The Alresford Surgery Newsletter

Dr David Green, Dr Richard Cribb, Dr Peter Stokes
Dr Ann Lowman, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Dr Susan Wright
Station Road, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9JL
Telephone No. 01962 732345 Fax: 01962 736034
For general advice or reassurance NHS Direct 0845 46 47
Out of hours 0844 811 3060

Smear Recalls/Well Women Clinics

The recall system for smear invitation letters has changed. From now on, all letters inviting female patients for a smear appointment will be sent directly from the Health Authority although your Doctor's name and surgery address will appear on it. In the past we were able to intercept letters which were inappropriate for various reasons, but this will no longer be the case. If you have any queries about your smear recall letter, please telephone the surgery and we will endeavour to answer your questions.

Private Prescriptions

Due to the risk of errors and the responsibility taken by GPs when prescribing we will not routinely issue an NHS prescription against a privately issued prescription. If your private consultant issues you with a private prescription we must receive a letter (by fax will do) from him or her confirming the medication, dosage and the reason for prescribing before considering whether to 'convert' to an NHS prescription.

Repeat Prescriptions

We are facing greater pressures from patients who are not allowing 2 working days in which to prepare a repeat prescription and/or demanding them by phone. We are unable to accept requests for repeat prescriptions over the telephone. This is for a number of reasons:

• This can tie up the phone lines when a seriously ill patient may be trying to get through.
• It is very easy to make mistakes with the name or dosage of certain drugs.

We can, however, accept repeat prescription requests by any of the following means:

• Fax - our fax number is 01962 736034
• Email - our address for prescriptions is: mhscripts.alresford@nhs.net
• Post - our address is Alresford Surgery, Station Road, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9JL
• Directly to the surgery, we have a box just inside the main doors and this is checked regularly throughout the day.

Flu clinics

We will be advertising dates for this years clinics in next months edition. All patients who will be 65 or over by 31 March next year, or who have certain chronic illnesses are encouraged to have this free jab.