milton house surgery

Notice Board

Swine Flu

We are now following the latest NHS guidelines for the treatment of patients (July 2009):

Only those patients with Swine flu symptoms AND who have a chronic disease e.g. asthma, diabetes, heart disease etc. OR are a pregnant woman OR are aged under 5 and over 65 will be treated with antiviral medication.

For all other patients with flu like symptoms our general advice is to minimise contact with others, stay at home until you are feeling better, take plenty of fluids and, if required, paracetamol.

Basic hygiene is even more important during these times and we recommend you use tissues to capture sneezes and coughs, throwing it away after use and then washing your hands. Regular handwashing is very important and if you feel you may have the symptoms, reduce contact with others immediately, which you can do by staying at home and either contact NHS Direct or the surgery BY TELEPHONE if you feel you need to seek medical advice.

We feel the best way to keep you up to date with developments is to provide you with the link to the West Herts PCT website which is being updated regularly as the situation develops.

www.wherts-pct.nhs.uk/

New Venture

We have been in discussions with Mr Stephen Burrell, Consultant Gynaecologist & Obstetrician at Luton & Dunstable NHS Foundation Trust and also at Spire Harpenden.

It has been agreed that we will provide a surgery room here for Mr Burrell to enable him to see his patients locally for their initial consultation and for any follow up necessary.

Mr Burrell will be here on alternate Monday afternoons and Wednesday evenings each month starting from 1st April 2009 and appointments can be made via his secretary on 01582 623323.

Further information about Mr Burrell can be found by clicking here

Online Appointment & NEW Prescription Booking Service

Click on the link opposite to register or book an appointment online. It will help you to book an appointment when you have a spare moment and so avoid the early morning telephone call just when you can least spare the time.

Each patient will need to register separately to obtain their own log in details to ensure the appointment is made in the correct name.

Also by registering for online appointments you can now use our new online prescription ordering service.

If you have not yet registered you can write or send an email to Wendy Birtchnell, our Patient Services Manager.

Smoking Status

IWe are in the process of updating the current smoking status for all our patients aged 15 or over. We need to know whether you have never smoked, are a current smoker or have stopped smoking (including the date you stopped).

We would therefore appreciate you taking the time to let us know either when telephoning the surgery or during a visit to the surgery.

Alternatively, you can send us an email with the information.

Help to Quit Smoking

We are in the process of having a member of staff trained to become a "Stop Smoking Advisor" to provide a source of help to all our patients wishing to quit. This is in support of a local initiative but will probably not happen until April this year.

In the meantime, you can make use of other sources of help at local pharmacies and other GP surgeries. Please click here for contact details.

Alternatively, click on one of our "Useful Links" opposite to go to one of the available websites.

If you are successful in quitting for 4 weeks or more then please let us know.

Patient Survey Results 2008/09

Please click on the following link to view a summary of the 2008/09 survey results. Thank you to all patients who took the time to complete a survey form. To assist you in putting the answers into context you may see a copy of a blank survey form by clicking here

If you wish to comment on these results then please click here to send an e-mail to Geoff Smith, Business Manager

Extending GP Surgery Opening Hours

We are now open longer on two evenings per week and also every other Saturday morning.

Please click here for full details of our extended opening hours and the service to be provided.

IMPORTANT NOTICE - OUT OF HOURS CARE

With effect from 6.30 p.m. 1st September 2008, there will be a new provider of out of hours services in this area. The times and available services remain the same but will be provided by:

Herts Urgent Care Ltd

Telephone 03000 33 33 33

The centre will be based on the site of the A & E Dept. in Hemel Hempstead Hospital.

Chlamydia Screening Service

We are now taking part in the new Beds & Herts Screening service for patients aged between 15 and 24 years old. Anyone in this age group who is worried they may have Chlamydia just needs to provide a urine specimen to the Screening service and they will let you have the result in two weeks. It is all very confidential and you can even elect to have a mobile phone text message advising the result.

You may speak in confidence to one of our nurses on the telephone about the Chlamydia Screening service or simply collect a home testing kit from our Reception desk.

Alternatively you can ring the service direct on 01582 891221 or visit www.c-sure.org.uk

NHS Choices

A new NHS website has been launched which brings together information about conditions and treatment alongside information about local services. Click on the following link to visit this site www.nhs.uk