Self Management

Please follow this link for useful guidance on Strep A and scarlet fever.

By: Sherif Al-Marayati – Business Manager  

As many of you are aware the NHS continues to experience many challenges this winter due to a multitude of factors happening in tandem. In addition, to the increased demand we would usually expect at this time of year due to seasonal illnesses such as flu and (now) Covid-19, we have been very busy trying to manage our routine care e.g. annual health reviews, flu invitations along with ensuring our child population are protected against the rise of Polio in London. This is all coupled with managing lots of unwell patients who haven’t had a chance to see their Doctor for many years due to COVID.   This all means that St John’s Way is experiencing higher demands then in previous years.  

We want to take a moment to thank all our patients for your understanding during this time as we know you have perhaps had to wait longer than hoped to see one of our clinical team or have your query managed. Please know that we are working as hard as we can and always striving to provide high quality care to our patients.  

To cope with increased demands, we have several new initiatives to help our patients get the medical support they need at the right time by the right person – this might mean consulting in different ways e.g. by phone, video call or email or speaking to a range of different primary care professionals – not just a GP. 

Meet our Diverse Team  

SJW has a burgeoning multi-disciplinary team made up of many skilled professionals to provide our patients with care and support. These now include: Sergio our First Contact Physiotherapist, Dalmar and Huda our Clinical Pharmacists, Wlaisa our Health Care Assistant and Marie our new nurse.  

Signposting 

To support us with managing the exceptional levels of demand that we are experiencing we are trying to signpost our patients to online and local services that will help deal with many common illnesses. For example, on our website you can find lots of articles about Health Advice for conditions such as the common cold, asthma, diabetes and many others: https://www.stjohnsway.nhs.uk/health-advice 

Our New Website  

We upgraded our website this year to try to make it easier for our patients to find the information they are seeking. There is also information our website on how to request prescriptions including how to do this online or via your smartphone: https://www.stjohnsway.nhs.uk/prescriptions 

New Community Pharmacist Consultation Service 

We are also referring many patients to local Pharmacies through the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service. This service offers patients a same-day appointment for minor illnesses with their local community pharmacy for conditions such as acne, athletes foot, cough, cold and flu, headaches, hearing problems, lower back pain, skin rash, vomiting and many others. For a full list see below along with a video clip explaining more about the CPCS program. 

Helping yourself to stay well 

The best care is the medical care that is not needed – we want to do our best to keep you well and some of the ways to do this are to take up the opportunity to attend your health check, annual long term condition reviews, screening appointments and book in your vaccinations/boosters when offered.  

We know that a lot of our patients are struggling at the moment with financial difficulties and that these problems can have negative effects on their health and wellbeing. If you feel you need help or support to meet your bills, heat your home or feed yourself and or your family there is help available. You can speak to a Social Prescriber who can refer you to local services who can help. Please fill in an eConsult on our website https://www.stjohnsway.nhs.uk/appointments if you are happy for us to pass your details to the Social Prescribing team or speak to a GP. 

Out-of-hours Services  

We are still advising patients to contact NHS 111 in some instances when our on-the-day or emergency appointments are gone, as they might be able to advice patients on what else they could do if they cannot speak to a doctor on the day.  

I also want to inform you of the new iHub appointments that are currently being held here at St Johns Way Medical Centre (until April 2023, when it moves to another practice in the area). Some patients might be asked to see a GP or another healthcare professional during evenings or the weekends in some cases. 

How can you help us improve? 

We are always open to feedback and we one of the ways to do this would be to join our Patient Participation Group please check out the relevant section on our website here https://www.stjohnsway.nhs.uk/patient-participation-group 

A Greener Future 

We are looking at various green initiatives to be more environmentally friendly. If you have suggestions on how we can improve things please email us at sjwpatient.enquiries@nhs.net and direct your query to Dr Edwina Lawson. 

Child Booster Vaccination - UCLH are providing a walk-in clinic for 6 to 9 year olds eligible for the extra supplementary Polio booster from Saturday 3^rd Sept, please click the following link for more information - https://nclhealthandcare.org.uk/keeping-well/baby-and-childhood-vaccinations/polio/polio-walk-in-vaccinations-for-6-9-year-olds/ 

St John's Way Medical Centre are still offering appointments to any child or adult that is not up to date with all their polio or other age appropriate vaccines. Please check your red book to see what vaccines your child has and hasn’t had. If they are missing any vaccines please call us to book an appointment.

For more information on the vaccine please see our new webpage for patients about Baby & Childhood Vaccinations which has a dedicated page about Polio: https://nclhealthandcare.org.uk/keeping-well/baby-and-childhood-vaccinations/

Our patients with long term health condition/s such as diabetes, high blood pressure or asthma will already be aware that annual review processes at St John’s Way have been disrupted over the last two years due to the demands of coronavirus pandemic.  We truly appreciate your understanding and patience during this period of intense challenge for us and the wider health service.  There has however, been one silver lining, which has been the opportunity for our team to review and streamline our long term review processes in a way that we hope will improve patient experience moving forwards. 

How has the LTC Annual Review process changed?

From April 2022 patients with the following long term conditions will be invited for review within the month of their birth.  If you have more than one of these long term condition we will try to group these as far as possible, to streamline your overall number of reviews and reduce unnecessary duplication of tests and checks. 

 How will this change affect me?

If you have a one or more long term condition please expect to be invited each year around your birthday for review.  You may also be sent a text with a questionnaire in advance of your review so that we can collect information about the control of your condition and your general health.  Responding to these messages will better inform the clinician who undertakes your review – so please try to do so where possible. 

Once completing baseline tests and observations you will then receive a letter summarising your results which we invite you to read and familiarise yourself with in advance of your Part 2 appointment.  We will include a copy of the ideal result parameters to help you judge your progress.  Attached there will also be a short questionnaire which we hope will help our patients to think about the health goals that are most important to them in the coming year.  These goals can then be discussed at your Part 2 appointment with a clinician at the practice.

Our Hope for the New LTC System

We really hope that the new system will provide a better experience for our patients – helping you know when to expect your reviews in the calendar year and giving more control over your results and your overall health condition.   As it is a new process, we will be keen to get your feedback over the coming months and will create opportunities to do so in due course. 

For information on the national flu campaign and to find out if you should have it any why, please click HERE.