Eastfield House Surgery

Dear patients, Following our flood last month we will de decorating the surgery within the upcoming few weeks. The decorating is taking place in the evenings and weekends in order to avoid any disruption of service and appointments for patients. Please bear with us during the next few weeks. Apologies in advance for any inconvinience caused.

Some local pharmacies may have different opening hours over the bank holiday.

To find an open pharmacy near you, visit https://nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy.

Some GP services will be available over the bank holiday.

If you have a health concern, contact your GP practice or use NHS 111 online or call 111 for urgent medical help.

➡️ http://www.111.nhs.uk

NEW PATIENT SERVICE - Saturday Blood Test Clinics
We are delighted to be able to let you know that all three of our practices are now able to offer blood test appointments on Saturdays with Strawberry Hill and Eastfield House starting in August and Downland hoping to start in September. Appointments will not be every Saturday at all surgeries, they will be on the Saturday/s each month that they are open which is usually twice a month for Strawberry Hill and once a month for Eastfield House and Downland.

If your GP or nurse has requested a blood test for you, you can now book to have this taken at your surgery on a Saturday. Tests can be booked either via the NHS App or by contacting your surgery. Results will be available a week after the test or can be seen on the NHS App as soon as your GP has reviewed them.

We are hoping that this will make it easier for patients to get their blood tests done.

Our systems are back up and running. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

We are experiencing technical difficulties. All our systems are down. Please bear with us whilst our engineers try to bring us back up and running. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Pharmacy Bank Holiday Opening Hours for West Berkshire.

Dear Patients
Further to our text notification to our patients who are eligible for routine breast screening, please wait to be contacted by the Breast Screening Team based in Reading. The service has been inundated with telephone calls as a result of our communication.

Eligible patients who are turning 50 years of age up to 71 years of age, will be contacted by the Breast Screening Team, over the next month or so and invited to attend for a mammogram at West Berkshire Community Hospital.

Our new website will be launched on Thursday 1 August. This will necessitate temporarily closing access to forms and requests via our current website from Monday 29 July at midday. We hope you will find our new website much more user-friendly, informative and accessible.

Please ensure you request any prescriptions due before the old site closes. Alternatively, please consider using the NHS app or drop your prescription request into the surgery. We are unable to take prescription requests over the phone.

Work has continued overnight to restore our clinical IT systems following the third-party issue that is impacting organisations globally.

Many databases are now back online and work is continuing today to enable our staff to log-in to the system.

Some surgeries in England may be able to access their clinical system, but functionality is likely to be limited and performance degraded.

We are completely focused on restoring full service for everyone, but please be prepared for some continued disruption throughout the weekend and perhaps longer.

You can now check and/or cancel your appointments using our telephone system!

We are now all up and running! Thank you for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience.

We are experiencing technical difficulties with both our Phone system and IT systems. We are trying to have it up and running as soon as possible. Please bear with us and apologies for any inconvenience that this might be causing.

Don't miss out Wellbeing Sessions!
Please join for chair-based exercises which are perfect for rebuilding strength and connecting with others.
Various times and locations are available!🌟🪑

Dear Patients
Our practice will be closed on Thursday 6th June from 1 pm for staff training. We will reopen the following morning at 8 am.
If you have a medical problem that cannot wait, please call NHS 111 who may refer you to WestCall at West Berkshire Community Hospital.
Alternatively, please consider contacting a local pharmacy who are able to prescribe medications for 7 common conditions including: Sinusitis, Sore throat, Ear Infections, Infected insect Bites, Impetigo, Shingles and Uncomplicated UTI's.

Learning Disability Awareness Week - 20th of June 10:00 to 4:00pm Health Bus in Northbrook Street. Please come and meet the learning disability Team - Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

We will be closed on Monday 27 May for the Spring Bank Holiday and will re-open at 8am on Tuesday 28 May. If you need urgent medical attention or have run out of your prescribed repeat medication, please contact 111.

Pharmacy First

Pharmacies can now examine and treat (prescribe antibiotics where appropriate) a specific range of minor illnesses.

Acute Otitis Media from 1-17 years old
Impetigo from 1 year and over
Infected insect bites from 1 year and over
Shingles from 18 years and over
Sinusitis from 12 years and over
Sore throat from 5 years and over
Uncomplicated UTI Women from 16-64 years

Pharmacists have been trained to diagnose and treat/prescribe appropriately for these conditions. Please always consider asking your pharmacist about over the counter treatment for other minor conditions before contacting your GP.

A Patient Participation Group (PPG) is a group of people who are patients of the surgery and want to help it work as well as it can for patients, doctors and staff.

Why should I join?

You have been to the surgery as a patient, parent, carer or friend. Your experiences matter and you can bring different ideas to the surgery to help us treat patients better or to improve what we do in some way. You will also gain a better understanding of the NHS, and gather feedback from other patients.

How often does the Patient Participation Group meet?

We meet at the surgery, but not too often. We know that you are busy, so we meet only a few times per year and hope that you can join us.

Our next PPG Meeting will take place in reception on the 21st May 2024 at 6:30pm.

If you would like to attend, please let reception know or just come along on the night.

Everyone is welcome!

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week.

Almost two thirds of people don’t know that you can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies online to access treatment for anxiety and depression. The service is effective, confidential and free.

You can refer yourself or talk to your GP: http://nhs.uk/talk.

There are little things we can all do to look after our mental wellbeing, and these can make a big difference to how we feel.

Get a free, personalised Mind Plan - a mental health action plan that provides practical tips to help you deal with anxiety and stress, boost your mood, sleep better, and feel more in control.

Get Your Mind Plan - Every Mind Matters Take our quick, 5-question quiz for personalised tips and advice on looking after your mental health and wellbeing. Update your plan any time for new tips.

Find your little big thing,

There are little things we can all do to look after our mental wellbeing, and these can make a big difference to how we feel.

Search Every Mind Matters for free, NHS approved advice and simple tips to help you look after your mental wellbeing and see whether you can make them part of your daily routine.

Find your little big thing.

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/

The Every Mind Matters campaign encourages and helps us to ‘find your little big thing’ hero-ing the little things we can do, which can make a big difference to our mental health.

Making time for your mental wellbeing is important - and embedding these little things as part of your routine can help you feel better and more in control

These little things can include:
- Getting physically active – like taking a walk
- Managing your thoughts and feelings with the help of CBT
- Talking to someone you trust
- Getting the most from your sleep – like avoiding screen-time an hour before bed or getting out of bed and doing something simple until you feel tired again
- Getting closer to nature
- Planning something nice to look forward to.

Find your little big thing at Every Mind Matters: https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/what-is-mindfulness/
https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/how-to-meditate-for-beginners/

We’re proud to support the Mental Health Foundation this Mental Health Awareness Week – 13 to 19 May. Join in and help to create a world with good mental health for all.

This year’s theme is movement: moving more for our mental health. Get involved by finding and sharing your moments for movement this Mental Health Awareness Week.

Find out more: mentalhealth.org.uk/mhaw

We will be closed on Monday 6 May for the early Spring Bank Holiday and will re-open at 8am on Tuesday 7 May. If you need urgent medical attention or have run out of your prescribed repeat medication, please contact 1111.

There will be a brief interruption to surgery service between 12.30pm and 12.45pm today due to a power supply replacement. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience. Our telephone and clinical systems will be temporarily unavailable during this interruption.