The Alresford Surgery
Station Road, Alresford, SO24 9JL
Tel 01962 732345 (8.30-6.30 Monday-Friday emergency calls only 8.00-8.30)
Tel 0844 811 3060 (Out of hours)
Fax 01962 736034
E-mail contact@alresfordsurgery.co.uk
E-mail mhscripts.alresford@nhs.net

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The Alresford Surgery Newsletter

Dr David Green, Dr Richard Cribb, Dr Peter Stokes
Dr Ann Lowman, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Dr Susan Wright
Telephone No. 01962 732345 (24 hours) Fax: 01962 736034
For general advice or reassurance NHS Direct 0845 46 47

New contract for general practice

General Practitioners work as independent contractors to the NHS. On 1st April, a new contract came into effect. The old contract had been negotiated in 1966 and no longer reflected modern General Practice. The new contract will affect the way Primary Medical Care is delivered and will allow further development to occur. The focus of the new contract is on providing an accessible high quality service and practices will be measured and rewarded for achieving this. Our practice already meets most of the quality standards but you may notice a few changes.

Registration

Patients are no longer registered with individual doctors but are registered with the practice. In fact this means a continuation of our policy allowing you to chose which doctor you consult with. We do believe there is value in continuity of care and would encourage you to have a 'usual doctor'. At the same time we recognise that you may wish to consult different doctors for different problems.

Surgery Hours

Under the new contract the practice has to provide services between 8.00am and 6.30pm. Booked surgeries will therefore operate between 8.40 and 10.30, and 3.40 and 5.30. We will always try to accommodate urgent requests. Such requests are normally handled initially by a telephone consultation with a nurse to ensure that your needs are dealt with by the most appropriate person at the most appropriate time.

Out of Hours

The Mid Hampshire Primary Care Trust will assume responsibility for out of hours services on 1st July. The Out of Hours period extends from 6.30pm on Monday to Thursday until 8.00am the following morning and from 6.30pm on Friday to 8.00am on the following Monday and also public holidays. The surgery will therefore not be open on Saturdays. The PCT is developing a flexible model of care that will improve on the present arrangements. It will provide:

• Local assessment of all calls
• A primary care centre available in Winchester
• Full integration will all parts of the local heath services.

Quality Framework

The contract places great emphasis on the quality of care provided. It sets us a number of performance targets. While this will have little impact on day to day consultations you may notice some aspects of the practice becoming more structured. We will from time to time be seeking your opinions by way of questionnaires. These are anonymous and we would be very grateful for your co-operation should you receive one. We are of course pleased to receive comments about the practice at any time.

Future changes

It is inevitable that more changes will happen to help us meet the demands of the new contract and the evolution of Primary Care that follows. We will keep you informed as and when they occur.