For the latest COVID 19 Guidelines in Scotland, visit:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid19

COVID UPDATE: MASKS 16.5.23

We are pleased to announce that Masks are no longer required to be worn when you attend the Surgery.

You can still wear a mask if you wish, and we will maintain a stock so you can ask for one if desired.

You can also request that the clinician seeing you wears a mask. Please make this known when you book your appointment. Your attending clinician may sometimes still request you wear a mask eg Respiratory Illnesses.

Hopefully this is the last time we have to mention COVID in our Newsletter. It has certainly been a very challenging period for the staff working in the Surgery and we would like to thank you for the patience shown as we worked through the various periods of government mandated regulations that affected how we were able to run the Surgery day to day.

NHS COVID Helpline

NHS 24’s COVID special helpline (0800 028 2816).

This a non-clinical service for general Coronavirus enquiries and to support individuals to book PCR tests who don’t have internet access. (otherwise visit NHS Inform)

From Monday 30th May 2022, operating hours will now be 0800 - 1800, a change from 0800-2000 Monday to Friday only. There will be no weekend service.  This is due to fall in demand as a result of the changes in public wide testing and staying at home advice.

The above pathways apply from 1.4.22

A COVID-19 spring booster dose is being offered to adults aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes for older adults and people aged 12 years and over with a weakened immune system. Appointment letters will be sent to those who are eligible. There is no drop-in available for the spring booster at this time. Please visit www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccinebooster for more information.

The Scottish Government requires General Practice and other healthcare settings to have different infection control and physical distancing guidance to other places such as hospitality and shops.

 This is to help reduce the risk to practice staff and to people attending the practice who may be at greater risk if they catch Covid 19 or a Respiratory Infection.

 The following rules still apply in General Practice:

 wearing of face coverings by patients and the public (unless you are exempt)

• contact your practice by telephone in the first instance
• wearing of PPE by staff
• screening of all patients for Covid 19 and Respiratory symptoms. Patients are asked to contact the practice prior to their appointment if they develop respiratory symptoms.

 Please support your the practice team by complying with this guidance and be patient with the receptionist who will have to ask you these questions:

Covid-19 Screening Questions

1) Do you or any member of your household/family have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 diagnosed in the last 14 days?

2) Do you or any member of your household/family have suspected COVID-19 and are waiting for a COVID-19 test result?

 3) Have you travelled internationally in the last 10 days to a country that is on the Government red list? **

 4) Have you had contact with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, or been in isolation with a suspected case in the last 10 days?

5) Do you have any of the following symptoms;

High temperature or fever?

New, continuous cough?

A loss or alteration to taste or smell?

 ** If yes to this they must follow government guidance (they should be anyway). Guidance found at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-international-travel-quarantine/pages/red-list/

The below link has details of all the vaccination drop-in clinics throughout Tayside:

Drop-in Clinics

LONG COVID

Long COVID is a new condition which stems from COVID-19 infection. The key symptoms are:

Still feeling fatigued, weak & breathless

Still feeling achy

Feeling like you can’t concentrate

Continued loss of taste or smell

Still feeling like you have COVID

To find the right advice about long COVID visit:

www.nhsinform.scot/long-covid

Or phone the helpline on: 0800224488

COVID BOOSTERS: We are aware that patients are now starting to receive appointment letters for the Covid Booster Vaccine. Unfortunately, contrary to an erroneous message on the NHS Inform system, the Surgery has no involvement in the Covid Booster vaccination campaign and we are therefore not able to change the venue, cancel or re-schedule these appointments for you. Please see this message from NHS Tayside and the attached document that details everyone's pathway for getting the booster:

Please do not phone your GP Surgery to ask about COVID booster vaccinations. GPs are not offering COVID boosters - if you are eligible, you will receive an appointment in the post.

Here is what you need to know about who is getting a COVID booster vaccination, how you will get an appointment, where you will get it and how to reschedule it:

Over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable

Appointments for COVID boosters for this group are being issued and will arrive in a blue envelope. Jabs will be delivered at one of our community vaccination centres.

If you want to re-schedule your appointment, you must do this online or phone the national helpline on 0800 030 8013. Please note this is a national helpline and it can be busy - please keep trying.

Please do not attend for a COVID booster without an appointment or at a drop in clinic.

People aged 70 and over and those aged 16 and over who are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable (previously known as shielding) are currently being invited for their flu vaccination at their own GP practices.

Severely immunosuppressed

• People who were severely immunosuppressed at the time of their last COVID-19 vaccination will be offered a third primary dose and will receive an appointment in the post in a blue envelope.

Other at-risk groups

• People aged 50-69, people aged 16-49 with a long-term health condition such as heart, lung or kidney diseases, unpaid carers, and those living with someone who is immunosuppressed will be able to book an appointment online soon for both flu vaccination and COVID booster. Look out for further details about this.
  • Vaccinations will take place in the community vaccination centres across Tayside.

Covid Boosters Pathways

THIS web page details who is entitled to the Vaccine in Scotland and the dose schedule for their age cohort:

https://nhsinform-n1.azurewebsites.net/covid-19-vaccine/invitations-and-appointments/who-will-be-offered-the-coronavirus-vaccine

COVID Vaccine Drop-ins:

If you visit the NHS Tayside or Perth & Kinross Council Facebook pages they have details of drop-in clinics for COVID Vaccines and what groups can attend.

This weeks (14/6/21) drop-in clinic info is in this document:

COVID Vaccine Drop-in clinics

COVID UPDATE 25/5/21 – The government is inviting all 18-29 year olds in Scotland to register online or by phone before Friday, 4 June, to get details of their COVID-19 vaccine appointment sent to them by email or text.  Those not registering will be sent their appointment details by letter at a later date.

By registering for the vaccine online at nhsinform.scot/under30register or calling 0800 030 8013 before Friday 4 June, those aged 18-29 can get their appointment by email or text wherever they are. 

This is particularly important for those who are planning to be away or have different term time addresses to ensure they still get details of their appointment as soon as possible as letters will be sent out to where they are registered with a GP.

The government encourages all 18-29 year olds to take up the registration offer before the deadline.

19.5.21 COVID VACCINATION CERTIFICATE

A certificate of your vaccine status can now be obtained:

• People will be able access their Covid-19 Vaccine Status online, by logging on to www.nhsinform.scot/covid19status.
• People who have lost or forgotten their username or password will be able to create new ones by selecting 'forgot username' or 'forgot password' options. A Freephone Covid Status Helpline will allow people to get the record posted to them.
• It can be contacted on 0808 196 8565.
• The Scottish Government continues to urge a highly cautious approach to international travel, given the risk of new variants. The four UK Chief Medical Officers have said that green-list status should be the exception, rather than the rule, with countries added to the list only where there are very good reasons for doing so.

At this point Patients over 65 and those 18-64 at risk patients who were vaccinated at the Surgery will not have the username the Website asks for to obtain the certificate, nor will those vaccinated as frontline staff. We have been advised that by 24^th May they will be able to use the ‘recover username’ function on the Website to get the necessary username required to proceed.

Please do not contact the GP practice about your coronavirus vaccination status. GP's cannot provide letters showing your coronavirus vaccination status.

COVID UPDATE 18.5.21

Now the world is opening up again we are getting enquiries from patients about Covid tests for travellers and vaccine certificates.

If you are travelling the below website has all the information for Scotland about tests and quarantine rules. Unsurprisingly our receptionists don’t have all this information at their fingertips nor is it their job to be travel agents for our patients:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-international-travel-quarantine/pages/overview/

As previously mentioned on this page; currently the Scottish government does not have a vaccine certificate plan or rule in place and we have been advised by our local medical committee that GP practices will not be involved in this scheme and providing the certificates, should it ever be formulated.

We will not be doing letters for patients, stamping passports (yes we have been asked to do that) etc. It is currently not medical contract work.

We can provide any Temporary residents who we vaccinated while they were in the area with details of when they were vaccinated, as the only way that info will make it onto their permanent Medical Record is through them taking the details back to their registered GP Practice.

Vaccines: We have finished our part in the COVID vaccination campaign. Some patients are still due their second dose due to coming late for the first and we have some small catchup clinics exclusively for vaccinating these people but beyond this we have no further vaccines left to give out any more 1^st or 2^nd doses. We have consistently being trying to contact some patients who never came in for their first dose and some patients who we gave the first dose to but haven’t answered the call for their second. As we now no longer have any spare vaccines on site and won’t be getting anymore we have now stopped trying to contact these patients.

If you are aged 70+ on 31^st March 2021, or aged 16-65 and in the at-risk group and have not had your 1^st dose, previously declined dose 1 but have changed your mind, not been able to attend the surgery for the second dose or not been contacted by us (we have had patients who changed contact numbers between dose one and two and didn’t let us know so we couldn’t reach them). Please contact the Surgery and we will arrange for you to be contacted by the central clinics and they will arrange your vaccination appointment.

If you are under 65 (and not in the at-risk group) you will have been/will be vaccinated by the Central Clinics. Please refer to the number and/or website address in the appointment letter you received. The Surgery has no involvement or influence over appointments for patients in this age category:

0800 030 8013 and www.nhsinform.scot/covid19appointments

COVID UPDATE 7.5.21

We are now coming to the end of our COVID vaccination campaign and are setting up our final clinics. If you received the first dose of the vaccine at the Surgery in January and February and have not yet had your second dose or have been given an appointment date for your second dose, please contact the Surgery so we can arrange an appointment time for you. 

COVID UPDATE 21.4.21

Unpaid Carers are being advised that from 26/04/21 they can register for vaccination via the National Helpline. From end of play on 25/04/21, those eligible who provide regular face-to-face care can no longer use the online service to register as an unpaid carer in order to be prioritised for the COVID-19 vaccination. Unpaid Carers are still encouraged to register via the Helpline 0800 030 8013 from Monday 26 April 2021. JCVI has recommended that unpaid carers should be invited to receive their COVID-19 vaccination as part of priority group 6, this is in alignment with legislation. This means including carers whom people rely on for day-to-day in-person sup-port and access to the COVID-19 vaccination is not limited to only one carer in a caring relationship.

COVID UPDATE APRIL 14^th 2021

COVID VACCINE PASSPORTS

The below was passed onto us by Scottish Government to put up on our communication platforms:

Please do not contact your GP Practice to ask for a Covid vaccination passport or status certificate – they will not be able to provide any standard document. International certification standards have not yet been agreed.

The Scottish Government is working to support the re-opening of international travel once it is safe to do so. We are working with the other UK Nations and with the World Health Organisation to agree on potential future COVID certification requirements for international travel.

As part of this, they are developing a technical solution that could allow people to access their Covid vaccination status directly

COVID UPDATE Thursday 8^th April

 Patients aged under 65 on 31^st March this year are being vaccinated at Central Clinics with appointments generated at a National level and posted out to the patient. If you are over 50 and have been expecting a letter with an appointment but never received one please follow this advice:

Those who should have been offered an appointment and have not received one yet can complete the missed appointments form at: https://invitations.vacs.nhs.scot/

Latest Astra Zeneca vaccine advice:

We received advice from the Health Board following yesterday’s news reports on the Astra Zeneca vaccine. We have vaccinated a few Under 30’s while doing the Shielding and Clinically At risk groups. The advice is that if you have already received a first dose of Astra Zeneca at the Surgery with no adverse symptoms (Blood clots) you will be invited to attend the Surgery to get your second dose of Astra Zeneca as originally planned.

Anyone under 30 without a Health condition who is awaiting their first vaccine as part of the age cohort call ups will be given a different vaccine. These appointments will take place at Central Clinics not at the Surgery.

Addition to ‘At risk’ cohort to be vaccinated at Central Clinics:

As there is now data indicating the potential for a reduction in transmission in those vaccinated, the JCVI has advised that adult household contacts of adults with severe immunosuppression are offered COVID-19 vaccination alongside the ‘At risk’ priority group This will reduce the risk of infection in those who may not be able to fully benefit from vaccination. The JCVI defines household contacts as individuals who expect to share living accommodation on most days and therefore for whom continuing close contact is unavoidable.

The JCVI does not currently advise vaccination of household contacts of

immunosuppressed children, or household contacts of immunosuppressed adults who are themselves children. This will be kept under review by JCVI as more evidence becomes available.

Adult household contacts will be invited via targeted communications to contact the helpline. Their details will be passed to Health Boards who will schedule an

appointment for the individual.

Once we know what the helpline is we will put it on the website too.

Covid Vaccine Update 26^th March

Patients aged between 65 to 69 on the 31^st March this year were being contacted centrally for attendance at Central Clinics. However they have now finished contacting this cohort and are moving onto other cohorts. If you weren’t contacted or didn’t make an appointment for your 1^st vaccination you are now to contact the Surgery to make arrangements for your vaccination.

We will not be arranging vaccination at the Surgery but are able to book appointments for you at the Central Clinics used for this Cohort.

Vaccine Certificates: Our local LMC have advised us as follows:  “we are awaiting guidance from Scottish Government around a central system to show proof of Covid vaccination but believe the solutions they are looking at will not involve GP practices providing this information”.

COVID Vaccine Update. Tuesday 16^th March.

Only use this if you haven’t had your 1^st dose vaccine and you think you should be vaccinated because you are an unpaid carer.

The self-registration portal for unpaid carers went live this morning and can be found at 

https://www.nhsinform.scot/carersregister

COVID UPDATE FRIDAY 12TH MARCH 2021

Asthmatics and the Cohort 6 ‘at risk group’: A few weeks ago when we started Group 6 we were advised that all asthmatics would be included at some point within the vaccination sub groups of cohort 6. However this week we received the following guidance in a letter from Scottish Government:

Asthma – Only those asthmatic patients requiring repeated courses of oral steroids

are considered to be at high risk of complications along with those with history of

hospital admissions due to poor asthma control. For planning purposes the JCVI

suggest that those patients that required at least 3 courses over the past two years

should be included in group 6. All other asthmatic patients including those well

controlled on steroid inhalers are not considered at high risk and should be vaccinated as part of the age based programme.

The groups were created from data on our clinical system which has a record of medication and hospitalisations.

We are now at the end of calling patients in Cohort 6 (though there are a few outstanding names we haven’t managed to get who we will retry) to come in for an appointment.

If you are an asthmatic and haven’t heard from us it will be because you don’t meet the above criteria used nationally to create the patient list for Cohort 6 and therefore weren’t on the Cohort 6 list we were sent.

COVID VACCINE UPDATE. 11^th MARCH 2021

We are currently working through the final patients on the 16-64 at Risk category we were provided with by the Health Board. This is known as Cohort 6 and will be the final cohort vaccinated at the Surgery. Once we have finished Cohort 6 we will be moving on immediately to starting the second dose vaccination of patients who had their vaccine done at the Surgery. We will call you to offer you an appointment for your second dose. We will be working through the list on a week by week basis, those vaccinated in our first week of holding clinics will be contacted first and so on. Due to vaccine supply there may not be an exact date to date correspondence between vaccine one and two but everyone will get their second vaccine within 12 weeks of their first dose. Please await the call from our reception team.

The age groups awaiting a fist vaccine still Cohort 7 60-65, Cohort 8 55-60, Cohort 9 50-55 etc will all be getting vaccinated at Central Clinics not here at the Surgery. We received the following update about this yesterday:

Many thanks to you all for your ongoing support with the vaccination programme.  I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that, across NHS Tayside and the three HSCPs, we have approved our first schedule for cohort 7 using the national ServiceNow appointing system.  

This system utilises patient postcodes and appoints them into one of our vaccination centres at Dewars, Pitlochry or Blairgowrie.  As with all new systems we may have a few patients who would have preferred a different appointment, or appointment venue and the letter patients receive will advise them how to change this.

Later this week we will be approving schedules for cohort 8 and 9.  Cohort 8 will be appointed week commencing 22 March, with cohort 9 commencing 29 March: using the ServiceNow appointing system. 

Unfortunately Surgery staff will not be able to assist you with any issues you may have with appointments through this system, as we do not have access to it at our Surgery. Please refer to the contact details in the letter you received for enquiries. These will be:

0800 030 8013 and www.nhsinform.scot/covid19appointments . Don't contact these until you receive your letter though as you will need the unique username given to each person that is included in your letter.

Update March 2^nd 2021 : Face Masks and Vaccine enquiries

As of Monday 1^st March patients attending NHS sites, including our Surgery, need to wear a clinical mask. Any type of face-covering is no longer accepted, it has to be a clinical mask. Patients arriving at the Surgery who do not have a suitable mask will be given a Mask.

For the age groups currently being vaccinated at central clinics (65-69 year olds at this time) and those who will be getting done by the central clinics in future. Which will probably here-in be most if not all of the remaining cohorts. If you have issues attending a clinic or haven’t been contacted yet. There is a number and an email address you can contact: tay.c19vaxlocalenquiries@nhs.scot or phone 01382 423108.

Friday 26th February

Latest info released to us regarding vaccines for Unpaid carers:

Unpaid carers aged 16 to 64 are now beginning to be offered vaccination alongside adults with eligible at-risk health conditions (priority group 6). Those unpaid carers aged 65 and over should have been offered the vaccine earlier in priority groups 2 to 5.

The Scottish Government is using the definition for an unpaid carer as set out in the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 however for the purposes of vaccinations this will not cover those who provide only remote care.

Some NHS boards are now beginning to call forward a limited number of carers identified through GP systems and social security data of those on relevant benefits, as vaccine supply allows. Carers do not have to do anything at this time if they have not received their appointment letter, are not on benefits or if they are not registered with their GP as a carer.

Further information will be available shortly about the forthcoming self-referral system for carers in Scotland which we expect to launch in early March.  A dedicated national marketing campaign will be launched alongside the self-referral system to raise awareness and encourage carers to come forward.

COVID VACCINE CENTRAL CLINICS:

If you are in one of the cohorts that are being done by central clinics (currently cohort 5 aged 65-69 on 31^st March 2021) and you are concerned that you haven’t been called please visit the following page on NHS Inform to find out how to proceed:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/invitations-and-appointments/missing-appointment-details

COVID VACCINE UPDATE: MONDAY 15TH FEBRUARY

The next cohort to be vaccinated by the Surgery (number 6) has been split into 4 to be completed in the following order: 6a – at risk 16-64 which is from a list compiled nationally (some asthmatics are in this group but only those with serious conditions eg recent hospital admittance and regular oral steroid medication); 6b –carers identified through benefit claims; 6c: Unpaid carers as identified through a new registration portal (details TBC; as of Feb 23rd no further information has been provided by Scottish Government on when this portal will be set up and how it works. Info will be posted here as soon as we know).

We will be working through each list chronologically and will contact you to book you into a clinic.

The 65-69 year old cohort patients that are being vaccinated at Central Clinics: the timescale for these patients to be vaccinated has been extended to the end of February so please await your phone call from the Health Board, whom are responsible for making these appointments.

It is likely, but not confirmed, that those unable to attend appointments offered by the Health Board will ultimately be mopped up by the Surgery. But as stated this is not certain, so if you are offered an appointment please do your utmost to attend.

The surgery has a list of patients aged 70 + (including shielders under 70) who were unable to attend the Surgery for their vaccine for whatever reason. We are awaiting guidance from the Health Board for on how these patients are to be mopped up. We will contact you in due course.

COVID VACCINE UPDATE TUESDAY 2^nd FEBRUARY 2021

Two new developments this week:

Patients aged 65 to 69 on the 31^st March this year will not be getting vaccinated at the Surgery but are to be vaccinated at Central Clinics organised and run by NHS Tayside and in our area co-ordinated by the Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (P&K HSCP). The HSCP will be using sites around Perth and Kinross and you will be offered a slot at one of these sites. Local to us they are sites in Pitlochry, Blairgowrie and of course Perth. The HSCP will be contacting our patients directly to book you in for a clinic, they will most likely be in touch by the end of this week with your appointment to be scheduled for the week beginning 8^th February. Please do not contact the Surgery about these appointments we will not be able to book you in. Await your phone call from the HSCP.

We have been tasked with completing all patients in the 70-79 cohort plus shielding patients by February 14^th. So will be holding clinics at the Surgery every day next week. Once we have confirmation of vaccine deliveries dates our reception team will begin calling patients within that cohort to book you in for clinics. We will be starting with the oldest and working our way through the list from there so please again be patient and wait for your phone call.

COVID VACCINE UPDATE Friday 22nd January 2021

We continue to only receive small deliveries of the vaccine. This Wednesday our 2nd delivery was only 50 doses. Therefore we are continuing to contact patients ourselves to book them in for the vaccine. We are working from the oldest down so please be patient if you haven't heard from us yet, we will be in touch.

COVID VACCINE UPDATE Wednesday 13^th January 2021

Today the Surgery received our first delivery of COVID Vaccines.

However like every practice in Perth and Kinross we only received 100 doses, with no current timetable for the next delivery. Though we are hoping for a similar amount weekly going forward, but this is not guaranteed.

Therefore we are setting up clinics but we are making the bookings ourselves. Arbitrarily working from the oldest patient down; though couples who are both in this cohort will be invited together. The current cohort is for patients who are over 80 or Frontline Health Workers who were unable to get the Pfizer vaccine for health reasons. Housebound patients will be getting done by the HSCP Immunisation team.

So please be patient, we will hopefully be in touch with everyone in this cohort to book an appointment for a vaccine in the next 3 weeks, but are at the mercy of NHS Tayside’s delivery schedule. Please do not phone us to book an appointment; we will be in touch with you.

Although we received 100 doses there is the potential for us to vaccinate 110 people per 100 due to the nature of the vials containing the vaccine, some can produce 11 injections instead of 10 and we have been authorised and encouraged to use the 11^th injection where possible. We can’t book 11 patients in per vial as there is no guarantee that we’ll get 11 from a vial. But if we do we need to use the injection within 6 hours of the vial being opened or it is wasted. Everyone will get vaccinated eventually but to save wastage if you are in the over 80 cohort (80 by 31^st March 2021) and can get to the Surgery within 10-15 minutes of us phoning you and would be happy to get one of these vaccines. Please email your name and telephone number to:

craigvinean.tayside@nhs.scot

We will then create a list of people to phone should this situation arise.

COVID 19 Vaccine Update: Thursday 3^rd December

Everyone is understandably excited about the arrival of a vaccine for COVID 19.

I am sure everyone is very interested in discovering how and when they can get vaccinated. Here at the Surgery we currently don’t have much more info than what you will have already seen on the news. We do know:

That we will very likely be the deliverers of the vaccine to our Patients

The process involves two vaccinations. Due to different minimum timescales between the two vaccines brands, advice has been that to avoid mistakes we should have an arbitrary 4 week gap between the two vaccines.

The first patient cohort to be done will be patients Over 80. Due to the gap between first and second vaccines and possible supply issues with vaccines each cohort will be completed over an 8 week period.

The further cohorts will be done in 5 year splits: 75-80; 70-75; 65-70; 18-65 with pre-existing health conditions; 60-65. Each taking 8 weeks to complete.

So it is going to be a long process and patience will be required.

We will update this page with information as we learn it ourselves. We will post the dates of clinics for these vaccinations on this page too. There will not be any flexibility of when you get the vaccine, the only options will be dates we set our clinics.

Please return to this page for updates on clinic dates etc, please don't phone the Surgery you will just be directed to this page by the reception team.

24/12/20: The Practice has agreed with the Health Board that we will take responsibility for the delivery of the vaccines to our patients. We will learn in the New Year what the process will be for Vaccine ordering, once this is in place we will be able to begin arranging clinics.

The first cohort will be the Over 80's. We will contact you ourselves to arrange booking for one of our clinics. This will be by Letter or Phone. Nobody else will have any need to be in touch with you other than the Surgery. We have heard reports that some patients have been getting phone calls regarding the vaccine asking for personal details. Do not respond to these callers they are certainly not involved in vaccine delivery.

www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccine

Cold, Flu or Covid 19 checklist. Check your symptoms with the below document. If in doubt contact NHS 24 on 111 or visit NHS Inform online for further info:

COVID 19 Coronavirus

Attending Your Appointment: When you arrive at the Surgery for your appointment you will be asked to wait outside (or in your car) until the clinician seeing you comes to collect you. There will always be some delay between your arrival and the clinician collecting you as they have to put on the compulsory PPE that all clinical staff must wear. If you arrived on foot this will mean a wait outside regardless of the weather, so please dress appropriately.

Please manage your COVID-19 Health queries with the following process:

Should I be going to hospital if I feel unwell?

As always – if you have a critical medical emergency, phone 999.

If it’s not an emergency:

If you have mild symptoms or are looking for information:

Please visit www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus . If you can’t find the answer please call the special helpline on 0800 028 2816

If you have COVID-19 symptoms:

If you need more advice than is available online at NHS Inform, call NHS 24 on 111.

Please do not call the Surgery with COVID-19 concerns; all COVID-19 queries should be directed through the above pathways first. NHS 24 will be liaising with surgeries as to patients we need to contact if they believe it necessary after your call to NHS24.

For all other health matters:

Call your GP. You should only call NHS 24 for non COVID 19 health concerns if your GP is closed and you cannot wait until they reopen.

The following document outlines these points and how your case will be dealt with in more detail:

Who to contact regarding COVID 19

THE SURGERY DOOR WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE DURATION OF THE OUTBREAK. ADMITTANCE TO THE SURGERY WILL BE BY PRE-ARRANGED APPOINTMENT ONLY. PLEASE PHONE THE SURGERY TO ARRANGE APPOINTMENTS AND ORDER PRESCRIPTIONS. YOUR PHONE CALLS WILL BE TRIAGED BY ADMIN STAFF RE THE BELOW GUIDELINES.

COVID 19 National Helpline: As announced at a Scottish Government press conference, there will be a new free telephone helpline for people who we know face significant challenges as a result of Covid-19 but who are not in the shielding group, e.g. those over 70, disabled people, those who require support for mental health, pregnant people, and those who receive a flu jab for other health conditions. This helpline is also open to those in the shielding category who are not yet receiving support, or who do not have family or existing community support and cannot get online. The contact number is 0800 111 4000 and it will initially operate Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Those who call will be automatically connected to their local authority, who will help to access the ser-vice they need, including essential food and medication, contact with local volunteer groups, emotional support, or links to local social work services for vulnerable children or adults.

Craigvinean Surgery Services during COVID 19 Pandemic:

Please find below a list of some of the clinical services we are doing during the COVID 19 Pandemic and others that we are not currently doing at the moment. This list is not exhaustive and subject to change over time. Please contact the Surgery by phone if you have any queries.

We are still doing:

Blood tests for patients on drugs that need regularing monitoring eg methotrexate

Blood tests for patients on Warfarin

Blood tests as part of chemotherapy treatment

Blood tests arranged by a GP or consultant as part of ongoing investigations

Blood tests for patients with diabetes who have been contacted by a GP or Practice Nurse

Cervical smears for patients who have been recalled following an abnormal smear

All routine childhood immunisations

6 week baby checks

We are no longer routinely doing:

Routine cervical smears- please rearrange in 2 months

Routine blood tests as part of an annual review eg for diabetes or vascular. These will be rescheduled for a later date.

Contraceptive implants or coils.

Steroid joint injections

Monthly B12 Injections- these will be moved to every 3 months.

Routine GP care for new symptoms will be being seen as normal. What has changed is how you will be seen by the GP and how your appointment is arranged. So continue to contact the Surgery if you have new health concerns that are not COVID 19 symptom related.

The local pharmacy is experiencing a high volume of prescription requests and drug supply is not flowing at the usual rate.  They are advising not to come to the Pharmacy to collect your prescription until 4 working days after you have ordered it.

In view of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we are having to make some changes to the way we practice, this is primarily for the safety of our patients. The receptionist who deals with you is likely to ask you some questions in order to best help you. Please be reassured that all our practice staff are bound by confidentiality rules.

Chronic condition annual reviews:

During the COVID19 pandemic the Surgery’s operating procedures have had to change. One of things that has changed is the process of seeing patients for their chronic condition annual reviews. Due to the necessity for room and equipment cleaning our Nurse team doesn’t have the same appointment capacity as before, so face to face reviews will be prioritised by whom the GPs deem most needing:

You will probably not be invited to the Surgery for your review unless as part of your review a blood sample or BP measurement is required.

Non face to face reviews will be conducted either by Video consultation or telephone.

A video consultation can be done on your home computer if you have a webcam, or on your smartphone or tablet and will be arranged by a member of the Nurse team.

Telephone consultations will also be available.

We are in the process of creating our review lists by priority and will be in touch with patients in due course. July 2020.

Requested Samples:

During the COVID19 pandemic the Surgery’s operating procedures have had to change. One of things that has changed is the process of handing in samples:

Due to the door being locked samples need to be left in the Purple bucket found outside the main door.

Please get your samples to the Surgery by Midday. Our samples are collected by the lab about 12.45pm daily.

Please make sure all the requested details have been written on your sample bottles.

Due to the open access nature of the bucket, to protect your confidentiality please enclose your sample in an envelope prior to leaving it in the bucket.

We are aware that there will be a lot of patients experiencing anxiety regarding the COVID 19 outbreak. Anxiety UK are providing a useful service both online and with a telephone helpline. https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/   Tel: 03444 775 774 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mental-health-helplines/

These two leaflets advise on how to 'Home isolate' if you suspect you may be infected:

Household Isolation Advice

Patient Isolation Advice

Lots of advice and information on COVID-19 can be found on the NHS Inform page:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus