What is changing:
There will be an ability now to pre-book appointments with GP in the future: both phone and face to face.
You no longer need to phone up on a specific day that your GP is in.
Online “e-consults” will be available Sunday - Thursday from 18:30 to 20:00.
We are being more transparent with our patients about our capacity for GP appointments, and aligning our work patterns with the BMA’s statement on safe working in General Practice. (https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/gp-practices/managing-workload/safe-working-in-general-practice)
Individual GPs are also spreading their capacity throughout the week.
Why is this changing:
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic we changed our appointment system by having all requests for GP appointments to be triaged first (usually by telephone). This was in response to patient complaints that the wait for appointment was too long. By triaging appointments and dealing with as much as we could remotely, we increased our throughput of consultations with patients receiving GP care far quicker than before. As it happens, the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted GP practices nationally to adopt a similar system for differing reasons.
However, the need to phone was frustrating for patients and the volume of work was exhausting for our GP staff.
Most of our GPs work 10-12 hours a day a week, mostly 3 days a week or more, with additional hours working from home when not at the surgery doing important work which is not directly patient facing but vital for patient care. This works out at around what most people would regard as “full time” over the course of a week. On a typical day in our old system any one GP may have 30 to 60 patient contacts (mainly by phone). This is more than the BMA’s recommendations on safe working intensity for GPs. We have three to five GPs in on any one day.
What is not changing:
There will still be an element of telephone or online triage, especially for on the day capacity and to manage demand for appointments generally. The central problem has not changed: the demand for GP time is beyond the capacity we have to provide GP appointments. It is therefore envisaged that the wait for appointments booked in advance will run to several weeks.
We continue to encourage patients to self care were possible and seek alternatives to GP appointments where more appropriate.
Our GP mostly continue to work the equivalent of full time (approximately 37.5 hrs a week) over 3 or more days a week.
What we are continuing to do:
We are continuing to monitor how our appointment system works, and are seeking to expand our clinical workforce. Frustratingly, there is a recruitment and retention problem nationally with GPs. We are also seeking to expand our workforce to support our existing GP according to government's additional roles initiative as part of working in a Primary Care Network (PCN).
Please be aware the NHS is now offering a Spring COVID-19 vaccine booster jab to people aged 75 and over and to people aged 12 and over who are immunosuppressed. The current advice is that if you are in these groups, you should have a Spring booster 3-6 months after your third jab to offer best protection against becoming seriously ill from COVID.
If you are in these groups and a registered patient at this practice, you will be contacted by us and invited to make an appointment for your jab when it is your turn. However you can also contact the surgery on 01993 703641, option 8. Current clinic dates are Sunday 10th April and Saturday 23rd April (Located at The Nuffield Practice).
You may also receive a letter from the NHS inviting you to book your Spring booster through the National Booking System or by calling 119 which will offer you appointments at the large vaccination centre at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford or at several Oxfordshire community pharmacies.
There is no longer a legal requirement for people with coronavirus (COVID-19) infection to self-isolate, however the public health advice for people with any of the main symptoms of COVID-19 or a positive test result is to stay at home and avoid contact with other people.
To protect our team, we kindly ask our patients to NOT attend the surgery if they test positive or show any symptoms of COVID-19. We ask all patients to wear a face covering unless they are exempt. This covering can be a mask, a scarf, or something else and it must cover your nose and your mouth.
Due to the higher risk nature of health and social care settings, the advice for staff members working in these settings has not changed. Staff at the practice will continue to take regular lateral flow tests and will be required to isolate if they test positive. We will also continue to wear face coverings and practice social distancing.
We are currently experiencing an unprecedented level of demand on our services. This is not unique to this surgery and it’s being reported from other GP practices nationally.
This is creating a lot of pressure on the systems we have in place, and we recognise that this can be the cause of frustration.
Please do try to be patient. If you find yourself waiting a long time to get through on the phone, it is because there are other patients who also need our attention and are trying to get through at time same time. If you are asked to call back to speak to someone on a different day, it’s because the person who is best suited to deal with your problem is not in on the day that you called, or is already fully booked up with other equally important patients.
Every single request for a GP appointment is assessed by a GP on the same day. The outcome of this will depend on the outcome of that assessment. It might not result in an appointment with a GP.
We have to work within the appointment capacity we have available. Any one GP has to have a safe and manageable workload. An unsafe workload introduces risk of harm.
We always try and encourage patients to have contact with the same GP. There is good evidence that continuity of care achieves better outcomes and we believe it is more efficient.
Ensuring the above sometimes means that people are requested to phone back at a more appropriate time, or to speak to a more appropriate person. Things which absolutely need to be dealt with urgently are dealt with urgently. Things which we are less urgent (but not less important) sometimes need to wait.
We previously had a system of patients booking in directly to face to face appointments, and that resulted in a wait of 8 weeks. This was a source of a lot of complaints, understandably, and we moved to the current model in response to that. The current system is not a response to COVID (though it was easy to accommodate the requirements of working during the pandemic within it).
Again: please be patient. We want to help you.
This practice is supporting vital health and care planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital. For more information about this see the GP Practice Privacy Notice at:
NHS Digital's own website.
Note that consent to have your data shared in this way is atuomatic unless you opt out by 23 June 2021.
What Data is Shared
Data may be shared from the GP medical records about:
- any living patient registered at a GP practice in England when the collection started - this includes children and adults
- any patient who died after 1 July 2021, and was previously registered at a GP practice in England when the data collection start
NHS Digital will not collect patients’ names or addresses. Any other data that could directly identify patients (such as NHS Number, date of birth, full postcode) is replaced with unique codes which are produced by de-identification software before the data is shared with NHS Digital.
This process is called pseudonymisation and means that patients will not be identified directly in the data. NHS Digital will be able to use the software to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify patients in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason.
To Opt out Of Data Sharing
If you would prefer that your identifiable patient data is only shared for your own health care purposes, you can opt-out by registering a Type 1 Opt-out or a National Data Opt-out, or both.
These opt-outs are different and they are explained in more detail in below. Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using either option (or both).
A Type 1 opt out has to be registered by your Practice; please let us know if you want to register a type 1 opt out.
A National Opt out can be done without contacting your practice, at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/
Type 1 Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital collecting your data)
NHSD will not collect data from GP practices about patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out with their practice. More information about Type 1 Opt-outs is in the GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice, including a form that you can complete and send to your GP practice.
This collection will start on 1 July 2021 so if you do not want your data to be shared with NHS Digital, please register your Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice by 23 June 2021.
If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after this collection has started, no more of your data will be shared with NHSD. They will however still hold the patient data which was shared before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.
If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out.
You can download a blank form here which you can then send to us by post or email.
National Data Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital sharing your data with other organizations)
NHSD will collect data from GP medical records about patients who have registered a National Data Opt-out. The National Data Opt-out applies to identifiable patient data about your health, which is called confidential patient information.
NHS Digital won’t share any confidential patient information about you - this includes GP data, or other information, such as hospital data - with other organisations, unless there is an exemption to this.
To find out more information and how to register a National Data Opt-Out, please read NHSD GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice.
RCGP Research and Surveillance centre
The practice is working with the RCGP research and surveillance centre contributing pseudonymised data for national research and surveillance. These data enable continuous monitoring of infections and diseases in the community and is used in ethically approved research.
Try the NHS App
If you’re a patient at our practice you can now use the new NHS App, a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.
You can use the NHS App to check your symptoms and get instant advice, book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, view your GP medical record and more.
You will also have evidence of your covid vaccinations on the App; useful for when you have to travel abroad.
If you already use any of the Patient Access providers, you can continue to use them. You can use the NHS App as well.
For more information go to www.nhs.uk/nhsapp
We have been part of the scheme for 3 years.
A map showing premises signed up to the scheme throughout West Oxfordshire can be found on the WODC website.
https://www.safeplaces.org.uk/search/?query=West%20Oxfordshire%20District%2C%20UK&exact
For more information on the scheme, please see:
https://www.westoxon.gov.uk/communities-and-leisure/community-safety/safe-places/
https://www.facebook.com/SafePlacesOxfordshire/?ref=hl
There is also an App which you can download here:
https://www.safeplaces.org.uk
Community Connect
Medicine that doesn't come in a tube or bottle!
Community Connect, a new Social Prescribing service which helps with people’s health and well-being, is now available at the Nuffield surgery. It links people with community activities to improve mental and physical wellbeing and reduce loneliness.
Social Prescribing is a way in which people living with long term conditions can get access to a variety of support services they need. Issues like help with getting a job, housing, debt management and social contact. Help with these things is often available through local authorities, charities and local community organisations.
Social Prescribing means that the individual can build their support links by working with a Community Navigator who does know, or who has expertise in finding out, what is available. Following a referral from the GP, together with the Community Navigator, the individual can discuss their problems and identify the support that they need to manage their own health more effectively and meet their own personal goals.
Get in touch: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Find out more at: https://www.canosn.org.uk/Pages/Category/community-connect
If you are planning to travel abroad, please complete and print the attached document and bring it with you when you come to your appointment with a Nurse.
Please be advised that there may be a charge for some travel vaccinations. Please ask the nurse you see for more information about the particular vaccines you require.
For example - Hepatitis B is £40 per dose and usually a minimum of 3 doses is required.
Please note that we are no longer able to provide Yellow Fever vaccinations.
Risk assessment document
