Newsletter

This Newsletter is issued by the Forest Edge Medical Practice, located on Manford Way Chigwell Essex. IG7 4DF. The information is offered as best practice at time of writing.

Dear Patients,

Welcome to the newsletter. This issue is the first of 2023.

Note from the Practice

Dear patients,

We have finally emerged from the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic. During which in the first year of lockdown all the doctors and virtually all the staff caught and recovered from the virus before there were any vaccines.

The means of communicating with patients has had to undergo significant changes. The most noticeable has been initial appointments being offered by telephone. The practice is working to provide more face to face appointments. The practice has a new look website with access to more medical information and support we have restarted the patient participation meetings and as you are now aware published the newsletter.

The new information on TV

We have continued to update the TV throughout the last 3 years and the latest slides to be added inform patients of the next phase of the building works covering the library and community hall. There are slides advising on holiday health needs covering temperature and vaccinations.

There is around 25 minutes of information available.

Patient Participation Group

We restarted the Group last year and held half a dozen meetings with a couple of speakers advising us of the changes to the NHS Administration and its links to Redbridge council. At these meetings we ask questions of the doctors and Forest Edge Administrators who are very open with us and explain the problems they face and ask us what as patients we expect from them or for help with the surveys they have to do.

At the turn of the year the Practice Manager Rob Orange retired and has been succeeded by Jihan Kibria. The PPG made a presentation to Rob for his excellent support and welcomed Jihan who has taken up Rob’s willingness to assist the patients like a duck to water. Not an easy task. As before we meet once a month on a Monday evening for an hour.

Clinical Commissioning Group

During the pandemic National Health Service England completed the planned changes to abolish the Clinical Commission Groups who funded Health Care by borough and implemented
Integrated Care Boards which are a merger of the borough CCG's. Ours stretch from Tower Hamlets to Dagenham in the east and Walthamstow in the north. The bulk of the home services are administered by NELFT. North East London Foundation Trust as they were before the change.

Children's Health

Last winter Surgery's and Medical practices had to identify all the children under 11 registered with them and ensure they were protected from Polio. The sewage companies had detected live strains and children were most at risk. During January all our patients had been checked and those who needed it were vaccinated.

Key Medical Changes

With the implementation of the Integrated Care Boards Doctors Surgery's have been linked together in-order to improve patient support.

These are known as networks and Forest Edge is part of the Fairlop Network. These networks have been provided with funds to improve the support for medical needs. This is proving to be successful as Phlebotomy appointments have become easier to obtain, access to the foot clinics is readily available and individual practices have access to pharmacists working in the surgery advising doctors and patients of new drugs or where medications may conflict. In some cases the pharmacist may contact the patient directly.

Hospital Info Update

The Chief Executive of the Hospitals (BHRUT) has been appointed and has continued the work of reducing the back log caused by the pandemic. Our local hospitals have not been involved with the industrial disputes but the health service cannot work in isolation and where patients have life threatening conditions they can be diverted to working hospitals. The knock on effect is to delay the work on reducing the back log.

Prescription & Health Changes.

Doctors and Pharmacists are working together to reduce the cost of prescriptions to patients and where a prescription is more expensive than a product that is on general sale in the pharmacy they will advise the patient and not provide a prescription script.

General info

The general advice for Out of Hours assistance is:

1. For life threatening situations dial 999
2. Fractures and serious cuts. Go to A & E
3. Discomforting conditions use a "Walk in Centre or Urgent Care Centres at King George or Queens.
4. For rapidly deteriorating ailments or GP advice call the surgery or NHS on 111
5. If you need an urgent appointment in the evening call 020 4506 8824 and ask for an appointment
6. Forest Edge APPOINTMENTS ONLY 020 8500 9938

The NHS 111 phone number is available 24 hours a day and should be the first point of contact if the surgery is closed.

Published: Sep 4, 2023