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 call us, we are here for you. 

The Richmond Hub is also open every weekday 6.30pm - 8pm and 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 

Our New App - myGP

Download our new appointment bookings app to your smartphone for free. myGP was developed to make access to healthcare easier and faster for patients. Once downloaded, simply log-in with your date of birth and mobile number and add the people you care for, allowing you to book and cancel appointments for them. Plus more! It’s really that easy! For more information, please visit: mygp.com

Flu Vaccination dates

Flu Clinics will be open for booking from Monday 7th September.

Our Flu Clinics will be running differently this year. All flu clinics will be pre-bookable for both weekday and weekend appointments. 

Our weekend clinics will operate with a one way system in the practice building. The entry point will be at the front door and exit point will be via the back door down the steps - * we would advise if you are unable to walk down these steps to book an appointment within the week *

All patients will have their temperature taken and will be advised to have a face mask or face covering to enter the building. We have limited space to sit in the practice and so very few numbers we be able to enter, so please only arrive at your given time. If you are early you will need to wait in the car or queue outside. If you arrive late you will not be able to attend that day. Do not attend if you have any type of Covid19 symptoms.

Those eligible will be contacted.

Clinic Dates

Saturday 26th Sept - Over 65 Only

Fri 2nd Oct - Over 65 Only

Sat 3rd Oct - Split Clinic of Under 65 (Clinical risk group) and Over 65

Fri 9th Oct - Under 65 Only (Clinical risk group)

Fri 16th Oct - Over 65 only

Sat 17th Oct - Split clinic of Under 65 (Clinical risk group) and Over 65

Children - Thursday afternoons during September and October

Primary Care Network - Changes for the Practice - click here to find out more

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:  

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