What to expect when you visit the Practice

For the safety of patients and staff you must continue to wear a mask/face covering in our GP Practice. Please still practice social distancing.

Appointments are being delivered face to face, online and over the telephone.  You will find the Practice is now fully open.

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

We recommend My Planned Care NHS

https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk/

Providing direct access to the latest average wait time for appointments and operations for local hospitals, as well as helpful advice and support for patients whilst they wait.

NHS My Planned Care is updated weekly, is easy-to-use and has ‘open access’ which enables carers, friends, relatives to also access information on someone else’s behalf.

Alternatively, patients who have already been in correspondence with hospitals regarding their planned care can also contact the relevant department or service. Details of which can be found on previous letters patients will have received or by contacting the hospital’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).

Addenbrookes

· 9am – 4pm, Monday to Friday

Email pals@addenbrookes.nhs.uk   Phone: 01223 216756

Royal Papworth Hospital

· 8.30 – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday

 Email: papworth.pals@nhs.net

· Tel: 01223 638896 or 01223 638963

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

Booster Vaccinations

To 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. 

• 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.

    

  Anyone who is aged 18 and over, is yet to have their booster and who is approaching 3 months from your second vaccine 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).  Patients are able to book into a regional centre via National Booking Service (NBS) for a vaccination validation appointment.  The 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.

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