Lostwithiel Medical Practice

29/07/2025

The NHS are contacting patients this week to remind them to get their RSV Vaccination if eligible. Please do call and book your appointment, we are prepared and have plenty!

23/07/2025

A gentle reminder: If you are bringing in a sample please make sure that it is properly labelled. We get several a week that aren't. Our lovely nurses do try and work it out and label them if they can but if they aren't labelled properly we can't process them which could delay treatment that may be needed.

Thank you.

Amanda
Practice Manager

21/07/2025

Patient Newsletter Special – Do’s and Don’ts - July - 2025

How to get the best out of your Practice – Top Tips
DO:
1. Allow 3 full working days when requesting your repeat prescriptions, not including the day that you request them.
2. Call to check and/or cancel an appointment, do this using our new “Check and Cancel” service on our new telephone system. Press 1 on the first message, before the main menu.
3. Call the Dispensary between 10am – 4pm for any prescription/medication queries or to ask if your prescription is ready.
4. Call after 2pm for test results (Press 3)
5. Give our reception team a brief description of why you are booking an appointment. They are not being nosey, they are asking to make sure that you get an appointment with the best person to help you.
6. Have realistic expectations when you are referred to the hospital. The hospital’s have their waiting times on their websites : Waiting Times
7. Wear appropriate clothing when coming for investigations/examinations. For example, please wear a short/loose sleeved top if you are having a blood test or having a BP monitor fitted.
8. Have your routine blood test at the Bodmin Blood Hub if requested to book there. They have plenty of appointments through the week and this free’s up the nurse’s time to see more complex patients at the Practice. If you are unable to book online, our reception team can help you.
DON’T:
1. Email us to request an appointment. You may call or use our online consultations service (Klinik) to request an appointment.
2. Call to request repeat medication. It is against national guidance to accept requests for medication over the telephone.
3. Request an “on the day” urgent triage call for something that would be considered a routine ailment, we can generally offer a routine appointment within a week or two.
4. Be rude or use bad language when talking to anyone in the Practice. We understand that you may not be at your best when you contact us, but please be kind. We have a zero-tolerance policy and disrespecting our team may lead to a written warning or indeed removal from our patient list.
5. Leave it too late to book your follow up. If you need a 2- or 4-week follow-up, that can be booked straight away as we have 28 days of appointments available. If you call the day before it is due, we won’t have an appointment for you.
6. Hesitate if you have any feedback about absolutely anything, please get in touch with the Practice Manager – Amanda –Please call or email ciosicb.lostenq@nhs.net.

01/07/2025

Dear Patients, we are having a Practice Meeting at 12.30pm - 1.30pm, our phone will give you the number of our messaging service for anything urgent and if you were coming to the Practice please do come after 1.30pm.

27/06/2025

New Self Health Kiosks.

This week has been really exciting as we have had a new health kiosk installed. This kiosk will enable you to come in at your convenience to have your BP/Pulse/Height/Weight taken and added straight to your records without having to make an appointment!

You can also complete a Friends and Family questionnaire amongst many other questionnaire's. We gave where we placed it a lot of thought to make it as confidential as possible and have another privacy screen coming. If you don't feel comfortable using it in the waiting room then you don't have to use it and can make an appointment as normal.

Feed back very welcome to ciosicb.lostenq@nhs.net or complete a Family and Friends questionnaire or contact Amanda , via reception.

19/06/2025

Part- Time Vacancy – Practice Cleaner

We currently have a vacancy for a Practice Cleaner. We are looking for someone to work 2 hours a day – Monday to Friday (10 hours a week). We can be flexible with hours, either early in the morning or in the evening, out of Practice hours.

We are looking for someone very conscientious, preferably with previous experience in a similar role but this isn’t a necessity.

If you are interested in applying for this role please give me a ring on the Practice number (01208 872589) ask for Amanda, Practice Manager or email me with any questions and/or expressing interest to ciosicb.lostenq@nhs.net

I will look forward to hearing from you!

Amanda
Practice Manager

19/06/2025

Please see below for your information.

06/06/2025

Patient Newsletter – June 2025

Practice Update:

Practice Team: We wanted to introduce you to some of the (not so new) members of the practice who have joined Dr Hendriksz in the last year or so as you may be booked in to see them when you call for an appointment

Ronan Sheehan is a pharmacist and joined Dr Hendriksz as a partner at the practice in 2023. He has worked with our practice for several years supporting us and 3 other practices in the area before moving to Lostwithiel full time. As our pharmacist, our reception team may book you for a consultation with Ronan in the first instance if your question is about your medication. Ronan is also very interested in research, medical education and helping people get the most benefit from their medications.

Following the appointment of both Dr Antony and Dr Woodfield in late 2023 we now have a full clinical team. This now gives us the capacity to offer the best possible patient care as well as contribute to the education of student doctors, nurses and pharmacists. To help train the next generation, we have linked with the University of Exeter, University of Plymouth and University of Bath to host students at the practice. You may be asked if you are happy for one of our students to sit in your consultation when you come to see a member of the practice.

We also support doctors in training to become GPs and currently have Dr Mahmoud Doma with us for his final year before becoming a GP. He has fitted in really well to the team and is a wonderful addition to our clinical staff.

Kiosk: Later this month we are having a health kiosk installed. This means you can come to the Practice at your convenience and complete basic health checks such as BP, weight, complete health questionnaires and update your details. The kiosk talks directly to your health record on our system. So, if you receive a message to come and use it, please do so at your convenience. We are going to create a space to make this as confidential as possible.

If you have any feedback about absolutely anything, please feel free to get in touch with the Practice Manager – Amanda –Please call or email ciosicb.lostenq@nhs.net.

08/05/2025

Spring Covid Booster - Saturday 10th May 25 - Just a quick reminder if you have booked your Spring Booster with us please do come prepared, short sleeves please! If you are over 75 and still haven't booked we do have some spaces left so give us a call. We are using the side door for patients to come in so they aren't queued into the car park.

We shall see you on Saturday!

The Team at Lostwithiel Medical Practice

16/04/2025

16/04/2025

To our patients,

Just to let you know we are closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday as these are bank holidays.

Also, we have a Covid Spring Booster clinic in the morning on Saturday 10th May with appointments still available. If you are 75 or over you are entitled to a vaccination so please do call and book an appointment.

We would like to wish all our patients a Happy and Healthy Easter.

25/03/2025

KIDNEY BLOOD TEST (GFR) Special Newsletter March 2025

There have been several concerns raised here at the surgery over the last few months regarding the interpretation of kidney blood tests.

Patients who are accessing the NHS APP are now able to look at their results (and the laboratory comments), and it appears that the comments are often causing anxiety, distress, and unfortunately, the blame is being put on the GPs. To try and put the kidney bloods (GFR - Glomerular Filtration Rate) into perspective, I think the following may be of use:

The GFR is essentially an indirect way of measuring and monitoring how well one's kidneys are working. Until a few years ago, it was agreed that anyone who filtered more than 60mls in an hour (in other words, 1 ml a minute or more) was considered normal. A few years ago, and I believe it was a knee jerk response to dehydration in some nursing homes not being picked up soon enough, the goalposts were changed from 60mls per hour to 90mls per hour. Not many perfectly healthy patients get the normal result of more than 90. I did an audit of the last 50 patients here at the surgery who had kidney blood tests within a routine blood test, and it appears that more than 75% would have a result less than 90.

If a GFR is less than 90, this is most of the time not any cause for concern. (The rates of the GFR in my short audit were between 23 and 89). The current guidance suggests that if someone’s GFR is stable, then this should be repeated every 6 to 12 months. Should the GFR have decreased significantly, it is suggested to repeat the blood test in three months and see if there's anything we can change to improve the kidney blood test. The most common culprits of a lower GFR are some of the blood pressure tablets, tablets for heartburn and reflux, and the anti-inflammatories, most notably ibuprofen and its cousins. Most patients' kidneys remain stable. And from a medical point of view, we are more interested in the pattern than what the specific measurement is.

Regarding the patients who have called in being angry with GPs for “not telling them they had kidney disease”, we would like to reassure you that all the results are reviewed, and the clinical team then make sensible decisions. Contacting three quarters of our patients whose GFR is slightly low will entail up to 3,000 telephone calls a month. Obviously, this is not possible. I hope the above explains and clarifies the significance of what is described in the report as” chronic kidney disease - CKD”.

Should you have any specific concerns, please contact the surgery in a routine fashion, and we would be happy to discuss your concerns in person. I hope with this, we can put the concerns raised from a low GFR to bed.

Blood Hub, Bodmin: If you are due or are asked to book a routine blood test we may ask you to book at the Blood Hub in Bodmin. You are likely to get an appointment quicker, also if we don’t use it we’ll lose it, and finally this free’s up our nurses time for earlier appointments for other services. The link to book is Community Diagnostic Hub. You will need a mobile ‘phone number to book. The reception team are happy to help if you don’t have online access or a mobile number.

If you have any feedback about absolutely anything, please feel free to get in touch with the Practice Manager – Amanda –Please call or email ciosicb.lostenq@nhs.net.