Welcome to Richmond Medical Centre's Website
Serving You
Our dedicated team are here to treat those minor ailments that occur as well as providing specialist management of long-term conditions and clinics covering a wide range of healthcare issues. The technology also means you can now do a lot of things from the comfort of your home such as order a repeat prescription or cancel an appointment.
Partners in Care
Once registered, patients and healthcare professionals work together to ensure the most appropriate care is provided. This partnership philosophy extends even further and our active patient group exists to make sure that patient needs and the practice offering are always heading in the same direction
*if you wish to book a same day appointment please call at 8:30 in the morning as this is when we have free slots
*If you wish to chase up a hospital appointment or hospital letter please call up and ask to talk to a secretary instead of booking an appointment
*if you would like a doctor to produce you a report such as an insurance report, please ask for this at reception instead of booking an appointment
Practice Opening - We are open!
The practice is open every day 8am - 6:30pm so if you are unwell and need to speak to a doctor please can us, we are here for you.
The Richmond Hub is also open every weekend between 8am - 11am Saturday and Sunday via our Primary Care Network Hub, there will be doctors available for you to talk to on Saturday and Sunday as well as a nurse. If you call our usual number, you can pre book for a telephone or video consultation.
Whilst we are open and when the lines divert to the hub, please do not call 111, leave them free to help patients suffering from COVID 19.
FINALLY, HELP ALL OF US, PLEASE STAY AT HOME, PROTECT US AND SAVE LIVES.
IMPORTANT ADVICE ABOUT CORONAVIRUS
The symptoms of Coronavirus are: A new continuous cough, cold or chest like symptom, A high temperature/fever of 37.8 and above, Shortness of breath. But these symptoms do not necessarily mean you have the illness. The symptoms are similar to other illnesses that are much more common, such as cold and flu. Our aim is to reduce person to person contact. We put the health and safety of our patients and staff first at all times.
All contact to the practice for the foreseeable future is by telephone or email only. Please be reassured that our team will endeavour to continue to deliver patient care, just in a different way. Our aim is to reduce person to person contact. We put the health and safety of our patients and staff first at all times.
The GP’s will be carrying out telephone and video consultations only. And then if approved by the GP’s we will allow access to the building.
If you normally collect repeat prescriptions in person, please telephone us and we can arrange for this to be sent electronically to a pharmacy. You can also register for online access to order your prescriptions rather than order over the telephone.
Following the government’s announcement on Sunday 22nd March, there are now 2 groups of vulnerable patients who currently have NO symptoms of COVID 19
Group one comprises of all those patients who are invited for a flu vaccination every year - these patients need to stay at home wherever possible, but at the very least MUST practice social distancing, keeping at least 6 feet or 2 metres apart from others and limiting the number of times you leave the house and where possible, no one should come to visit you.
Group two are those patients who are in group 1 but have health conditions that put them more at risk of a very poor outcome if they were to catch COVID 19. These patients MUST STAY AT HOME for the next 12 weeks - social isolation. If you are in this group, you will receive a letter, but these are the conditions which would put someone in this group:
Solid organ transplant recipients
People with specific cancers:
People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD
People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell disease)
People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection - these will be patients taking the following drugs
- Azathioprine
- Mycophenolate (both types)
- Cyclosporin
- Sirolimus
- Tacrolimus
Patients who have had their spleen removed
Patients having renal dialysis
People who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired
If you are in this group, you will receive a letter. If you do not have family or friends who can support you to completely isolate from the outside world, please visit this page which will give information on how you can be supported
There have been numerous queries from lots of patients who think that they should be in this group - on 3rd April the government issued amended guidance which you can read here
If you are in group 2 and have other people living in the same house, they do not need to isolate with you, unless they too have received a letter, BUT they MUST practice social distancing from you and avoid all contact with you if possible.
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable
Extended Access
We are now open for extended access. This means we are open until 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am -11am on Saturday and Sunday for pre-bookable appointments only
Click here for the Extended Access Leaflet
New prescribing policy
What is changing?
Our practice, along with others throughout England, will be implementing a new policy on prescriptions for over-the-counter medicines when used to treat a range of minor health conditions. The national guidance on this policy has come from NHS England and the full local policy can be found on the Birmingham and Solihull CCG website.
The GPs and nurses at Richmond Medical Centre will no longer routinely be prescribing medicines that can be bought over-the-counter (OTC) for certain, mostly short term, conditions. We will also no longer be prescribing vitamin and mineral supplements for most patients. Click here for more information.
We are asking patients to take a different approach to managing the following conditions:
acute sore throat minor burns and scalds conjunctivitis mild cystitis coughs, colds and nasal congestion mild dry skin cradle cap mild irritant dermatitis dandruff mild to moderate hay fever diarrhoea (adults) dry eyes and sore tired eyes mouth ulcers | earwax nappy rash excessive sweating infant colic sunburn infrequent cold sores of the lip sun protection infrequent constipation teething or mild toothache infrequent migraine threadworms insect bites and stings travel sickness mild acne | warts and verrucae haemorrhoids (piles) oral thrush head lice prevention of tooth decay indigestion and heartburn ringworm or athlete's foot minor pain, discomfort and fever (such as aches and sprains, headache, period pain, and back pain) |
NEW - Data Protection Update - GDPR
A new Data Protection Bill ("DPB") in the UK will enact the General Data Protection Regulations with effect from 25 May 2018. The Information Commissioners Office, responsible to regulating data use in the UK, has stated that the introduction of the new legislation is “the biggest change to data protection law for a generation".
They have advised that their primary focus will be safeguarding customer and client data, and most organisations have good grounds for requesting, retaining and processing employee data. However, this does not exempt GP practices from having to comply. In addition to the financial risks of the practice not complying with data protection law, individuals will also have greater rights to challenge the organisation’s use of their data, which could lead to costly legal action.
Find out what is changing here.
2018 Patient Survey - The results are here, take a look.
Your Care Connected
Your Care Connected allows healthcare professionals to view information from your GP record, it will provide them with important and potentially life-saving information; it will also help to reduce unnecessary repeat tests, such as blood tests and X-rays. Sharing your medical records could save your life - All patient aged over 15 years 11 months will be receiving a letter detailing this service. More information can be found on the website under "News" - Your Care Connected"
PPG ( Patient Participation Group) – We need your views
Would you like to receive news from your Practice first hand and on a regular basis?
Are you interested in learning more about health and associated matters?
If so, then all it needs is your name and e-mail address (this will never be forwarded onto anyone but the practice).
Please speak to reception for how to do this.
*if you would like more information on the group and how it works please click this link*-> http://www.richmondmc.co.uk/ppg.aspx?t=1
Download a PDF copy of our most recent news letter here -> News Letter
(Site updated 20/05/2020)