Patients not attending for their appointment and not cancelling their appointment in advance, is a persistent challenge for Welshpool Medical Practice. 

Over a period of six months an average of 197 clinical appointments each month were wasted, as the expected patient booked into our system did not attend and did not let us know that they were not coming.

High patient did not attend rates waste valuable resources that are being provided locally; increase waiting times for other patients who are desperate to have an appointment and place an unnecessary strain on other areas of the National Health Service. 

We do understand why our patients might not attend and fail to let us know e.g. we are all capable of forgetting and unforeseen circumstances like illness, an emergency or transport issue can prevent attendance.

In advance of your clinical appointment, we continue to send out appointment text messaging reminder at a cost to the Practice and we ask that on the back of this if you are not able to attend please, please can you do one of the following things:-

1. On receiving the automated appointment reminder, press cancel if you do not want your Doctor, Nurse or Health Care Assistant appointment any more
2. Go onto our website and cancel your appointment
3. Ring into the practice and cancel your appointment

As we enter into another challenging year, please can we ask for your help to try and reduce our DNA (DID NOT ATTEND RATES). 

We thank you in advance for listening and your hopeful co-operation with this plea

Drs Russell, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons

December 2024

Dear Patients,

We wanted to inform you about an upcoming change to our clinical system at Welshpool Medical Centre. This change over to EMIS Web is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services for our patients. Please be assured that this transition is designed to enhance your overall experience with us.

Due to the change of clinical system we will be required to have computer access down time. In addition, this downtime will affect appointments and other aspects of the surgery services. During the period of downtime, we will only be able to provide emergency GP appointments and Urgent Blood appointments.  Please ensure that any urgent bloods that are due during this time are booked as far in advance as possible. If your medication is due to be ordered between these dates we will ask that you order your items before 1^st October 2024.

Down Time estimate dates: Monday 14^th October to Thursday 24^th October

We will keep all our patients regularly updated with any changes or updates regarding the IT system Change.

If you have any concerns or questions about this system change, please feel free to reach out to our Practice Manager - Gaynor Maclennan

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this period of adjustment they are greatly appreciated.

Drs Russell, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons

Dear Patients,

We will be deactivating access to My Health Online from: Friday 20^th September 2024.

Therefore, patients should register with the NHS Wales App instead.

Access to Online Services will be deactivated from 20^th September 2024 until our Clinical System Upgrade, which is estimated to be back up and running from Thursday 24^th October 2024. (Please note that this date is subject to change but we will keep patients updated.)

From this date onwards, the NHS Wales App will be the only way for patients to access online services.

For further information on how to register and log in to the NHS Wales App, please visit: apphelp.nhs.wales/help/nhs-login/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuDdMS2oz90

We will keep all of our patients regularly updated with any changes or updates regarding the IT System Change.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this period of adjustment, they are both greatly appreciated.

Drs Russell, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons

If you have any comments or complaints about Welshpool Medical Practice and Guilsfield Surgery please write into the Practice Manager.

DO NOT USE social media sites, Facebook or Twitter.

Any comments seen by Drs Russell, Kiel, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons on any social media site may be viewed as a breach of our Zero Tolerance Policy.

We are happy to deal with your comments via our Complaints Procedure.

We are aware at times that our patients find it difficult to gain a routine appointment with a Doctor, Nurse or a Health Care Assistant within a certain timeframe.  Where such demand is unpredictable, this cannot be easily remedied.  One thing that make it even more difficult to overcome is the problem of our Did Not Attend Rates – Patients that book an appointment and don’t turn up, but don’t ring to cancel or let anyone know.

We do understand that mistakes happen and appointments can be forgotten about or overlooked.  

Please remember that if you do not attend an appointment, this may be another patients denied appointment.

Thank you for your time and hopeful co-operation with this matter

Welshpool Medical Centre

Mandatory Mask Wearing

Covid, Flu and other Respiratory infection rates are increasing in the local area. This is why we are having to re-introduce mandatory mask wearing for our patients and visitors coming into Welshpool Medical Pratice and Guilsfield Surgery, unless medically exempt. We must try and keep each other safe and well. Thank you for your hopeful co-operation. 

Drs Russell, Kiel, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons

We have noticed that some patients' personal information including name, address, mobile number and next of kin are not remaining up to date.   

We would like to remind you, that it is your responsibility to inform the practice promptly should there be any changes to your personal information, in order for us to communicate with you appropriately and accurately. This will help to ensure that confidentiality breaches do not occur.

The practice may at times send communications to you via a text message. 

If you would prefer not to receive these communications, please contact the practice to allow us to note your preference. You can change your preference at any time by ringing in or accessing our website link.

Thank you

Drs Russell, Kiel, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons

Paul successfully gave up smoking recently after getting support from Help Me Quit. You too can access this support and successfully quit smoking for good!

Paul says:

“The reason why I did it was I was diagnosed with stage three aggressive bladder cancer which is a direct result of smoking…So obviously, you know, it’s a no brainer.  I needed to stop.

“The service provided me with options of different things to help me give up.

“I also had the option if I needed to talk about it, I could ring up, have a chat about any issues or any problems I was having with it, then have regular weekly meetings to see how I was progressing…

My sense of smell and taste are completely different to when I smoked.  Breathing is better, a lot better than it was.

“I don’t want to be dead at 52 just from smoking. So, for me, giving up smoking was the only choice. I had to give up but I couldn’t do it on my own.

Powys Teaching Health Board Smoking Cessation Team are here to support smokers in Powys wishing to quit in 2024.

The team (pictured below) is led by Ceri Peate (far left), Clinical Lead for Smoking Cessation, and includes Smoking Cessation Advisors (from left to right) Kathryn Jones, Mary Ann Pryce and Alex Doran who work across the geography of Powys. The team have experience in supporting smokers in their journey to becoming smoke-free and support individuals to quit smoking face-to-face or via telephone.

Dear Patients

Covid, Flu and other Respiratory infection rates are increasing in the local area.

This is why we are having to re-introduce mandatory mask wearing for our patients and visitors coming into Welshpool Medical Practice and Guilsfield Surgery, unless medically exempt.

We must try and keep each other safe and well.

Thank you for your hopeful co-operation

Drs Russell, Kiel, Aslam, Vibhishanan, Kelly, Kingham and Hirons

Follow the link below to the UK Sepsis Trust website, talking about the risk of sepsis for farmers and the signs to be aware of. It also stresses the urgency of seeking help sooner rather than later.

Sepsis Awareness in the Farming Community | The UK Sepsis Trust

In response to growing concern around an increase in the number of children and young people who are currently using e-cigarettes/vapes Powys Public Health Team would like to share NEW online Public Health Guidance on Vaping/E-cigarettes for Schools and Colleges in Powys to support young people to make good decisions about their health.

In Wales, recent data shows that 20.4% of people aged 11-16 have tried vaping, and in Powys 19.6% report that they’ve tried vaping.

Mererid Bowley, Director of Public Health, said “we have seen a steep increase in young people who have tried vaping across Powys. Many e-cigarettes contain highly addictive nicotine and other chemicals. We want to advise young people not to start vaping. Vaping is not harmless, with short-term effects of coughing, dizziness, sore throats and headaches being reported, and the long-term effects are not yet known.   It is illegal to sell E-cigarettes to under 18s. If you are aware of retailers in your community selling any tobacco products or e-cigarettes to children under the age of 18, please report them to Trading Standards.  You can do this by visting: NO IFS. NO BUTTS (noifs-nobutts.co.uk)”

The resource is being launched as a first step in supporting parents, teachers and other professionals working with young people to talk about the harms of vaping and how to access guidance and support. The launch of the resource follows a recent Strategic workshop involving a wide range of stakeholders looking at causes of increase in vaping, effects it is having in Powys and how to tackle vaping in Powys. The workshop was part of the Tobacco Control Strategic Group Meeting organised by Powys Public Health team.  Attendants of the workshop reported that the workshop was fascinating, and attendants were full of energy and enthusiasm for action to tackle vaping in Powys.

The Powys Tobacco Control Steering Group and Tackling Vaping subgroup will direct further work in coming months to support parents, teachers and other professionals working with young people to talk to young people about the harms of vaping and how to access guidance and support.

Please feel free to share the link to the guidance widely with partner organisations, colleagues and members of the public in Powys who will find this helpful and look out for further resources to be developed soon.

Powys Teaching Health Board Smoking Cessation Team are here to support smokers in Powys to quit and reach our ambition of a ‘Smoke-free Wales’ by 2030.

The team (pictured here) is led by Ceri Peate (far left), Clinical Lead for Smoking Cessation, and includes Smoking Cessation Advisors (from left to right) Kathryn Jones, Mary Ann Pryce and Alex Doran who work on different days and across the geography of Powys. The team have extensive experience in supporting smokers in their journey to becoming smoke-free and support individuals to quit smoking face-to-face or via telephone.

The support that the team provides can increase the chances of quitting up to 300% compared with going it alone!  The service includes access to FREE nicotine replacement medication. The health benefits of stopping smoking are immediate. To anyone who has struggled to quit, do not feel alone - the service is on hand to support you.

Whether it is visiting a local Smoking Cessation Clinic, meeting with other people who are also quitting on a regular basis or having virtual or telephone calls with one of our trained Smoking Cessation Advisors, there is an option suitable for everyone who wishes to give up smoking. The Smoking Cessation team also work closely with pharmacies across Powys to ensure that clients using the service have as many options available to them as possible.

If you would like to refer someone into the service or if you have any queries, please email StopSmoking.Powys@wales.nhs.uk.

Alternatively, you can refer via a self-referral form at https://www.helpmequit.wales

Powys Community Health Council Newsletter

"A key part of our role is to visit local health services to hear from patients and carers about their experiences. We have not been able to carry out any physical visits since March 2020. In recent months, we have worked closely with Powys Teaching Health Board to find a way to safely hear from people whilst they are in hospital. We are piloting some digital visits where patients can speak to one of our volunteer members over a video call. Our members ask questions about the hospital stay, to find out whether patients are comfortable, whether they feel listened to and involved in their care, the quality of food, and how easy it is to communicate with loved ones during their hospital stay. We've had challenges with these visits, such as problems with internet connection. However, they more visits we undertake, the more we are becoming streamlines with the process."

If you are a relative of someone who is currently, or has recently been in Hospital and you wish to share your experience you can do so by emailing Powys CHC on enquiries.powyschc@wales.chc.org.uk 

Use the Powys Community Health Council survey to tell us about:

• Your experience of care and/or treatment - it can be good or bad
• How your care and/or treatment has been affected by this emergency and how you feel about this.
• Any suggestions you may have on how the NHS in Wales could do things differently to try to re-establish health services.

To complete our survey, please follow the link here: CHC Survey link