Combe Coastal Practice

Due to the long wait times for many hospital services, MyHealth Devon have put together a useful letter which will be sent out to all NEW patients referred through Devon Referral Support Services and provides useful contact details should you need to enquire regarding your referral.

We would be grateful if any patients awaiting referral could read the attached. We are unable to provide wait times for any referral and will refer all patinets to the letter below to contact the service directly.

Please do get in touch with your GP if your problem has worsened dramatically or you need additional support.

We have sent a text message out today to a selection of patients asking if they would please fill out a quick health questionnaire. This is a safe and legitimate questionnaire from your GP to update your medical records and we would be very grateful if you would take a minute to complete it if you are able to do so.

There is no need to contact the surgery if you can not or do not wish to complete the survey, but if you have the time we would be very grateful.

Many thanks

We are delighted to announce we are in the process or transferring our online patient triage service from eConsult, to Patient Triage by AccuRx.

This new Patient Triage service will provide the same service to contact your GP online, or another member of the team and will usually be actioned within 3 days (often sooner).

The new service provides a much easier streamlined service for our patients, with less forms to fill in, however we do ask that you ensure you provide full information in the boxes you are presented with to enable us to understand your requirements.

You can use this service now by visiting: : https://florey.accurx.com/p/L83096

Please note this service is NOT suitable for any urgent problems.

Patient triage is a safe way to start a routine consultation with your GP, to contact the Admin team with an administration request, to request fit or sick notes and prescriptions and to send over photos where you have been asked to do so.

We ask that our patients please use the new Patient Triage service from now on, instead of eConsult as this service is due to be switched off imminently. This will update on our website homepage shortly.

Please find below the Fern Centre April newsletter

A supplier to the NHS has advised us of a global shortage of some equipment used for taking blood tests.

Anyone who needs a test for urgent health problems will still get one.

However, routine tests may need to be cancelled for now if your clinician deems it safe to do so.

Our team will be making phone calls today to those patients that have booked routine blood appointments over the next few weeks.

Given the nature of the shortage, we cannot give an exact date for when the test will be rescheduled, but please be assured that if your condition or symptoms require it, then you will get a test.

If your condition or symptoms change or get worse, please contact the surgery as you would normally.

Thank you

A reminder to our patients that the Combe Coastal practice can not chase hospital referrals.

If you have been referred to the hospital on a routine basis, please be aware that there are currently significant delays for many departments. Your name will be added to the waiting list and you will be contacted when a date becomes available.

It is not unusual to be waiting over 12 months for a routine appointment, although this differs between departments. This currently includes Routine Xrays and scans which have an 11 month wait.

You can check the current waiting times for the department you have been referred to at the NDDH using the following link: https://www.nhs.uk/…/hospi…/Services/DefaultView.aspx…

Please do not contact the surgery to check on the progress of your referral.

If you have been contacted to book a hospital appointment, or have had an appointment letter in the post and no longer need this appointment, please contact the hospital directly to cancel.

If you feel your symptoms have got worse, or something has changed, please contact the surgery and book an appointment with your usual GP to discuss.

Private referrals:

For all private referrals, please note that the Combe Coastal practice supply a referral letter to your chosen consultant upon request if appropriate, but it is up to the patient to source and fund their own appointment.

If you are unsure who you wish to see at the time of discussing with your GP and you do not get in touch with the details within 48 hours, your referral letter will be left bank and posted to you to forward on to your chosen consultant.

Please allow up to 2 weeks for your referral to be typed during busy periods.