Practice News
Withdrawal of under-funded service
For some time now, the funding we receive from Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board for providing a wound care service (wound dressings, stitch, and clip removal), has not covered the actual costs we incur delivering that service. We have tried our very best over the years to improve efficiencies in an attempt to continue offering this service to our patients. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts it has become unsustainable for us to do so, as we are now losing money on every appointment we provide. We have received NO funding for the more complicated wounds we have been managing over the years, which more often involve lengthy appointments being needed over a long period of time. These include things like cavity wounds or infected wounds.
As a result, St John’s Medical Centre, along with all local surgeries across Southwest Lincolnshire, have made the difficult decision to stop providing appointments for dressing services. We understand that this news will be concerning for many of our patients but due to increasing demands on our nursing team and the significant financial pressures on NHS General Practice overall, we can no longer continue to provide services that are simply not cost effective, without compromising our ability to deliver core General Practice services.
Lincolnshire ICB who commission this ‘Treatment Room’ service, are working hard to identify who will be providing it and we expect to have more information from them over the next few weeks. We will keep you informed as soon as we have further details.
What will this mean for you? From Wednesday 2nd October 2024:
- if you come out of hospital with stitches or clips in a wound, these will be removed by another service.
- If you have a dressing on a wound that needs replacing, this will be provided by another service
- If you develop a wound, you will be signposted for an assessment with another service, who will manage any treatment
- Any wound that is from a minor injury that occurred in the last 48 hours should be treated at a Minor injury service/Urgent Treatment Centre, or Accident and Emergency department
- If you have a more complex wound, including a cavity wound after surgery or an infected wound, you will be signposted to another provider
Your care remains our priority, and we are here to support you through this transition as we appreciate this may be difficult. We hope you are able to understand why this decision has been reached. We need to ensure that we are here for you in the years to come. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Thank you for your understanding.
Practice Newsletter
We publish our practice news letter regularly to keep you updated on the latest news, events, and happenings at St John's Medical Centre.
Online Prescription Ordering
From Monday 21st August 2023 we will be asking patients with access to the internet to order their prescriptions via our online services and NOT to call the surgery.
This will reduce footfall via our phone lines leaving them more accessible for vulnerable patients and patients with no access to the internet to be able to request the medication they need.
We have noticed over the past few months the wait time to get through to request prescriptions is getting longer and busier.
How to do this:
- Bring in 2 forms of ID, one of these MUST be photo ID, and also proof of address.
- Email a photo of yourself holding up the photo ID as well as attaching your proof of address. You can email this to swlccg.stjohns.med@nhs.net
Once you have registered for online services you will receive 2 emails with your username and temporary password.
If you have any queries regarding the above please contact the surgery and speak to a member of the Reception Team.
Staff Training
Please note - we will be closed once a month for staff training 12:30 - 15:30. This allows our staff to take part in mandatory training.
Our training days for 2024 are as follows.
Thursday 26th September 2024
Tuesday 29th October 2024
Thursday 28th November 2024
Updating Mobile Numbers
We will be increasing our patient communication by text regarding test results, scan results, appointment confirmation and reminders. We are asking patients to ensure mobile numbers are upto date to ensure we are communicating accurately and in a timely manner.
You can keep askmyGP upto date yourself by amending your profile, you can also email us via the practice email address which is detailed on the contact us page if you haven’t spoken to us recently. Please do not email if you have had recent communication and know our records are correct.
Ordering Medication via AskMyGp
As of the 4th July 2022 we will no longer be processing orders for acute or repeat prescriptions requests via askmygp.
We will be using the service only for queries relating to advice from a Nurse Practitioner or GP.
Please use SystmOne online to order your medication going forward if you have access to this. If you need to be granted access to this service please do one of the following:
1. Attach a photo of yourself holding photo ID to an askmygp request, we can then email you log in details for online services
2. Come to the Reception Desk at the surgery with your photo ID, we can then email you log in details for online services
If you need to request medication for your child or we can link online accounts so you can order on their behalf. Please clearly provide their details (Name, DOB and address).
If you have any queries please call Reception on 01476 348484 and we will be happy to help.
