We are a small rural practice serving a population of over 8,000 covering an area of over 100 square miles!

We are a dispensing practice which means you can pickup your medication directly from us (Woodford Halse patients cannot be dispensing patients as there is a pharmacy in your village).

You may have hear in the News that the NHS is allowing GPs to prescribe Mounjaro to patients for weight loss who meet certain criteria

The criteria is:-

BMI over 40 or 37.5 for people from minority ethnic backgrounds

and at least 4 of the following:

Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Type 2 Diabetes

Dyslipidaemia

Established cardiovascular disease

Diagnosed sleep apnoea

We have just had this update from our Intergrated Care Board

The National Institute for Health and Care and Excellence (NICE) has published a Technology Appraisal for Tirzepatide for managing overweight and obesity (TA1026).

This Technology Appraisal makes Tirzepatide available for weight management, under the brand name Mounjaro. Unlike previous weight management medication, this can be prescribed in Primary Care, however it still needs the same wrap around services as Wegovy (semaglutide), so that patients are supported to make the changes needed for the medication to be most effective.

Northamptonshire ICB knows there are many patients eligible for this medication who would like to be able to access this as soon as possible.

However, this medication will be made available in phases over a number of years. We ask that you are patient with us whilst we wait for further communication from NHS England on how Mounjaro will be rolled out and establish the best way to do so to meet our county’s needs.

We also ask that you do not contact your GP surgery to try and obtain Mounjaro for weight loss just yet. GP practices are incredibly busy at this time of year and the additional resource required to manage enquiries will mean they have less time to offer patient appointments.

We have also asked our GPs not to prescribe Mounjaro for weight loss at this time, while we work with clinical colleagues to develop options for the new service, including the training and education needed for these medications to be safely prescribed. We are also working with a range of experts from across Northamptonshire to develop a specialist weight management service for patients with more complex needs, which will prescribe weight management medication in future.

A series of FAQs are published on this page, which may give you more information. In the new year we will be making changes to this webpage to put all of our weight management information into one place. This will also be where any updates on weight management services will be made. We will let you know, via our social media platforms, when this is being launched.

The passport office/home office have made the decision that GPs are no longer able to sign passport applications, please go online to view who is able to do this for you.

As a practice we are taking part in the national collective action; we will continue to provide safe levels of clinical care for our patients

Dear Patients

We wanted to give you an update in relation to our decision to support the National Collective Action being taken by GP practices across the country.

For clarity we are NOT striking nor are we taking industrial action!

We can assure you that this a collective response to ever increasing demands and pressures placed on primary care.  With inadequate funding to meet these demands.

We will continue to work within our GP contract however there will be some changes to support the National Collective Action.

GPs are on your side:

We are taking this action because general practice is collapsing in England.

General practice is not receiving nearly enough funding to handle increased patient demand which means practices cannot afford to hire extra GPs they need, in our case we also do not have the physical space.

Currently for 2024/25 only 6.6% of the overall NHS budget goes to core funding for general practice.  This equates to £107.57 per year for each patient, whatever their health needs this equates to 30p per day.

We need safety, stability and hope with a long term commitment to General Practice.

Following guidance from the British Medical Association we have taken the decision to limit GP contacts with patients to 25 contacts per day, this includes appointments and phone calls.  Currently each GP at this practice has over 30 contacts per day.  This means that there will be fewer appointments available each day.  A lot of practices took this decision last year and we held off but following consultation have agreed to make this change.  Each appointment will now be for 15 minutes an increase of 5 minutes per appointment.  This takes effect on 9^th September 2024.

As stated this means that there will be fewer appointments this decision has been taken by the partners of the practice we therefore ask that you do not take out any frustration on the reception staff.

Following negotiations between Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board and our Local Medical Committee the tarrif being paid to practices to carry out blood tests has been increased, meaning we are no longer making a loss on each blood test taken.  From today the practice will carry out blood tests that are requested here at the practice or by  hospitals.

Thank you for your patience whilst we were unable to take hopsital blood tests and also for applying pressure by way of communicating your dissaproval to the Integrated Care Board.

The rest of the changes to working practice will apply, if you need a sick note when leaving hospital this will need to be provided to you by the hospital, the hospital should provide medication to you before you are discharged also any onward referral should be undertaken at the hospital and will not be done by the practice.

We have a podiatrist working at the practice, she works on Wednesday afternoons - please call to book an appointment, please note she is not here to deal with toe nail cutting or corns

Podiatrists are the experts in all aspects of foot and lower limb structure, function and health.
They are highly skilled healthcare professionals trained to diagnose treat and rehabilitate and prevent disease and complications of the feet, ankles and lower limbs. They can prevent and manage foot problems, relieve pain, treat infection and support foot irregularities, to keep people of all ages mobile and active. A First Contact Podiatrist’s role is to assess and manage foot and ankle problems but they cannot provide routine foot/nail care or ongoing podiatry treatment. Our Podiatrist is able to carry out some minor surgical procedures and works closely with our GPs to manage a wide range of foot problems.

From today, thousands of pharmacists across England will be able to assess and treat patients without the need for a GP appointment or prescription for:

• Sinusitis

• Sore throat

• Earache

• Infected insect bites

• Impetigo

• Shingles

• Uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women under 65

Sleepstation

Our PCN is pleased to be part of a one-year pilot to have a specialised children's mental health worker attached to the PCN.  Young people contacting their GP surgery with a mental health concern can be either booked directly to speak to a mental health worker or can referred by another clinician.  Appointments are available within a few days and the specialist practitioner is able to do a thorough assessment by video consultation.  They can then offer initial advice and refer on to other services as appropriate. 

Today we welcome a new doctor to the Practice, Dr Ana Ivancheva.  Dr Ivancheva will be working on Thursday and Friday each week.