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.
Abuse of staff
We are sorry to report that there have been a series of incidents at our Buckshaw Surgery involving serious verbal abuse of staff and one particularly disturbing case where a patient physically forced their way into a GP’s consulting room. Much of this abuse has been fuelled by social media posts, many of which are inaccurate and misleading.
Clearly this is not acceptable and we operate a zero tolerance policy on such incidents which are causing untold stress and upset to our staff, most of whom have worked through the pandemic and have put in extra hours on a regular basis.
Please treat our staff with courtesy and respect at all times. They are here to help you and will do everything in their power to do so.
Covid and flu vaccination programme
We are offering booster jabs to those aged 50 plus, front line health care workers, those with underlying health conditions and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.
Anyone with proof their second jab was at least 26 weeks ago is also eligible.
Our vaccination hub at Jubilee House, Centurion Way, Leyland PR26 6TR is open from 8am to 8pm from Wednesday to Saturday, closed for lunch 1-2pm. You can make appointments via the NHS app or call as a walk-in. First and second jabs are also being offered.
Housebound patients should contact us for home visits in respect of all jabs.
Parents of 12 to 15-year-olds should contact their child’s high school for info.
Unfortunately we have no update on annual flu jabs which are currently by text invitation only, and we are still awaiting updates on the nasal flu jab for primary school children.
Missed Appointments
With the reopening of our surgeries, we have made a big effort to increase the number of face to face appointments in response to patient feedback.
We are therefore disappointed to report that there have been an increasing number of missed face to face appointments in recent weeks with patients failing to arrive for the appointment.
In the first three days of this week alone, there were 34 missed face to face appointments at Adlington Medical Centre and 32 at Buckshaw Village.
All these appointments could have been used by another patient, so if you are unable to make an appointment or if you no longer need it, please let us now so we can reallocate it.
Our Phone System
We have had a number of comments from patients both directly and on social media saying they have been ‘cut off’ after being on hold for some time.
Please be advised firstly that none of our staff will EVER deliberately cut you off.
Further, we have had our phone system extensively checked by our technical staff and there are no technical issues which would cause any call to be ‘cut off.’
Signal and reception issues can result in a phone call being terminated, particularly in the Buckshaw area where mobile coverage can be patchy, but clearly this is beyond our control.
We would ask callers to be patient if this occurs and call again. Thank you for your co-operation.