The Usk Surgery - James House

18/12/2025

The Usk Surgery will be CLOSED:

Thursday 25th December
Friday 26th December
Thursday 1st January

For life threatening emergencies dial 999.

For urgent medical attention or general health information and advice please contact 111.

We will be OPEN on all other working days from 8:00 - 18:30

Merry Christmas! Nadolig Llawen!

12/12/2025

We are aware of quite a malicious post currently on Facebook regarding the practice. This is obviously very upsetting to read for us as partners as well as our exceptionally hardworking and dedicated staff and the vast majority of our 6600+ patients who are satisfied with their care.

Due to reasons of confidentiality we will not be commenting on the post or comments. The NHS operates a zero tolerance approach to abuse which can take the form of many guises - including physical, verbal, emotional and social media. Typing untruths on social media can also be libellous. Abuse or incitement of abuse towards Usk Surgery or our staff will be escalated to Anuerin Bevan Health Board.

The current GMS fee that we receive per patient per year is £134.15 for unlimited GP practice appointments. Put that into context in terms of other monthly and yearly household expenses. We take on as many of the additional non- contractual and therefore optional services as we can in order to give our patients an optimal service and we strive to achieve exceptional clinical care.

For a long time, due to chronic underfunding, an increasing population size and increased prevalence of chronic diseases and demand the NHS has had to operate on clinical need not patient want.

Therefore there are not an unlimited amount of appointments and we have to undertake clinical triage in order to ensure that patients are seen in a timely manner with respect to their clinical need.

If you are triaged as needing an urgent on the day appointment, we will offer you an urgent on the day appointment. This is for clinical safety reasons. You are expected to be able to attend the appointment you are given on that day. We are not able to cater for work/social arrangements in the context of urgent clinical need.

If you are triaged as needing a routine appointment, there is a waiting list for the reasons described above. Our current wait time is 10-14 days depending on whether you request a specific doctor or whether you are able to accept an appointment offered. If you are not you will be put back onto the waiting list to offer the next available appointment. We always advise that should things change or worsen whilst you are waiting you should contact us and you will be triaged again. We cannot see you quicker because you want to be seen quicker or feel that you should not have to wait if there is no clinical need.

We have to be flexible with our mix of routine and on the day appointments and this varies across the year due to clinical need. At the moment we are in the midst of outbreaks of viral and bacterial respiratory tract infections so there will naturally be less routine appointments. In the current NHS crisis we feel around 10-14 days wait is not bad for a routine appointment or query.

We are innovative and are utilising all avenues available to maintain exceptional clinical care. We do care, we have dedicated our careers to helping patients and work tirelessly for you.

We are grateful and appreciative for the lovely messages of thanks and support we receive on a daily basis. We are grateful for the lovely Christmas Cards and presents that we have received and we will continue to serve you to the best of our abilities.

Dr Natasha Collins and Dr Rachel Thomas-Hewartson

10/12/2025

Since the installation of our new telephone system we have welcomed your feedback. You have highlighted problems with the call-back facility.

We have raised this with our telephone provider who has identified ‘a glitch’ in the system. We have been asked to switch off the call-back facility while they fix this problem.

We do appreciate your frustration waiting for the phone to be answered.

Please remember you can also submit clinical and administrative queries quickly and securely using our new Accurx Portal between the hours of 8:00 and 16:00. You can find Accurx on our webpage.

https://accurx.nhs.uk/patient-initiated/w93037

22/11/2025

Please feel free to come to the surgery today, if you are eligible for Covid and/or flu vaccines.

We will be closed for lunch from 12-1.

21/11/2025

We will be running a flu clinic on Saturday 22nd November from 8.30 to 16:00. Morning appointments are already booked but we still have afternoon availability.

Eligibility:
Adults aged 65-years and older.
Adults under 65-years in ‘at risk groups’ e.g. heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, neurological conditions and unpaid carers.
Pregnant women.

The flu vaccine aims to protect you against the common types of flu viruses.

Please contact reception or drop in on Saturday afternoon.

05/11/2025

09:50 UPDATE - IT problem now resolved. We are now working as normal.

We currently have no internet and access to our clinical computer system. NHS Wales Informatics Service have been aware of this problem since last night. We are waiting for an engineer to come to the surgery.

****We can only deal with urgent medical matters at present****

Please come to the surgery or telephone if you feel you have a medical problem that needs immediate treatment this morning.

Accurx will remain turned off until we have access to our clinical system.

Please be patient with reception staff who will be trying to help you this morning.

Please share this message.

Thank you.

17/10/2025

We have listened to your concerns and acknowledge the problems with our out-of-date phone lines.

We are in the process of having a new telephone system which will have a call-back feature. This means our practice population will not need to wait for 30 mins or longer, as can happen at busy times, for their call to be answered. This new system should go live in mid-November.

You can also use Accurx to digitally communicate with us. This platform allows you to:

1. Send a request to us, and avoid long phone-queues

2. Complete questionnaires from health professionals, to help collect info from you easily e.g. contraceptive or HRT checks, or asthma checks.

3. Reply to SMS messages from us to communicate quickly and conveniently.

4. Self-book appointments, leaving booking calls behind.

You can access Accurx via our website. Please update the surgery with your mobile phone number in order to use Accurx.

Thank you, Dr Rachel Thomas-Hewartson & Dr Natasha Collins

Contact us about your request

11/10/2025

A successful day vaccinating approximately 700 patients, many with both flu and Covid vaccines. Thanks for the continued positive feedback regarding our new booking system via text message. We are still contacting patients without mobile phones to book their appointments. More clinics to follow soon!

06/10/2025

02/10/2025

***IMPORTANT NEWS***

You can now submit CLINICAL and ADMINISTRATIVE queries quickly and securely using our new ACCURX portal.

This replaces eConsult.

For more information, please follow this link.

The Usk Surgery is now using Accurx to manage patient queries. This secure online system allows you to contact the surgery quickly and safely without needing to call.

01/10/2025

Our Winter 25/26 Flu & Covid vaccination campaign has started!

Mr & Mrs A are our first patients immunised this morning & are happy for us to share their photo.

Welsh Government have commissioned GPs to vaccinate certain groups:

Covid vaccine eligibility:
1. Immunosuppressed pts aged 18-years and over
2. Adults aged 75-years and older

Please note that patients in ‘at-risk groups’ e.g. heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, neurological disease, are no longer eligible for Covid if under 75-years.

Flu vaccine eligibility:
1. Adults aged 65-years and older.
2. Adults under 65-years in ‘at risk groups’.

This morning’s clinic appointments were predominantly self-booked by patients who received a text message from the surgery. Please look out for a text message from us with your invite to book into clinics over the next couple of weeks. Do not worry if you don’t have a mobile, we will contact you on your landline.

05/09/2025

Update - The Usk District Nirsing Team now have phone lines and internet. Please contact them in the usual way.

The Usk District Nursing team do not have telephone or internet connection in their hub at present. This is being investigated.

If patients need to contact the Usk District Nursing team urgently please ring 01495 745656.

We will update when their phone and internet connection is restored.