What to expect when you visit the Practice

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, how you contact us will be different at the moment.  This is to limit face to face contact whenever possible and help stop the spread of coronavirus.

Your GP practice is open and if you need to see the GP, please telephone us and we will arrange for you to speak to a GP or you can use the DoctorLink app (details below) or you can call NHS 111. Please do not come to the surgery unless you have an appointment.

Appointments are being delivered face to face, online and over the telephone.  If you are asked to come into the surgery please arrive wearing a face covering.  Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection during your visit to the surgery.

Please continue to wear a face covering and social distance

All of our COVID-19 secure measures remain in place. Patients are asked to continue to wear a face covering, unless they are exempt, and to follow social distancing when visiting our GP Practice.   This follows the national Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Guidance for all healthcare settings and will help to ensure the safety of our staff and patients at all times.

Thank you for your continued support.

HOSPITAL WAIT TIMES

The Covid19 pandemic has added to the strain on all NHS services. As a result of this, waiting list times for outpatient and specialist appointments and procedures have increased for everybody. 

We appreciate that this can cause worry and uncertainty about when you will eventually receive an appointment.  The practice has no direct access to the hospital appointment lists.  

If you have been referred by your GP/are waiting for :

• An outpatient appointment
• An appointment for hospital tests (eg scans)
• A date for an operation or other treatment
• A follow-up from your hospital team

and you have a query about what is happening, please contact the Patient Helpdesk on 0800 048 5800.

Only call the practice if your condition has genuinely deteriorated, when you will be reviewed by one of the clinical team and appropriate action can be taken in regard to your care.

COVID-19 Vaccination programme

Vaccinators on Tour coming to a venue near you!   The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS has launched a new mobile vaccinator team.  Anyone aged 18 or over is invited to get their COVID-19 jab from The Vaccinators at any of the forthcoming locations - no appointment required, just turn up.

This is alongside a range of walk -clinics for 1st or 2nd Astra Zeneca doses running at vaccination centres and Pharmacies.  All dates can be found on the dedicated Vaccinators on Tour website via www.thevaccinators.co.uk that will be updated daily with the latest information.

Booster Vaccinations

Cohort 1-11 patients (30yr+, clinical at risk, Health & Social Care Workers) book a booster via NBS/119.  National invites are staggered so you may not receive an invite immediately but you can still book online/119.  Boosters will no longer be available as a walk-in appointment (from 13 Dec 2021).

• NBS (National Booking Service) bookings for boosters will be for 91 days and over since vaccine 2 appointments, but you will be able to go online to book in advance from 61 days

• New appointments are being added every day across our vaccination services. Further availability will come online from Wednesday 15 December.

   

  We will be working with all of our sites to take further steps to increase what they can offer again, including opening later and on more days.

   

  All of these appointments will be added to the National Booking System and so we encourage everyone who is aged 18 and over, is yet to have their booster and who is approaching 3 months from your second vaccine to use the National Booking System to arrange your appointment when you are able to do so.

How to access your COVID-19 vaccination status

You can access your COVID-19 vaccination status through the free NHS App  You can access the app through mobile devices such as a smartphone or by tablet. Proof of your COVID-19 vaccination status will be shown within the NHS App. We recommend that you register with the app before booking international travel.

If you do not have access to a smartphone and know that the country you are travelling to requires COVID-19 vaccination status, you can call the NHS helpline on 119 and ask for a letter to be posted to you. This must be at least 5 days after you’ve completed your course of the vaccine. We expect the letter to take up to 5 days to reach you.  The app only shows your COVID-19 vaccination status in the form of your vaccination record.  In the future, the app will also show your COVID-19 test results.  The NHS App records those vaccines given in the UK, it will not show vaccines given overseas, this is because the UK vaccine sites record directly into a linked website (NIMS).

Vaccinations Given Abroad

Only MHRA approved vaccines can be added to NIMS (NHS).  From 8 December patients will be able to book into a regional centre via National Booking Service (NBS) for a vaccination validation appointment.  Grafton Centre will be one of the regional centres for this service.  You will need to take an ID & Vaccination information with you - this service is by appointment only.  If the information check meets the requirement for a vaccine record a request will be raised to NIMS. The Practice can manually add information to your GP record but this will NOT update or provide a COVID pass.

You can use this service if you:

• are aged 18 years old or over
• have an NHS number
• have received one of these MHRA-approved vaccines outside of England - Oxford/AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty), Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) or Moderna (Spikevax)

Details: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-covid-pass#residents-in-england-who-have-received-covid-19-vaccinations-overseas

Booking link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/tell-nhs-about-coronavirus-vaccinations-abroad/

Vaccination queries - missing or incorrect (vaccine given in UK)

For missing or incorrect data, contact 119 and ask for a referral to the Vaccination Data Resolution Service (VDRS), current turnaround time is currently 21 days. This starts from 8 December 2021.

Find your NHS Number:

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/online-services/find-nhs-number/

If you need to take time off work - below is a Self-Certificate Form that can be printed off and handed to your employer:

• SC form