surgery website which we hope will be easier to use, but still contain relevant and useful information.

On our new website, you will find the ‘Contact Us Online’ button. This allows you to submit an administrative query online rather than having to contact the Surgery by telephone. You can also contact us for a  medical issue, although please note that the response time for all messages received vis the ‘Contact Us’ is four working days, so this is not appropriate for any urgent medical issues. Please do not use this service  to request an appointment; all appointments should be booked online (if you have a log-in for SystmOnline) or via telephone.

All prescription requests should be made online through the NHS App, or SystmOnline. We do not accept prescription requests by email or telephone.

HRT Prepayment Certificate:

From the 1st April 2023 the NHS is introducing a Prescription Prepayment certificate specifically for HRT medicines. Once you purchase the 12-month certificate, you will not pay the prescription fees for your HRT  medications. It will save you money if you need to pay for three or more HRT prescription charges within 12 months.

It is important to be aware that not all medications licensed for use in HRT are covered by this certificate. This is important due to the multiple shortages of various HRT products, as some of the alternative products  will not be covered by this certificate, and will still incur a prescription charge. This is unfortunately outside of our control, and is not something we can adjust or alter. Your GP will continue to prescribe the  most appropriate HRT medication for you within what is available.

This certificate only covers HRT medications. Please note that if you are on one or more other prescriptions that you pay for, you will save more money if you buy a normal Prescription Prepayment Certificate.

Patient Participation Group:

We re-launched our Patient Participation Group (PPG) in 2020 during the pandemic, starting with some popular evening meetings on Zoom. A PPG is described as a “critical friend” of the Surgery, and is an  opportunity for any patient registered at Bourn Surgery to give their views and opinions on the work of the Surgery, and to represent the voice of our patients. We are keen that our PPG reflects the diversity of the  community that we serve, and in particular we are keen to ensure voices of those who are of working-age, carers, living with long-term health needs, and those who have experience of using health care services  are heard.

Membership of the PPG has no fixed requirements; you can be as engaged with it as you want to be, and there may be certain issues that you feel more inspired about than others. We hold quarterly PPG meetings  to discuss the ongoing work of the PPG, hear feedback from the Surgery in response to issues raised by the PPG, as well as speakers from across the practice team providing updates on new services or initiatives.  In addition to the quarterly meetings, the PPG may be contacted for opinions and advice about the services the Surgery provides. Previous projects run through the PPG include a survey of patient’s views on the  types of appointments they would wish to have available, which fed into our re-design of the Surgery’s appointment system in 2021.

Our new Surgery website will shortly have a revamped PPG section with more information.

If you are interested in signing up to the PPG, please visit our PPG page. Our next PPG meeting is planned for the evening of 10th May. Invites are automatically sent to those who are signed up to  the PPG; we hope to see some new members join us!

GP Contract Negotiations:

If you have no interest in medical politics you might want to put this newsletter down now! For those who are interested, here is a little update:

While the Junior Doctors have rightly been in the news recently regarding their strikes to achieve better pay and working conditions, the British Medical Association’s General Practice Committee England (BMA  GPCE) has voted to reject the Government’s proposed contract changes for the GP contract for 2023/4.

In brief, General Practices are contracted by NHS England to provide GP services to patients. The services that we are asked to provide, the targets we have to meet, and the funding to provide these services are  all determined by the GP contract, which is reviewed annually. The BMA GPCE negotiates on behalf of GP practices to ensure that the contract is workable, meets the needs of our patients, and is financially viable  for practices to employ the staff needed to provide those services.

The proposed 23/24 contract has been rejected by the BMA GPCE when, after a period of extensive lobbying, Government refused to make any changes to their proposal.

The BMA GPCE rejected the proposed contract because:

• It increases bureaucratic burden on practices despite an all-time high level of demand.
• It unachievable access targets which the majority of practices will be unable to meet, leading to financial penalties that will put the existence of these practices at risk.
• It has no financial support for practices in dealing with the huge inflationary and minimum wage pressures, despite hospital receiving £1.5bn to support this very issue.

General practices across the country are providing more appointments with fewer GPs. As workload increases the workforce is decreasing, and our capacity for providing safe care diminishes, directly affecting our  patients.

To protect patient safety and the wellbeing of GP practice staff, BMA GPCE are trying to force the Government into meaningful talks to agree a contract that will strengthen General Practice rather than weaken it  further, to ensure that we can continue to provide safe and high-quality patient care. This is likely to be an ongoing battle over the next few weeks and months.

Published: Apr 5, 2023