Please find a copy of our 2017 patient survey here. We greatly appreciate any feedback about the surgery and thank you for taking the time to fill in the survey. Please hand in the completed survey to Reception.

Reports in the press of three week waits to see your GP are like stories from another country for us in Silverton. Appreciative patients regularly ask me how we manage to offer the service we do, with appointments always available on the day or within the next few days depending on patient preferences. The truth is our approach has hardly altered over the last 30 years.

We have always made access for patients one of our top priorities. We think that this creates a positive and facilitatory healthcare circle rather than a vicious downward spiral. We ensure we always have some available GP appointments at the beginning of every day and as a result we know that we will, literally, have room to adapt to whatever that day brings. Helen, our senior receptionist, brings many years of knowledge of how to balance our appointments so that we have enough both short and long term available when patients ring.  We think that if patients are confident that they can get an appointment when they need one they are more likely to wait to see if their symptoms start to improve before booking one. Continuity of care is also vitally important. Seeing your own GP means patients are less likely to return quickly hence needing less appointments.

We run a one stop shop. GPs and nurses all take blood tests themselves which is highly unusual. Normally if a GP requests a test then patients have to make another appointment for a phlebotomist to take their blood. Doing everything in the same consultation, although slightly longer, makes the whole process of presentation to diagnosis much quicker.  It also saves appointments. As we are rural we dispense medication ensuring the smooth flow from diagnosis to collection of treatment. Through this additional contact we also get to know patients better and this enhances our whole holistic approach to healthcare that we think is essential to the service we can provide.

Ultimately the most important components are the people involved. It is a whole team effort that starts as soon as a patient enters the surgery or we answer the telephone with everyone working very hard to make ourselves accessible and efficient.

The other part of this healthcare team is you, the patients. Understanding and respecting a valued service works both ways. Our patients are always happy to wait or adjust if one of the GPs is called out on an emergency and happy to adapt their timetables to fit with ours if we are busy on a particular day.  So whilst patients do praise the service regularly, we also need to thank you for using it so responsibly. This completes yet another positive feedback loop that makes it all possible.

Anthony O’Brien, Wyndham House Surgery

To read the updated SCENE Newsletter for 2017, please click here.

Age UK Tiverton, Cullompton and Mid Devon

www.ageuk.org.uk

The Haven Centre, Broad Lane, Tiverton. EX16 5HE

Contact: 01884 255369 for details of all Age UK services

Or email: enquiries@ageukmiddevon.org.uk

Mon – Fri 9.30 – 12 noon and Tues – Thurs 9.30-3pm

 Information and Advice

We offer a ‘one stop shop’ for information and advice on issues that are concerning you, or problems you are facing. We provide you with easy access to information and support you in understanding the options, helping you make informed decisions. Subjects we can advise on include Health and Social Care, Allowances and Benefits, Money Matters and Local services and support

Tiverton Hub at Tiverton Town Hall

Tuesday 9:30-12:30; Wednesday 9:30-12:30

Cullompton Hub at Culm Valley Centre for Health

Thursday 9:30 -12:30

Call 01884 242052 to make an appointment with an advisor.

Toenail Cutting service

This affordable foot care and toenail cutting service provides support and basic foot health advice to older people who cannot care for their own feet. It aims to improve older people’s mobility by providing simple prevention and support for people who can’t cut their nails themselves. This service takes place monthly at Culm Valley Centre for Health and Tiverton Hospital.

Toenail cutting £6.50 and fingernail £3.00.

Phone Ali on: 01884 255369 to book.

Computer and IT Support

IT may be everywhere, but that doesn’t mean everyone understands it. If you or a loved one could do with a bit of help and guidance using computers, tablets and Smartphones these sessions designed for the over 50s could be for you.

We have an IT suite, with a small network of computers open for taster sessions supervised by our IT expert. Some areas of interest to you may be: online shopping, family tree research, using smartphones, booking holidays, or using comparison web-sites. We also offer up to six lessons in a convenient location, covering computer basics. Cost is £5.00 for 50 minutes. Call Ben on 01884 255369 for more information.

Free legal and financial advice clinics

Volunteers from local professional firms offer free half-hour consultation sessions on specific legal and financial matters. Attendance is strictly by appointment only. To find out more and to book your free session, please call the office on 01884 242052, or email us at enquiries@ageukmiddevon.org.uk.

The Haven Centre (Day Care)

Open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday between 9am and 3pm. Activities, entertainment, singing and a freshly cooked two-course lunch. More information on Age UK website or contact Simone or Lizzie on: 01884 251213.

Men in Sheds

Due to start in early 2018 – contact Age UK for details. Men’s Sheds are community spaces for men to connect, converse and create. The activities are often similar to those of garden sheds, but for groups of men to enjoy together. They help reduce loneliness and isolation, but most importantly, they’re fun.

The Friends of Wyndham House Surgery

WE NEED YOU!

PLEASE REGISTER YOUR INTEREST AND BE A MEMBER OF THE FRIENDS OF WYNDHAM HOUSE SURGERY.

If you are a patient with the Wyndham House Surgery – or if you have a keen interest in furthering the welfare and health of the local community – then you can be a Member of the charity, the Friends of Wyndham House Surgery. The charity is run by a Management Committee of up to nine Trustees and are elected by the members at the AGM.

It costs nothing to be a Member but by registering you will be helping the Friends, will be supporting the work of The Friends’ Management Committee and would be part of the group that elects the Committee each year.

In the past it hasn’t been necessary for us to have a ‘register’ of members but Charity Committee Rules and Guidance make this really important for us. Therefore, if you care about our work, please complete an application form and become a Registered Member of the Friends.

You are still very welcome to come along to our AGMs even if you don’t want to register as a member but after this year’s AGM only registered members will be able to vote for the Management Committee or vote on other significant matters – such as our revised constitution.

If you came to the AGM last year, you may recall that we felt the time had come to review the constitution. This important document provides the main stay for the governance of the charity and the original constitution adopted in 1992 was a bit out of line with 2016 Charity Commission regulations and guidance.  The draft document will be available on the Wyndham House Surgery website, or you can request an email copy by sending an email to friendsofwyndhamhousesurgery@gmail.com or if you do not have internet access please speak to any of the Committee Members.

Membership application forms can found here or are obtainable from Reception at Wyndham House Surgery.

• It may be getting colder outside, but winter needn’t be the unhealthiest time of year for you and your family.

• Although our Flu Clinics are over, it is not too late to get the Flu Jab – please contact the surgery to see if you are eligible.

The Wyndham House Surgery Autumn/Winter 2016 Newsletter is now available to read. It includes information regarding our new registrar GP, the Memory Café, Balance Classes and lots more!

Read the newsletter here: newsletter_autumn/winter2016

Are you eligible for an annual Flu Jab?

Our Flu Clinics this year are on Tuesday 10th October in the morning and Friday 20th October all day at Silverton Community Hall.

There are many myths surrounding flu and the flu vaccine. Please click here to read 10 common flu myths and the truth behind them.

Call the surgery to book your appointment today!

On Friday 23rd September 2016 all staff members in Wyndham House Surgery will be ‘over doing it’ in denim to raise money for Jeans for Genes Day by wearing as many blue/denim items of clothing as possible! There will also be a selection of cakes for sale, all of which will be hand-made by the Wyndham House Surgery team!

The monies raised by schools and workplaces on Jeans for Genes Day fund a range of initiatives that improve the lives of children affected by a genetic disorder.

For more information on the charity, and how to get involved, please visit the Jeans for Genes official website: https://www.jeansforgenesday.org/

If you have visited the surgery in the last week you can’t have failed to notice have seen our swish new electronic noticeboard! Generously funded by the Friends of Wyndham House and Silverton Parish Parochial Trust (thank you!) this addition to the waiting room will be used to advertise all our services, as well as Devon and national NHS news and initiatives.

We hope this information board will improve your patient experience while waiting for your appointment. If you have any comments on the board or have any information useful to patients that you would like to have displayed then please contact the practice manager – Mark Flinton – on 01392 8600034.