Orchard Family Practice

24/06/2025

Update on the availability of Mounjaro in General Practice in Kent & Medway

Mounjuro is the brand name for tirzepatide, a drug which has been licensed and approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for managing overweight and obesity.

18/06/2025

Please note - if you have an appointment for a blood test - you will need to bring your blood test form with you

If you are coming for a blood test on Saturday, 21 June, please bring a blood form with you. We are unable to use the F number. Please get the form from your GP or rebook your appointment if you can’t get one. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

29/05/2025

Good morning.Please be advised we are a little short staffed today so there may be delays in answering your calls. If you have a routine query, please call after 10.30 am so that we can deal with the urgent queries first. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

14/05/2025

Today is National Receptionist Day and we would like to take this opportunity to show appreciation to our team for all their hard work.
They take hundreds of calls a day trying their best to help all our patients in a professional manner to ensure the smooth running of our Practice.
Please take a moment to watch this video which shows examples of the calls that they take

Receptionists are not ‘just admin’ — they are patient advocates, navigating complex systems to get people the care they need. They are the gateway to the cli...

13/05/2025

Thank you for your patience- our phone lines are up and running again
Once again apologies for any inconvenience

12/05/2025

Unfortunately we are experiencing problems with our phone lines. We have reported it and hope to have the problem resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding

14/04/2025

Thank you for your patience - our phone lines are working again

14/04/2025

We are currently experiencing some problems with our phone lines - please bear with us- if possible please use the e-consult for an urgent appointment
We apologise for any inconvenience caused

10/04/2025

MERGER UPDATE
As you are aware, Orchard Family Practice and Parkwood Family Practice were planning to merge on 28th April 2025.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, this merger is postponed until later on this year. We will share further details once we have another date confirmed.'

25/03/2025

MERGER BETWEEN ORCHARD FAMILY PRACTICE AND PARKWOOD FAMILY PRACTICE

We are writing to inform you of a merger between Orchard Family Practice and Parkwood Family Practice. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL STILL BE SITUATED IN THE RED SUITE, RAINHAM HEALTHY LIVING CENTRE.

Orchard Family Practice is located in the heart of Rainham, based in the Rainham Healthy Living Centre with a practice population of over 5300 patients. Parkwood Family Practice is also based in Rainham with a patient population of approximately 3500 patients. Both practices are members of the Medway Rainham Primary Care Network (PCN). Both practices are having to look at sustainable solutions to continue to offer our patients high quality care and also safeguard the future of primary care in Rainham for the patients of our practices.

Our primary goal in joining forces is to enhance our practices’ capabilities, improve patient care and ensure sustainability and resilience. Our staff teams are central to our success and there are no changes to staffing levels as part of the merger. Patients will continue to see the same familiar faces in our doctors, nurses and support staff.

We hope that by merging the two practices together we can make better use of our staff and resources. Services in both practices will remain operational and uninterrupted, and patients will still be seen at their registered practices but also have an option of being seen at the other site.

We will continue to offer high quality care to our patients and we hope to expand our services including spirometry and phlebotomy as well as looking at other services that we can provide as part of the merger.

The merger would present a unique opportunity to join two high performing local practices, combining our strengths, resources, and expertise to help us become more resilient, safeguard against any future staffing shortages and combine efforts to recruit GPs and other health professionals.

The merger would also provide additional options for sites where our patients can be seen which we believe will allow greater flexibility and enhance patient choice, an example being possible weekend appointments to run Flu clinics.

THERE ARE NO PLANS TO CLOSE EITHER OF THE PRACTICES.

Orchard Family Practice would become the main site and Parkwood Family Practice would be by definition a ‘branch site’ but still be fully operational as it is now. Both sites will retain their websites and phone numbers for now and will adopt very similar ways of working.

The proposed date for this merger is 28th April 2025.

From 25th April 2025 computer systems at Parkwood Family Practice will not be accessible so only emergency appointments will be available.

Please note any medicines due to be prescribed at this time are requested in advance at this site.

We will also aim to identify as many of these patients ourselves and ensure scripts are done earlier especially electronic repeat dispensing ones.

Online services at Parkwood Family Practice will also need to be switched off ie. NHS App, MyGP, eConsult ahead of the merger of the IT systems. If patients try to use them during this time, they will not work and will give an error code. Please do not to contact the practice about this error, as the patient transfer will be in progress.

Online service access for the transferred patients will not be immediately available and may take some additional time to setup, please bear with us during this period.
We will keep you updated if there are any issues and appreciate your support during this process.

We have produced a FAQ sheet available on our websites, but should this not answer any questions you may have, please email us on: orchardfamilypractice@nhs.net.

Dr Pritpal Singh Nanra and Mr Krish Patel (Partners at Orchard Family Practice)

Dr Tamil Selvan (Partner at Parkwood Family Practice)

04/02/2025

We would like to remind patients that with effect from the 3rd February 2025 we are asking you to order your medicine directly from the Surgery, rather than allowing your repeat prescriptions to be ordered on your behalf by your pharmacy. We will no longer be accepting prescription requests from pharmacies for the majority of our patients from this date. If you request your medication directly from the surgery, nothing will change.
Repeat medication requests can be ordered by patients, a nominated family member of by a carer. From the 3rd February onwards your prescriptions will need to be ordered using one of the following options:
• Ordering online using one of the apps, ie. NHS App, MyGP or Patient Access. If you do not already have this set up, please visit www.nhs.uk/nhs-app to download the NHS App and create your account. Carers can request proxy access on the NHS App that will allow them to order repeat medications on behalf of the person that they care for.

• Use a repeat slip (the right-hand side of your repeat prescription) to order the items that you need and drop this off to the surgery (there is a red post box outside the main front door if we are closed or you can bring it round to the surgery).

• You can email us at orchardfamilypractice@nhs.net to request your medication.

• You can use the Contact Us form available on our website at www.orchardfamilypracticerainham.nhs.uk
In the interests of patient safety we do not accept requests for repeat prescriptions over the telephone.
Why is this happening? Many patients and healthcare professionals have told us that they are concerned about the amount of medicines being wasted. We have looked at areas around the country and have seen that when patients order their own prescriptions, this is safer for the patients, reduces waste and empowers patients to take control of their own medicine ordering. Over-ordering costs the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds each year and we believe this money should be used to provide vital health services. Our NHS needs everyone to work together to make sure only medicines that are needed are requested. In addition, the current system can lead to errors and is very time consuming for the pharmacies and the practice. In very exceptional circumstances the current method of ordering may continue. If you believe this is a case for yourself, please contact us in writing to the Practice.
Things to consider when ordering medication. Please remember to allow enough time when ordering your repeat prescription for the items that you need. We require 48 workings hours notice to generate a prescription and then you need to allow enough time for the pharmacy to prepare the prescription. It is important to order the medication that you take on a regular basis. We do not normally issue a prescription more than 7 days early for safety reasons. However, should you need to order earlier than usual, please get in touch with us and inform us of the reasons.
What will happen once the medication has been ordered and then issued? This part of the process has not changed and you should continue to receive medication in the same way as you have done in the past. Your prescription will be sent to your nominated pharmacy. If you do not have a nominated pharmacy you can go to the pharmacy of your choice and give them your NHS no/Date of Birth or prescription reference number and they will be able to download it. If you use one of the Apps this will allow you to tract the request and see when it is approved as well as changing where you would like the prescription to be sent.
Thank you for your understanding.

Practice Website for Orchard Family Practice

06/01/2025

PATIENT INFORMATION
Kent & Medway are seeing a rise in the number of respiratory infections, including Flu, Covid and RSV.

In order to try and mitigate the impact of this surge, and to ensure the safety of both patients and staff, we are encouraging patients to wear a mask if they have any respiratory problems, ie cough, cold etc. Our clinicians will also be wearing masks when seeing patients with respiratory problems.

We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust interventions as required.