Practice news and updates
Waiting times for GP appointments
Whilst it is common knowledge that there is a national shortage of trained General Practitioners, due to early retirements and doctors no longer wishing to enter General Practice, up until now we have been relatively unaffected here at Farmdene Health Centre. However, we are now at a point where, despite our advertising extensively, we have been unable to recruit new partners to replace outgoing partners. We have tried to fill as many gaps as possible with locum GPs, but again these are in great demand from other local practices.
The knock on effect from this is that our patients will have to wait longer to see a GP, particularly one of their own choice. The doctors ask that you ask yourself if you really do need to see a doctor, or is there another way of managing your problem? Urgent problems will continue to be given priority.
We apologise for the waiting times, however please be understanding with our receptionists and doctors who are doing their best to accommodate you.
Online repeat prescription ordering & appointment booking
Farmdene Health Centre is pleased to offer patients the opportunity to book regular repeat prescriptions and book and cancel appointments online. To use this online service patients must first be registered and issued with a Patient I.D. and a registration token allowing them to create a username and password to access the system. If you would like to sign up to use our online services please come into the practice and fill out our registration forms and bring valid photo I.D. with you.
Electronic prescribing system
A new electronic prescribing system recommended by the Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group has recently been implemented. We expected there to be some implementation issues and unfortunately we have come across some problems that may well affect our patients. The main problem is affecting patients that have chosen to ‘collect’ their prescriptions from the surgery.
In order to rectify the problem we will need you to advise us again that you wish to collect your prescription from the surgery. Please do check with us to ensure we have the right information on your repeat prescription record.
We have also noticed some prescription destinations being automatically changed by our computer system which we will rectify as soon as we become aware of a problem.
We are extremely sorry for the obvious inconvenience caused to our patients. This is very much beyond our control. Please be patient whilst we correct our systems as quickly as possible.
Sandy Winters – Practice Manager
Farmdene Health Centre awarded £400,000 from NHS England’s Primary Infrastructure Fund
We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in securing £400,000 from NHS England’s Primary Infrastructure Fund.
This will help us build an extension on the existing flat roof here at the Health Centre. Preparatory work commences Nov 2016 with the main building work planned to start in Jan 2016 with completion May 2016. This extra space will provide additional consulting rooms and space to allow us to enhance our service to patients. We feel this is a wonderful opportunity to ‘future proof’ our surgery in very challenging but exciting times within the NHS.
The Infrastructure Fund is a four year programme to help general practice make improvements, including premises and technology . More information can be found at www.england.nhs.uk/pcif
We are accepting new patients
Farmdene Health Centre is accepting new patients that live within our practice boundary - to find out more and download our registration forms please visit the registering with the surgery page.
