Welcome to Carterknowle & Dore Surgery
CORONAVIRUS
25th March 2020
Dear Patient,
We write to keep you informed of the practice efforts to ensure we are doing our best to meet the needs of our patients and holding yours and our team safety at high importance.
The practice will continue to offer a streamlined range of services to our patients; you will have a telephone consultation with a member of our clinical team when booking an appointment with our GPs, ANP, Practice Nurses and Healthcare Assistants. It may be that a member of our clinical team can help you over the phone so you do not have to visit the practice.
From Monday 30th March we will be closing Dore Practice and running all services from Carterknowle Practice. This helps us ensure we have resilience in the event of staff member’s illness. We may take a decision to open Dore for a small number of appointments and patients will be informed of the location of the appointment over the telephone.
We ask that patients suffering a new, continuous cough, or have a high temperature (37.8 degrees or over) or a member in your household have a new, continuous cough or a high temperature DO NOT attend the practice and instead follow advice on NHS 111 Online.
From Monday 23rd March 2020, we will be changing the way patients access our practices. We will use our buzzer doorbell to gain entry into the practice. Please press the bell and one of our team will unlock the door to allow you through for your booked appointment. Please note our reception will ensure they ask all entering the practice-
- Do you have a new, continuous cough?
- Do you have a high temperature (37.8 degrees or over)?
- Does anybody in your household have a new, continuous cough or a high temperature?
If any of our patients or visitors answer Yes they will be advised to go home and follow NHS Coronavirus advice.
For patients requiring a sick note relating to self –isolation and Coronavirus, this will NOT be issued by the practice. Patients can visit www.111.nhs.uk/isolation-note to print off a note themselves.
Please note Sheffield City Council have set up a service to help vulnerable patients or those over 70 years that are isolating. They can help with emergency food supplies, medication deliveries and electricity/ gas top ups. To access this help please call 0114 2734567.
We would like to thank all of our patients for your ongoing understanding and patience.
From all the Partners at Carterknowle & Dore Medical Practice.
Please do not attend an appointment at the practice if you have any of the following symptoms, cough, fever, sore throat, chest infection, shortness of breath or flu like symptoms. The current advice is to self-isolate for seven days, however if you feel you need clinical assessment please go to the 111 online coronavirus service here: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19.
Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, in order to protect our patients, the practice is working hard to ensure we are able to meet the needs of all its patients. When patients make requests for an advanced appointment, they will be asked questions relating to the appointment and a clinician will first contact you by telephone and make necessary further arrangements.
If you have a pre-booked appointment at the surgery and feel you could discuss the issue over the telephone with the GP rather than coming to the practice please do not attend practice for your appointment and instead the GP will call you at the allotted appointment time.
Changes to online booking: To mitigate any risk that potentially infected patients book appointments online and attend the practice when they should be receiving advice to self-isolate or go through testing, all practices are now being advised to change face-to-face appointments booked online to triage appointments via telephone or video.
Use this service if you have to stay at home because of coronavirus and you need a note for your employer.
If you have to stay at home but feel well enough to work, ask your employer if you can work from home. If you can work from home, you will not need an isolation note.
You can also use this service for someone else.
What to do if you have symptoms
Stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
A high temperature
A new continuous cough
This will help to protect others in your community while you are infectious.
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
You do not need to contact NHS 111 to tell them you’re staying at home.
We will not be testing people who are self-isolating with mild symptoms.
Please follow the advice on www.gov.uk/coronavirus
NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19
(Site updated 31/03/2020)