Welcome to the latest of our weekly newsletters. We regard it as a priority that all our patients are kept fully informed of all developments at Buckshaw Village Surgery, Croston and Adlington Medical Centres, our sites at Lostock Hall and on matters affecting former Eaves Lane Surgery patients. We hope these regular updates will continue to prove useful.
Wearing of Face Masks
You will be aware that this week the Government has announced that most of the remaining regulations brought in to address the Covid pandemic are to be lifted from July 19.
This includes the compulsory wearing of face coverings in workplaces and indoor areas.
We would advise that we are awaiting directives from NHS England with regards to the situation in respect of continued wearing of face coverings in surgeries.
We will therefore until further notice continue to insist that everyone entering our surgeries, be they staff, patients or other visitors, should wear face coverings as beforehand unless they have specific medical exemptions.
We will advise immediately via our website and social media channels as soon as there are any changes to this.
Covid Vaccination Query
We have had inquiries from some patients with regards to a batch of AstraZeneca vaccinations which were not approved by the European Medicines Agency.
We did use vaccines from this batch in mid-March during our Covid vaccination programme but would like to reassure all those who received them that there is no cause for concern.
The vaccines were produced by the The Serum Institute of India and are completely safe.
They were subject to the same tests and trials in the UK as all other vaccine batches and have been approved for use by the World Health Organisation.
Some patients have asked if a ‘third vaccination’ is needed for those in receipt of the batch but this is not currently available.
You may have seen a story in some areas of the media saying that fully vaccinated travellers who received this batch may not be eligible for quarantine free travel to the EU as the batch was not ordered by the EU and therefore was not tested by the European Medicines Agency.
However, the UK Government is in talks with Brussels on EU-wide recognition of the NHS Covid pass, which accepts this batch and also shows proof of vaccination, a negative Covid test or recovery.
We understand this is an 'administrative hurdle' which the Government are confident will shortly be overcome.
We will advise further as soon as any more information becomes available.
For your information, the AZ batch numbers in question are 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003. The batch numbers are listed on each individual's vaccination cards.
Increased Number of Appointments
Our extra GP clinics on both Saturdays and Sundays are now in full operation.
We are aware that during the pandemic, patients may have experienced problems making appointments and these clinics have now been arranged in an effort to improve our service and clear any backlog.
All the additional appointments will initially be by telephone triage due to the continuation of Covid regulations, and if the GP deems a face to face appointment is necessary, this will then be arranged by the GP at the earliest possible time after the initial appointment.
In addition, we are also extending the hours of operation of our phone lines which will now be open until 8pm from Wednesday to Friday. This is in addition to the existing extended opening to 8pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
Please note however that these extended times refer to phone access only and there are at this stage no additional evening appointments.
Please call our usual number on 01772 376600 to arrange an appointment or for further information.
Reopening of Buckshaw Village Surgery
We have now established a firm plan for the reopening of our Buckshaw site and as previously advised, this phased reopening will begin from this Monday, July 12.
The scale of the reopening will be limited at first but will gradually increase subject to Government regulations on the matter.
Our other sites will also see a phased reopening which we hope will include a gradual increase in the number of face-to-face appointments.
Please monitor our website, Facebook and other social media platforms which will be updated as soon as we have any further news.