Stanley Court Surgery

10/09/2025

💉 Flu Vaccinations at Your GP Practice 💉

👉 Please note: Flu appointments are now available for all over 65s and those under 65 with qualifying health conditions eg diabetes/asthma etc. please contact the surgery if you are unsure if you qualify.

The available dates are 4th, 16th, 23rd of October and 3rd November.
These can be booked on line or by calling the practice.

Thank you for supporting us and helping us keep our community safe this winter.

11/08/2025

🩺🩺🩺🩺Important message 🩺🩺🩺🩺

We are working with reduced doctors/clinical staff today due to staff sickness, annual leave and unavailability of locum cover. We are hoping to get extra cover during the rest of the week.

Our staff are having to prioritise appointments, to the most urgent on our instruction, so please be kind. It is not their fault.
Use our local pharmacy first service for minor conditions, ask our staff if you are not sure what the pharmacy can see you about.

Thanks for your understanding
Gp partners

29/07/2025

📢 Why the NHS Is Reducing the Use of Opioids and Gabapentinoids

If you’re living with long-term pain, you might be using medications like codeine, morphine, pain patches, gabapentin, or pregabalin. Although these were started in the past with the thought that they would help chronic pain, the NHS is now moving away from using them long-term — and here’s why:

🔹 They often don’t help long-term pain.
While useful for short-term or nerve pain, research shows these medicines rarely improve chronic pain over time.

🔹 They come with serious risks.
Long-term use can cause confusion, drowsiness, memory issues, falls, breathing problems — especially when used together. If you are a driver you will need to inform the DVLA as they can impair driving.

🔹 They can be addictive.
Some people develop a dependence, needing more to feel the same effect, which can lead to withdrawal symptoms when stopping.

So what’s changing?
The NHS is now:
✅ Reviewing these medicines more often
✅ Avoiding starting them for chronic pain
✅ Helping people reduce or stop them safely

This isn’t about taking away support — it’s about offering safer, more effective alternatives.

What else can help with pain?
💪 Physiotherapy & movement
🧠 Talking therapies for pain
🧘 Mindfulness & relaxation techniques
💊 Other, safer medications

You won’t be left to manage alone — you’ll be supported to find what works best for you.

Already taking these meds?
Please don’t stop suddenly. Instead:
📞 Talk to your GP or pharmacist
🤝 Make a safe plan if needed
❓ Ask about your options

You're not alone in this.
This change is about putting your safety and long-term wellbeing first. Help and support are still available — just in healthier, more sustainable ways. 💙

28/07/2025

1 year on from the tragedy where 3 innocent lives were lost in Southport. Please join us wherever you may be in a moment of remembrance. At 3pm on Tuesday 29th July, a three-minute silence will be held across the Liverpool City Region. We will be honouring their memory at the surgery so please respect staff as they remember these little girls.

28/07/2025

🚫💊 Important Prescription Update for 2025 💊🚫

You may notice changes to your prescriptions over the coming months and medications that we may have been able to prescribe in the past being removed.

As of 2025, GPs can no longer routinely prescribe over-the-counter (OTC) medications for common, self-limiting conditions like:
Headaches & mild pain
Hay fever & allergies
Indigestion
Constipation
Coughs, colds & sore throats

Talk to your pharmacist – they’re trained to help with minor ailments! 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️

To help with this change, many medications have been taken off prescription only register and are now available to buy over the counter (or after consultation with a pharmacist). Exceptions to this rule are those with chronic conditions, complex migraine and those patients that are unable to self manage due to mental health or social vulnerability.

Why the change?
✅ To encourage self-care
✅ To reduce NHS costs
✅ To ensure resources are focused on more serious conditions

🛒 You can still buy these treatments at your local pharmacy or supermarket without a prescription.

14/07/2025

We are very proud to share our practice's National Patient Survey results. Our reception staff scored 100% for how helpful they are and we totally agree!!!! We couldn't manage without every single one of them. Thank you also to our patients that took the time to fill this in and let us know their opinion.

See how your GP practice is doing: explore the results of The GP Patient Survey, an independent patient experience survey run by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England.

14/07/2025

With rising cases of measles in the Northwest we are concerned about those children that are unvaccinated in our practice. Please check the red book for your child, or contact us if you think your child has not had the vaccine, or if you have received a message from us saying that they are not fully vaccinated.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/north-west/keeping-you-well/nhs-vaccination-information/measles-and-mmr-vaccines-2/ NHS England — North West » Measles and MMR vaccines

Cases of measles are rising in the North West. Measles is an infection that spreads very easily and can cause serious problems in some people. If you think you or your child may have measles please call your GP surgery. Please do not go to your GP, walk-in centre or any other healthcare setting with...

05/07/2025

https://www.ourwestlancashire.com/petition-to-ashley-dalton/
Please can people sign this if you want our west Lancs voice heard

It's clear that there are great concerns about the possible axing of Children's A&E from Ormskirk. Yet our MP has had nothing to say. Sign the petition asking her to hold a public meeting.

23/06/2025

💊WEIGHT LOSS MEDICATION UPDATE 💊

💉💉💉Important Patient Notice💉💉 💉

Mounjaro (Tirzepatide) Prescribing

From June 23, 2025, NHS England has approved a new medication called Mounjaro (tirzepatide) for weight management and type 2 diabetes in patients who meet specific criteria.

This is people with:
a BMI of 40 or over (or 37.5 if from a minority ethnic background) and four out of five of the following conditions: type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and vascular disease, high cholesterol and obstructive sleep apnoea

We understand that some patients may be eager to access this treatment, particularly following recent media coverage. However, we want to be open with you about the current situation.

At present, our local NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) has not commissioned a service and are unable to provide any additional support or funding for GP practices to safely deliver this treatment.

Prescribing Mounjaro involves careful eligibility assessments, ongoing monitoring, and structured follow-up, all of which require time, training, and resources that general practices are not currently funded for.

As such, we are currently unable to offer Mounjaro prescriptions or assessments through our GP surgery.

09/06/2025

We are doing more and more home blood pressures as we know this done in a Clinical environment can be higher than your normal. Here is some hints and tips of how to get an accurate reading.

Learn 5 more blood pressure measurement mistakes in this medical video with scientific tests using a blood pressure monitor!MISTAKES MEASURING BLOOD PRESSURE...

06/06/2025

💉💉WEIGHT LOSS MEDICATION (Mounjaro) is currently NOT AVAILABLE on NHS prescription from GPs in Lancashire and South Cumbria 💉💉

We are receiving many requests to prescribe weight loss injections (Mounjaro) or similar.

Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB (the organisation responsible for overseeing NHS funding for practices in West Lancashire) has issued instructions that this medication cannot be prescribed for weight loss by GPs yet.

The decision NOT TO PRESCRIBE is NOT taken by the GPs / practitioners at the surgery - they have to follow the guidelines in place.
We do recognise that this is a frustrating 😫😫situation for many patients, BUT booking an appointment to speak about this will not change the outcome

We do now have more details from NHS England and NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) about who can eventually get this medicine, but not when it will be available.
NHS England has shared who can get Tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) to start with.
It will be given in different stages, starting with people who are most in need.

In Phase 1, only people with serious health conditions will be able to get it on the NHS. This is the same everywhere in England.

To get Tirzepatide (Mounjaro®), you must:

Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or more, and
Have at least four of the following health problems:
High blood pressure
High cholesterol or fat levels in your blood
Sleep apnoea (trouble breathing while sleeping)
Heart disease
Type 2 diabetes

There are a number of our patients receiving Mounjaro (or similar) for their diabetes management - this is allowed on the NHS and will continue.

05/06/2025

GLP 1 Agonists (Mounjaro), Contraception and HRT 👶👶

You may have seen in the news about the baby boom being to do with weight loss injections. This is mainly due to poor information being given to patients by unlicensed providers with little medical knowledge.

If you are using weight loss injections, Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) it may mean that your contraceptive pills do not work effectively. If you are using the contraceptive pill, please use condoms for four weeks after each dose change, to avoid an unwanted pregnancy.

This does not apply to semaglutide (Ozempic).

The attached leaflet gives further details.

https://www.fsrh.org/Common/Uploaded%20files/documents/Patient-information-GLP-1-agonists-and-contraception.pdf

If you’re using tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) and taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT), you should consider using patches or gels which are absorbed through the skin. This is because your body may not absorb the HRT whilst using tirzepatide (Mounjaro®). For more information about taking tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) and HRT, speak to your doctor.