Nunwell Surgery Patient Participation Group

26/08/2025

🩺 Have you been invited for a free NHS Health Check? Did you choose not to take this up?

Herefordshire Council and Talk Wellbeing would really like to know why and what they can do to help you attend.

✅ Please do fill in the below quick survey!

https://online1.snapsurveys.com/Interview/211e4bd5-6c5d-4b45-a36f-262e9b02de5c

22/03/2025

📢GP Out of Hours Service – Have your say!📢

⏰GP Out of Hours Services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire provide advice, information and treatment for people who become unwell during the period when their own GP surgery is closed, i.e:

✅Overnight during weekdays between 6.30pm and 8am
✅24/7 on weekends
✅24/7 on Bank Holidays
The service is appointment only and can only be accessed by contacting NHS 111. NHS 111 will assess the person’s needs and if they deem it clinically appropriate, they will book an out of hours GP appointment for the individual concerned

This appointment may either be;
☎️A telephone appointment, which involves the patient being called back within a specific time period.
🏥A face-to-face appointment at one of the designated centres in Herefordshire or Worcestershire. These are at a variety of locations and venues, including in hospitals.
🏡A home visit, which is normally just for housebound patients or on the basis of clinical need.

The services in the two counties are currently provided by two separate organisations under two separate contracts. Both contracts will expire in July 2026, so the Integrated Care Board is legally obliged to re-commission the services. It normally takes about 12 months to organise the commissioning work for services of this size, scale and importance.

As part of the work to commission the new services, we would like to hear your views and understand your experiences. This feedback will inform the work and will help us to identify any changes that we might need to make the services we organise for you.

Who is the survey for? - We are keen to hear from a wide range of people across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, including those who live, work, care, or receive NHS services in these areas. We are particularly keen to hear from you if you have used the either of the current GP out of hours services in either or Herefordshire or Worcestershire. Please note this survey is NOT seeking feedback on your normal GP practice (i.e. the one that you would use on Monday to Friday during the day).

Survey - Please use this link to share your views: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GPOutofHoursServiceSurvey

Deadline - Please give us your views by 9am, Wednesday, 30 April 2025. The survey should take approximately 8 minutes to complete.

How we will use your feedback - All responses will be anonymous. NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) will collate and store the answers that you give. We will publish the anonymous findings to our website and will also share with our partners. Personal identifying information will not be collected and therefore won’t appear in any publications resulting from this survey. Your anonymous quotes may be used in this, and other relevant ICB reports.

The feedback will be used to develop a service specification. This is a document that will describe what service we want to ensure is available to you from July 2026 onward. Potential service providers will respond to the requirements in this document when outlining how they would provide the service.

Information about the survey is also available online: https://www.hwics.org.uk/get-involved/involvement-opportunities/gp-out-hours-service

GP Out of Hours Services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire provide advice, information and treatment for people who become unwell during the period when their own GP surgery is closed, i.e:

19/03/2025

How do you feel about childhood vaccinations? Healthwatch would love to hear your thoughts - just click the link!

13/02/2025

It's almost Half Term! 🎉
Herefordshire has LOADS of activities and events to keep you and your family active and entertained!
Talk Community have put together this handy list, link in comments⬇️

09/02/2025

💆‍♀️Lifestyle support 💪

We are fortunate to have a Health and Wellbeing Coach, based at Nunwell Surgery every Thursday, also a drop-in service at Bromyard Community Hospital on Friday, (9am-12pm clinic room 3).

We thought it might be helpful to interview Mark Smith to explore what his role is and how support from him might benefit you. This is what we discovered.

A Health and Wellbeing coach works alongside you to identify life changes you might want or need to make to improve your health, for example;
⚖️️weight loss
😔dealing with social isolation
🧯quitting smoking
🏃‍♂️selecting and taking part in suitable exercise
🍊improving your diet etc.
They then support you to make those changes.

We all know how difficult it can be to take that first step to a healthier you, and how hard maintaining change can be. Primarily, Mark will strengthen your motivation by helping you identify specific actions, broken down into manageable tasks that you can achieve. Equally, he may help you identify any barriers that prevent you making progress that you need to address, and will then explore options to overcome these challenges. Having a Health and Wellbeing coach means having someone who will be there to encourage you, celebrate your successes with you or even help you hold yourself to account if you are not following through with what you planned.

Having someone firmly committed to the changes you have agreed is often the difference between success ✅ or failure ❌. We all need someone in our corner, and it can be helpful if it is someone outside our family and friends who has a clearer, not biased perspective and no hidden agenda. Those that love us most may find it difficult to encourage us to change.

You may be referred to Mark by your GP or other health professionals, but if you feel you could benefit from having time with a coach you can refer yourself via the surgery reception. You will jointly decide how many sessions you need, typically around 6, and may have follow up phone calls to help you maintain progress.

In short a Health and Wellbeing Coach is someone who works alongside you helping you to make healthy lifestyle choices and behaviour changes. 🧠

04/02/2025

🤷‍♀️Social Prescribing? What does this mean for you? 👨‍⚕️

Like many people, we had heard of social prescribing but wasn’t really clear what it involved, so we met with Amy Roberts, the Senior Social Prescriber for Nunwell and Cradley to find out.

We all know that problems or worries about things such as finance, concerns over benefits or feeling lonely or out of control, can adversely affect our health and mental well-being. By taking a more wholistic approach and offering support to access a range of groups or advisors, Nunwell hope to improve the situation using a range of activities as an alternative or in addition to, medical services.

You can meet with Amy, who is based at the surgery, on Wednesday mornings, either by being referred by your GP, or you can make an appointment yourself by phoning the surgery.

Amy provides a link between you and the group or community service that might be most helpful. After an initial meeting she will help you choose what support best suits you, and will help you make contact, often the most difficult part. Amy acts as your friend and guide, but the decision is yours.

Some of the services or groups that might help you include:
👬Befriending, talking therapies and support groups
💷Benefits and money matters
📖Education and Learning opportunities
🌸Gardening and Horticulture
💡Access to specialist services and support, eg domestic, drug or alcohol abuse or mental health issues
💂‍♀️Veterans support
🙋Employment training and volunteering opportunities
🖼Art, music, dance, sport or other group activities
🍎Healthy Lifestyles advice

Taking control in your own life really benefits your physical and mental health. Social prescribing is a way of helping you do that.

02/02/2025

📢Pharmacy Feedback📢

Thank you all for taking the time to give us some feedback around the local dispensary provisions. We’ve taken this to the surgery and can share with you responses to the key themes ✅

🗓️ 28 day rule 🗓️
The NHS recognises that a 28-day repeat prescribing interval makes the best possible balance between patient convenience, good medical practice and minimal drug wastage. The British Medical Association notes that “Prescribing intervals should be in line with the medically appropriate needs of the patient, taking into account the need to safeguard NHS resources, patient convenience, and the dangers of excess drugs in the home.”

The benefits of 28-day prescribing include:
🗑️ Reducing the amount of medicine which is currently wasted when your doctor stops or changes your medicine.
❌ Reducing the potential for error when your medication is changed in the middle of supply.
☠️ Increased safety as you will not have multiple containers of the same medicine meaning it is likely to reduce the number of mistakes made by, for example, elderly patients, and it will also reduce the risk of potential poisoning of young children.

Many medicines are supplied in 28-day packs, allowing you to check that you have taken your medication each day. You will start and finish the container of each medicine on the same day of the week, meaning it will be easier for your doctor to review all of the repeat medicines you are taking and to see when you have not ordered your medicines.

💷 Financial losses due to medicines waste represent a direct loss to patient care. Since 28-day prescribing reduces medicines waste, this in turn has a positive impact on patient care. Studies in the UK and abroad have shown significant savings and a reduction in waste with 28-day prescribing.

💳 Methods of payment 💳
Regarding cash payments, due to the closure of banks in Bromyard we do not have anywhere to bank cash or obtain change.

In December we dispensed 10,884 items. Of these only 179 were due a levy (1.64% of prescribed items). You are eligible for free prescriptions if you:
👵🏻👨🏻‍🦳are 60 or over
👧🏻👦🏼are under 16 or are aged between 16 and 18 and in full-time education
🤰🏼are pregnant or have had a baby in the previous 12 months and have a valid maternity exemption certificate (MatEx)
🩺 have a specified medical condition and have a valid medical exemption certificate (MedEx). Your doctor can give you an application form
👩‍🦽‍➡️have a continuing physical disability that prevents you from going out without help from another person and have a valid medical exemption certificate (MedEx)
💂🏼‍♀️hold a valid war pension exemption certificate and the prescription is for your accepted disability 🏥 are a currently admitted to hospital on a doctor’s order
💷 are on certain benefits or have a low income

💊 Medication Reviews 💊
The reduction or holding of medication is far from a first resort.

For patients who are subject to the Birthday Clinic process, they are sent invitations to attend. After three invitations have been extended and no contact with the practice has been made, a Reduction Letter will be sent advising a reduction from the next month if no contact made. Quantities are not reduced if an appointment has been booked and is pending. The only time we get to the stage of reduction is if the combination of four invitations/reduction letter have been ignored.

In regards to other medication, a message may be sent as follows.

We will issue your medication (to be collected after 3 working days) as requested but you are due a medication review with the GP or pharmacist. Please can you book a routine appointment to review before your next prescription is requested. This is to ensure there is no delay in issuing the medication next time.

Medication to review:
This allows time to book the review. Again, the medication is not immediately stopped. Appointments for medication reviews are pre-bookable and therefore not required to be booked in an ‘8am rush’. It is very unusual for medication to be stopped.

🧑‍⚕️We know another key theme is the challenge of how the surgery and external pharmacy interact with your prescription and in turn how that medication gets to you. We’re keen to collaborate with both to understand this more so watch this space!

20/01/2025

TA**US HEALTHCARE - Your Out Of Hours GP Services

😤 Do you ever feel frustrated that you can’t get an appointment at a time or place to suit you? When it’s hard to have to take time off work, or arrange babysitters while you go for routine appointments? Well, this is when Ta**us Healthcare can help.

Ta**us started in 2012. It is owned by all the Herefordshire GP practices, who work together to offer a more flexible, scheduled, or out of hours service, at a variety of locations. For us, here in the East, that includes, Hereford Medical Group, Ledbury, Cradley and Bromyard.

There are Ta**us clinics at Nunwell Surgery on alternate Wednesday evening, 6-9pm, alternate Saturdays 9am-5pm and alternate Sundays 9am- 1pm. Please ask the reception team regarding these details. All these clinics, both at Nunwell, or at the other locations which might be more convenient for you, must be booked via your GP Receptionist.

🩺 These clinics offer a full range of medical services, GPs appointments, nurse appointments, blood tests, smear tests etc. and are run by qualified and experienced staff, often people you would see within normal hours. To enable continuity of care, they have access to your full medical records via the EMIS system. They can write prescriptions, which can be made up at a local pharmacy, or even at pharmacies in the bigger supermarkets.

⏰ Waiting time for Ta**us clinics is often far shorter than for regular appointments and the sessions are usually quieter, which may be helpful for many people who find a crowded waiting room a stressful experience.

This is part of your NHS, which helps address the need for greater flexibility in accessing medical help.

In addition, Ta**us provides urgent medical advice and treatment;
Monday to Friday - 6.30 pm to 8 am
Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays - available 24 hours.

☎️ You can access this Out Of Hours service by ringing the NHS non-emergency, line on 111. The call handler there will be able to direct you to the appropriate help quickly, which may include the Ta**us out of hours GP service.

Ta**us Healthcare is a valuable resource, there to support your GP surgeries, and provide additional medical help when needed.