Victoria Medical Centre

have been training hard over the past few weeks to get ready for the 2024 great north run to raise money for Barnsley Hospice. All donations for this fantastic charity would be hugely appreciated!
We were up at 6am this morning to run 8 miles! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

https://gofund.me/824a4797

Urgent notice to all patients..

The protests planned for tomorrow are unfortunately starting at the premierninn around the corner from the surgery.

Cohens chemist next door have decided to close from 12pm as a precaution however as it stands at the moment we will remain open as normal.

We will keep you updated if anything changes.

Please stay safe everyone

12:22 update....

SYSTEM STILL DOWN

10:53 update....

SYSTEMS STILL DOWN

**NATIONAL ISSUE AFFECTING MOST SURGERIES**

our clinical systems are down and we are unable to access any patient record / book appointments / order prescriptions

Next update in one hour!

VICTORIA MEDICAL CENTRE ARE RUNNING THE 2024 GREAT NORTH RUN

6 team members are running the great north run to raise money for Barnsley Hospice!

Your support and encouragement would be much appreciated!

Keep your eyes out for lots of fundraising events happening in surgery between now and September

Any tips / advice would be much appreciated!

Donate to VMC are running the 2024 GREAT NORTH RUN!, organized by Alice Vickers Victoria Medical Centre are proud to announce 6 team members are running the 2… Alice Vickers needs your support for VMC are running the 2024 GREAT NORTH RUN!

Routine appointments with the Advance Clinical Practitioners are now available to book ONLINE!

If you are not already signed up and would like access to online services please contact us on 01226 282758!

What is an Advance Clinical Practitioner?

Advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) are healthcare professionals, educated to Master’s level or equivalent, with the skills and knowledge to allow them to expand their scope of practice to better meet the needs of the people they care for. ACPs are deployed across all healthcare settings and work at a level of advanced clinical practice that pulls together the four ACP pillars of clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research.

What types of things can they deal with?

A whole range of things from chest infections to long term conditions! The ACP's can prescribe, refer and issue fit notes where required. The patient co-ordinators will be able to help you decide if an ACP appointment is appropriate for you.

**IF YOU ARE ALREADY SEEING A GP WITH AN ONGOING ISSUE, AN ACP APPOINTMENT IS NOT APPROPRIATE**

Don't forget - our ACP's also run our daily urgent care walk in clinic!

EXCITING NEWS!

We have a new telephone system installed!

You will now be informed where you are in the queue, with a CALL BACK FEATURE! No time to wait? No problem, we'll call you back once you're at the front of the queue!

You will be pleased to know you will NEVER HEAR THE ENGAGED TONE again when calling the surgery - we know it drives you all mad!

Any feedback good or bad would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
!

We still have some flu vaccines available...

We are now offering a FREE NHS flu jab to all patients aged 50!

Please contact the surgery to book in

We'd like to wish all of our patients a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

We are open until 18:30pm today and will re-open at 8am on Wednesday 27th December.

A huge thank you to those that have gifted us with lots of yummy biscuits and chocolates and for all the lovely cards!

If you need medical assistance over the Christmas period please contact I-heart Barnsley 365, 111 or NHS online.
Please only use A&E or 999 for emergencies.

COMMUNITY BLOOD PRESSURE CHECK EVENTS:

Thursday 7 December
Leslie Frances Barbers
10am - 2pm

Friday 8 December
Barnsley Market
10am - 2pm

Monday 11 December
Wombwell Library & Darfield Library
10am - 1pm

Tuesday 12 December
Marc’s Barber Cudworth
10am - 2pm

Wednesday 13 December
Worsborough Pantry
11am - 1.30pm

Wednesday 13 December
Mapplewell Library
12 - 3pm

Thursday 15 December
Barnsley Market
10am - 2pm

"The Sound Doctor" has a mission to improve the quality of life for people with long-term mental and physical health problems by educating them, their carers and their healthcare professionals about the most effective ways of managing their conditions.

Their vision is to bring practical, effective and credible information together in one place that will treat long term health as a complex and interconnected web of conditions and recognise that people with one condition may have other pressing needs. People who enter the site will feel they are in a space where they are treated as a whole person with multiple needs and anxieties. The focus will be on helping people to understand their conditions better and allow them to get the most out of life, whether at home, at work or in care.

Please follow the links for courses available to our patients:

COPD - https://tinyurl.com/2pq92m6o
Diabetes - https://tinyurl.com/ygxy4ro4
Mental Health - https://tinyurl.com/yftrnbap
Sleep - https://tinyurl.com/2p7rp2vt
Stop Smoking - https://tinyurl.com/2os6cdz9
Weight Management - https://tinyurl.com/yffs2ymn

Stop Smoking The films contain information from some of the UK’s leading national and international  specialists . You can do the course in your own time, at your own speed, wherever you choose. The Sound Doctor provides nationally accredited, Qismet certified structured education courses. The Sound Doctor ha...

"The Sound Doctor" has a mission to improve the quality of life for people with long-term mental and physical health problems by educating them, their carers and their healthcare professionals about the most effective ways of managing their conditions.

Their vision is to bring practical, effective and credible information together in one place that will treat long term health as a complex and interconnected web of conditions and recognise that people with one condition may have other pressing needs. People who enter the site will feel they are in a space where they are treated as a whole person with multiple needs and anxieties. The focus will be on helping people to understand their conditions better and allow them to get the most out of life, whether at home, at work or in care.

Please follow the links for courses available to our patients:

COPD - https://tinyurl.com/2pq92m6o
Diabetes - https://tinyurl.com/ygxy4ro4
Mental Health - https://tinyurl.com/yftrnbap
Sleep - https://tinyurl.com/2p7rp2vt
Stop Smoking - https://tinyurl.com/2os6cdz9
Weight Management - https://tinyurl.com/yffs2ymn

Weight management The Sound Doctor provides nationally accredited, Qismet certified structured education courses. This course on weight management has been created to help you understand more about your weight and your health.  

We are looking for 2 patient co-ordinators to join our expanding team!

We have 2 part time positions available!

For further information and details on how you can apply please email [email protected]

We are recruiting a Practice Nurse ….. Please see below for details!

Job Advert To improve our site we'd also like to use cookies which will send information to Google Analytics. You can read more about our cookies before you choose.

As a practice we are continuously looking at ways we can improve our service.

Last year we launched the ONLY walk in service in Barnsley for patients registered with us, which means we can see all acutely unwell patients on the day, without the need for patients to play “appointment lottery” at 8am every morning. All we ask is that you simply turn up.

We have, however, faced some problems along the way. We only had two advance practitioners running the service to begin with, which meant when annual leave and sickness cropped up, there was only one single clinician seeing many patients, which meant longer waiting times.

Now, we could have continued like this, allowed patients to have the longer wait times, simply because the service was already an improvement. But we wanted to improve it further.

We recruited 2 more advance practitioners into the service. This meant waiting times were shorter AND we could offer routine appointments with the advance practitioners. Which have been very popular!

Another surgery in Barnsley has also adopted this idea and is working well for them as well which is fantastic.

However, we then had the issue of patients queuing at reception, arriving up to an HOUR before the walk-in clinic opens just to ensure they are first in line.

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you all that being first in line does not necessarily mean you will be seen first. If someone attends the walk-in clinic more unwell than you, they may be seen before you. Arriving too early for the walk in has caused a whole host of issues, including a near fight in reception last week!

A lot of you have suggested a ticket system, and whilst patient suggestions are appreciated, unfortunately this one cannot be implemented. Patients already arrive too early without a ticket, imagine how early people will come if there’s a ticket up for grabs! It would just cause more people to attend early to get the first ticket, which is what we are trying to avoid.

We have therefore decided to operate the walk-in clinic from the small window located to the right in the foyer (those that have been with us a while, you will remember it as the secretaries’ window)

Patients will be asked to queue outside the building and check in at the small window. Now we appreciate this is not always ideal, especially looking at today’s weather, however we urge patients not to attend early. The walk in opens at 08:30 – 09:00 and then 13:30 – 14:00. There is no need to attend before 8.30 or 13:30. You will only be waiting longer!

To ensure everyone is receiving the most appropriate treatment, all patients arriving at the walk in will now be triaged at the window by the Advance Practitioners BEFORE they are booked into the walk in.
They will ask a couple of very basic questions to ensure you are being booked in with the most appropriate clinician.

Please understand that we are not and never will be perfect, we are working with the resources we have available to us, and we all need to work together to utilise the resources as effectively as possible.
We would like to thank all the patients that have supported us during times of change and treat staff with courtesy and respect.
Thank you!

FLU VACCINATION INFORMATION

We now have clinics open and available to book for those eligible for a flu vaccination.

Please contact the surgery on 01226 282758 to check eligibility and book your appointment

Synergy - Enquiry

We posted a few days ago that the Advance Practitioners now have routine appointments available to book..... See below a list of problems that can be dealt with in a routine appointment with the advance practitioner:

Constipation
Hay fever
Irregular vaginal bleeding
Lumps – Breast / Ge***al / Other
Mental Health - new - not ongoing
Mole checks
MSK - Knees / Backs etc
Re**al bleeding
Reflux (adults)
Skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis etc
Tired all the time - initial consult
Varicose Veins

Here's a list of problems that can be dealt with in the walk in clinic:

Abdominal pain
Asthma flare up
Chest infections
Chest pain (if you think you may be having a heart attack call 999)
COPD flare up
Cough
Diarrhoea (telephone)
Ear Pain
Eye problem
fever
flu symptoms
General malaise
Gout
Headache
Infected ingrown toenails
Joint Pain
Nappy Rash
Nausea
Rash
runny nose
Shortness of breath
Sinusitis
Skin infections (cysts / cellulitis / bites etc)
sore throat
Swollen leg (? DVT)
Unwell infant / Child (if not ongoing)
Urine infections

**WE HAVE APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE TOMORROW WITH THE ADVANCE PRACTITIONERS**

Hope this helps!

Thanks

**We are hiring**

Are you interested in being a Patient Co-ordinator (receptionist)?

32.25 Hours
Monday 08:00 - 20:15 (30 mins unpaid lunch)
Tuesday 13:30 - 18:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 19:00 (30 mins unpaid lunch)
Friday 13:30 - 19:00

No weekends
No bank holidays

Must be flexible to cover overtime.

Please send your CV's to [email protected]

We are now able to offer routine appointments with the Advance Practitioners!

If your problem isn't urgent enough for the walk in and you don't want to wait for a GP why not book in to see one of our skilled AP's?

They can deal with most things the GP can (including requesting tests such as xrays and ultrasounds)
They can refer you to secondary care
They can diagnose, prescribe and offer follow up investigations.

They CANNOT complete insurance forms / medicals.

If you have already been seen by a GP for a problem you will need to continue following up with the GP.

Appointments with the Advance Practitioner are typically available within a couple of days.

Dear Patients,

We are changing the way we review long term conditions or Chronic Diseases (this includes Asthma, Hypertension, COPD, CHD, Stroke, Mental Health, Obesity, Learning Disabilities, Heart Failure, Dementia)

We will invite patients for ONE review annually on the month of their birthday instead of separately for each review.

This system will take a while to be fully functional as some patients may have already had a review recently.

If you have had a review within the past 6 months when your birthday month rolls around we will NOT invite you this time and will start again on your birthday next year.

If you had a review more than 6 months ago we will invite you for this years birthday.

Unfortunately we will not be able to provide cake for the occasion, but feel free to bring us a slice 😀😋

Any questions, please get in touch!

Thanks
Alice

WE ARE BACK ONLINE!

we are extremely sorry for the disturbance this caused. Please bare with us while we now try and catch up with the days worth of work that we were unable to complete.

The phone lines may be incredibly busy today.

Please remember you can ask any query online using this link: https://florey.accurx.com/p/C85033 (please do not use this link for anything urgent)

Or you can book appointments / order repeat prescriptions via patient access if you are signed up. Please speak to a patient co-ordinator if this is something you would like to sign up up

**UPDATE**

our system is still down. We are unable to access any part of our clinical system.

We're incredibly sorry for the inconvenience.

Our phone lines have been diverted to iheart for anything urgent

ALL appointments and prescription requests will be affected today.

Please call 111 for URGENT prescriptions.

We're incredibly sorry for the inconvenience this is causing.

Hi everyone.

Just another quick update.

Our system is still down. We can't get in touch with IT to give us a time frame and they haven't sent any comms out to us either.

We will do our best to assist you where possible today but appointments / prescriptions may be affected.

Again, please remember this isn't anyone's fault and we're doing our best to resolve the issue.

Thanks!

Florey

***UPDATE***

Internet is still down. IT are working on a fix but unsure how long this will take.

We can't do ANYTHING without the Internet including ordering prescriptions

PLEASE be kind to reception staff there is nothing they can do about it and it is not their fault!

We'll keep you updated.

URGENT MESSAGE

our system seems to have gone down and we cannot access anything

Please avoid calling at this time.

I will update this post when we are back up and running.

Trying to get through to IT now but seems they are down too.

Thank you for your patience and understanding

**WE ARE OPEN TODAY**

whilst we are still open as normal we have unfortunately had to cancel some appointments. A lot of our staff have been unable to get in this morning due to the weather.

We will contact you directly if you have been affected by this.

If you can't get to surgery and would like to cancel your appointment you can leave a message on our cancellation line... 01226 282758 option 2.

Stay safe everyone!

Feel free to fill this post with your lovely snowy pictures! 🌨❄️☃️

We are still open as normal today. The car park may be icy so please take extra precaution if attending....

If you can't find us on reception we're round the back building snowmen! 🥶❄️☃️

CONGRATULATIONS to Barnsley Hospice for their "OUTSTANDING" achievement awarded by CQC following their inspection in November 2022.

**IMPORTANT INFORMATION**

UNISON is to undertake further strike action on Monday 23 January 2023 for ambulance staff, paramedics, non-emergency Patient Transport Services and call handlers, including those covering NHS 111. This will be a 12-hour period from 10.00-22.00.

PLEASE NOTE, PRIMARY CARE STAFF ARE NOT JOINING THE STRIKE ACTION AND ALL APPOINTMENTS WILL GO AHEAD AS NORMAL

Our phonelines direct to NHS 111 at 18:30pm every evening whilst we are closed. If you need medical advice that is not a life threatening emergency please follow the advice below

If you need advice for a minor/mild illness or injury, in the first instance, please either contact your local pharmacy for help or look at the self-care advice that’s available on-line from the NHS at www.nhs.uk

If you want to check your symptoms, there is an on-line symptom checker available at 111.nhs.uk, which will re-direct you to a health professional if you need to be consulted by someone

**I-heart Barnsley will still be available between 4pm and 6pm**

Please only call 999 in life threatening emergencies.

If you were in our carpark this morning driving a white car parked next to a black Mercedes GLC please can you contact the surgery, you may have hit the black car and we'd like to pass the owners details on please,

Thank you