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Introducing ‘Anima’ – Our New Appointment System

Introducing ‘Anima’ – Our New Appointment System

On Wednesday 18^th October 2023, we will be launching Anima.

Anima seamlessly integrates with your medical record bringing improved access to care and appointments, whilst maintaining your confidentiality. Anima also allows our clinical team to direct you to the most appropriate care for your medical need.

Your Anima requests will be handled in the same way whether you complete the request online, come into the surgery or contact us via telephone. Please be reassured if you have no internet access this will not affect your ability to access care or contact us, you can still contact us in the same way you do now.

We would encourage all patients who can do so to use Anima, as this will prevent you needing to queue on the telephone and keep lines free for those who do not have internet access. Completing an Anima request yourself also provides you with more discretion should you prefer not to discuss your medical enquiry/symptoms with one of our Team.

For more information and frequently asked questions click here - Patients – Anima Help & Support Centre (zendesk.com)

We would like patients to register now so as many people as possible are ready to submit Anima requests from Wednesday 18^th October 2023.

Click here to register - Anima (animahealth.com)

Click here to watch a short video on “How to Register/Create Account” - https://www.veed.io/view/6e2d5007-34ea-4b4a-8735-13276acb214d

For some, flu and COVID-19 are unpleasant. But for many, particularly those with certain health conditions, older people and pregnant women, they can be very dangerous and even life-threatening. Every winter, thousands die from flu and people can still get very ill or die from COVID-19.

Catching both viruses over winter increases the risk of serious illness even further. Vaccines are our best protection against flu and COVID-19.

Over the last few years, they have kept tens of thousands of people out of hospital and helped to save countless lives.

In winter, flu and COVID-19 spread more easily as we spend more time indoors.

Getting these vaccines ahead of winter are two of the most important things you can do to keep yourself and others around you safe and get ‘winter strong’.

Those who can get both vaccines through the NHS will include everyone aged 65 and above, pregnant women, care home residents, people aged 6 months old or above with certain health conditions, frontline health and care staff, unpaid carers and household contacts of those at higher risk.

If eligible, you are encouraged to come forward as soon as you can due to the risk of the new variant, for the best possible protection.

If you have an appointment for a flu vaccination already booked with us at The Blandford Group Practice you do not need to do anything, if eligible you will automatically be offered the COVID-19 vaccination at the time of your flu vaccination.

Last year 6,000 under 5s ended up in hospital because of flu.

The child flu vaccine reduces your child’s chance of needing hospital care for flu by around two-thirds and helps prevent it spreading among vulnerable family and friends.

The vaccine is usually given as a quick and painless spray up the nose.

Book your 2 or 3 year old’s vaccine at their GP practice or, if your child is of school age, make sure to look out for and sign their consent form.

Get your child vaccinated against flu. Get winter strong.

Catching both viruses over winter increases the risk of serious illness even further. Vaccines are our best protection against flu and COVID-19.

Over the last few years, they have kept tens of thousands of people out of hospital and helped to save countless lives.

In winter, flu and COVID-19 spread more easily as we spend more time indoors.

Getting these vaccines ahead of winter are two of the most important things you can do to keep yourself and others around you safe and get ‘winter strong’.

If eligible, you are encouraged to come forward as soon as you can due to the risk of the new variant, for the best possible protection.

2-3'S Flu

Last year 6,000 under 5s ended up in hospital because of flu.

The child flu vaccine reduces your child’s chance of needing hospital care for flu by around two-thirds and helps prevent it spreading among vulnerable family and friends.

The vaccine is usually given as a quick and painless spray up the nose.

Book your 2 or 3 year old’s vaccine at their GP practice or, if your child is of school age, make sure to look out for and sign their consent form.

Get your child vaccinated against flu. Get winter strong.

There are just over two weeks to go to book your free flu and COVID-19 vaccines online through the national booking system and on the NHS App or visit a walk-in site.

Getting your flu and COVID-19 vaccines means your symptoms will be milder and you will recover faster if you run into these viruses this winter.

If you have certain underlying health conditions, are 65 years-old and over, or are pregnant you are eligible.

Check your eligibility and book now at www.nhs.uk/wintervaccinations

The last date to receive a Covid vaccination, if eligible, at The Blandford Group Practice will be Saturday 9th December.

Flu vaccinations for those eligible will be available until March 2024.

If you are eligible and not yet had you vaccination, please get in touch to book, either by calling us on 01258 444526 or coming into any of out sites.

Appointment Update

Our Anima on line service is avaliable from 08:00am -16:00pm Monday - Friday.

To access this service please click on the red "Submit Request" icon at the top of the page.

Online Services

Click here to log into Online Services which includes your medical record.

Please choose the right healthcare service in Dorset

NHS services in Dorset continue to be under extreme pressure.

If you’re unwell and are unsure about where to go, visit 111.nhs.uk or call 111. Please be patient and choose the right care. Get the right treatment, in the right place, at the right time.

At this very busy time, your 111 call may take a little longer to answer than usual but staff will get to you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

For ongoing or non-urgent concerns please contact your local pharmacist or GP practice.

Call 999 in a medical emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

Thank you for your support.

We’d also like to thank our hard-working teams who are working incredibly hard to care for those in need.

As you know, as part of your diabetes annual review, urine testing is really important to look for early signs of kidney damage. We do this through a test called the albumin: creatinine ratio (ACR) test, which looks for small amounts of protein in the urine. We know people struggle to do the test, and many would prefer to avoid the clinic and test at home wherever possible.

That’s why we are offering a new, NHS funded service to allow people to do this test at home with a kit and a smart phone. If you meet the criteria for the new service, you will receive a text message (or a letter) about the Minuteful Kidney service, which is provided by Healthy.io. If you want to find out more, please click here:

https://lp.healthy.io/minuteful_info/.

This text is not a scam; you do not need to pay for the service, and if you would rather opt out of the process you can say at any time. If you want to speak to their customer support team, you can call

them on 020 7183 79

Useful Numbers & Websites

24/7 mental health support line (Connections) - 0800 652 0190

Blandford Hospital - 01258 456541

Boots Pharmacy (East Street) - 01258 452619

Boots Pharmacy (Salisbury Street) - 01258 452824

Minor Injuries Unit - Call 111 Mondays & Wednesdays only 9:15am -4:15am by appointment only

Urgent eye problems - Call 111

CHEC Dorset Community Ophthalmology Service (Eye Community Self-Referral)- 0330 100 4730

10am – 4pm weekdays only

Steps to Wellbeing- Mental health support

https://www.steps2wellbeing.co.uk/

NHS.uk -Your complete NHS guide to conditions, symptoms and treatments, including what to do and when to get help.

https://www.nhs.uk/

Healthier Together - Provides advice for parents, young people aged 0-18 and pregnant women.

https://what0-18.nhs.uk/

MSK Dorset - Musculoskeletal problems and self-referral to physiotherapy

https://www.mskdorset.nhs.uk/

New text messaging service to support parents and carers

Parents and carers of children aged five or under in Dorset can now access support via ParentLine – a brand new confidential text messaging service.

The service is provided by Dorset HealthCare’s Health Visiting team and will help parents and carers who need guidance about a child’s health and development.

Advice will be available about a range of topics, such as breastfeeding, bottle feeding, weaning, sleep, toileting, minor illness, behaviour and parenting by simply texting 07312 277162.

Parents and carers can seek advice via ParentLine from 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), with a practitioner responding to messages within one working day. If a text is sent outside these hours the parent or carer will receive an automated message with advice on where to get help if they require it urgently.

ParentLine is not an emergency service. For urgent medical attention please contact your GP, NHS 111 or 999.

Dispensary Update

Online/Internet Pharmacies

To all our patients who have nominated an online or Internet pharmacy. We advise that you order your repeat prescription yourself rather than relying on a third party to do this. Due to the current demand on their services sometimes the requests are not coming through to us and therefore your prescription is not being processed and sent to your nominated pharmacy.

Calling all Dispensing Patients – Your Dispensary Needs You

The profits from our Dispensary help fund vital services at the Practice including additional phlebotomy appointments, additional clinical staff and free dosette boxes.

If you are eligible to use the Dispensary we ask you bear this in mind when making the decision as to where you collect your prescriptions from. Unfortunately, due to NHSE rules we are restricted in who we can dispense medication to. To check that you live more than a mile from a pharmacy please see the NHS choices website. For more advice or information please contact the dispensary team.

Without your demand we wouldn’t be able to keep the Dispensary open and every time you use us you are helping to keep the additional services above running.

Thank you for your support

How are we doing?

Following the CQC inspection at the end of last year, the Practice have been liaising with our external Health and Safety Provider, the NHS Dorset Quality Improvement Team and other external partners, and we are working hard to address the issues raised. This is something we will continue to do over the coming weeks and months. This includes having protected training time for staff and more robust auditing processes.

We would like to thank our staff at the practice for their continued commitment to patients. The report comes at a time when all aspects of the health and care community are continuing to come under unprecedented demand.

Any patients registered with the practice who have questions or concerns about the report should speak to a member of the practice staff in the first instance.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

NHS Friends and Family

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Welcome to The Blandford Group Practice

Introducing ‘Anima’ – Our New Appointment System

Get Vaccinated Get Winter Strong