Bells and Shovels!

I am not sure that writing this at the end of a long week and after a glass of red wine is the best timing but here goes. We have survived our first full week with the new computer system and that in itself is cause for celebration and bouquets all round. Our receptionists have been magnificent coping with the new system admirably and the back log of tasks with good humour and perseverence. Patients too have been very tolerant of our hiccups and glitches for which we thank you. We also thank the marvellous trainers who supported our transition with infinite patience and kindness, hovering near at hand so that we could shout for help when we got stuck. Doubtless we will have to make a few more calls on their expertise over the next few weeks as we discover things we cannot do. Every day this week has had challenges and rewards and I for one have found the stimulus invigorating.

In other news - we welcome Manisha our new receptionist who is filling the vacancy left by Amy. Manisha brings with her a wealth of experience in other surgeries. She has survived an induction of fire and we hope she will get a chance to settle in more gently over the coming weeks.

We were relieved that our first fall of snow was both light and short lived. The surgery has registered for the council's "Snow Friends" scheme. Snow Friends are local residents who volunteer to clear snow and ice in their street. We now hold some salt supplies and a big snow shovel at the surgery provided by the council. Some of you will have witrnessed our practice manager Sue shovelling snow and gritting pavements on our side of Manor Road earlier this week. If any able bodied among you would like to lend us a hand so we can clear more of the road please make yourself known to us at reception and we will be only too happy to sign you up to help with any further snowfalls.

Almost a year after being interviewed I am delighted to report that I have been selected as a volunteer to work as a GP at the paralympics and will be taking leave from the practice in late August and early September to do this. I start my training next month and am looking forward to being part of this wonderful event.

Finally our sincere apologies to those of you disturbed by the surgery alarm in the early hours of Monday morning. Dr Mustapha was there along with the Police as soon as he was alerted by the alarm company, we still do not what triggered the two zone breach that disturbed you all. Fortunately it has not recurred.

No pain, no gain

Everything will look the same on the surface (though possibly not the composure of the staff) but underneath lots will have changed. We are all on tenterhooks as tomorrow we switch over our software computer system from the one we have been using for the last 10 years (and know pretty well) to an all singing, all dancing, upgraded system from the same supplier. It is called EMIS web and will set us up to cope with all the new electronic cleverness coming our way.


Image by  Dixie Allan



You may experience some initial delays due to our unfamiliarity with the system but we have all had training and hope that once the system is live we will get up to speed fairly quickly. Our engineers arrive at 7am tomorrow and have promised to have us functioning in time for the first appointment at 8.40am. Training staff will be on site to bail us out if we run into any major difficulties.

So what will it improve? It will make record keeping, data coding and searching for information much easier, will flag up overdue tests, will update and backup in real time to a secure remote server so that we will hopefully never lose access to your records because of server failure. It will allow us to show you trends in results in  graphic form and will link conditions to information sheets and other information.

Eventually (in about 10 to 12 weeks) we hope to be able to send your prescriptions electronically to which ever pharmacy you nominate, so no one has to collect a paper prescription unless they wish to. In time we will also be able to send your pathology tests directly to the laboratory so you won't need to remember the paper request form. We hope that it will also allow us to look at blood tests ordered by the consultants who care for you and by people like the warfarin clinic so that we do not duplicate tests and you will not have to bring your warfarin results too us before we can issue your prescription.

In some areas of the country where this system is used limited records are being shared (with permission) with the out of hours doctors, community services such as district nurses and physiotherapists and palliative care teams, making care safer and smoother. You will always have the option to say you do not want your records shared in this way on the national spine and we will code your notes accordingly which automatically prevents them being shared. 

Further in the future you will be able to use the same system by which you book appointments electronically using your password and pin number to request medication from your repeat prescription list, to register with the practice and one day to read your own medical notes.

We ask for your patience with us over the next week or so as the system beds in and we adjust.