Please visit our website: www.harboursidefmp.nhs.uk

If you have any feedback about the content or ideas for future issues of our newsletter please speak to Reception. If you would like to receive a copy by e-mail please e-mail us at reception.harbourside@nhs.net

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Chronic condition and mental health reviews Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be contacting patients to arrange follow-up annual appointments for those who suffer with chronic conditions and diagnosed mental health conditions. We’re still reviewing patients with these conditions to ensure they’re well looked after. You can in many instances complete a review questionnaire on our new econsult system by going to ’Econsult-Ask about common problems like coughs, back pain or mental health-start a review’. If we need to discuss your review with you we may offer telephone or video appointments where this is appropriate.

If you regularly take medication, please check you have enough medication and consider signing up for online prescription requests or e-mailing: bnssg.harbourside.prescriptions@nhs.net.

Childhood immunisations

We’re still offering routine childhood vaccinations. It’s really important to ensure that your children are kept up to date with their immunisations to help prevent them from becoming unwell with serious illnesses. Appointments and waiting procedures may be slightly different from normal. If you’re coming to the surgery, please ensure that only you and your child attend the appointment. If you believe your child may have missed one of their routine immunisations, we can help you check and if necessary provide catch-up vaccinations. It’s vitally important for the health and well-being of your child and others. Cervical screening

We’re able to offer routine cervical screening appointments. Things might look a little different from normal when you come in, but we’re keen to make sure that we keep women up to date with their smear tests. We don’t want women to miss out on important screening checks. If you’re having any unexplained bleeding or other concerning symptoms, please don’t wait to be invited for a routine smear. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cervical-screening/

Mental health and anxiety

We’ve had more patients asking to speak to us because they’re feeling anxious. If you’re finding it hard to manage your anxiety and are worried about the effects of releasing restrictions, you might want to consider seeking advice. If you find that online support isn’t helping you to reduce your levels of anxiety, please complete an econsult to make an appointment with one of our clinicians. You can use techniques at home that can help you to improve your mental health and well-being, and the NHS has a variety of advice, tools and guidance to support you. The NHS has developed ‘Your Mind Plan’ to help you develop a plan to improve your mental health and well-being. You answer questions to identify key issues and then you’ll be provided with a plan to help you move forward; you can even tailor parts of the plan to fit your own goals. If you have a diagnosed mental health condition, for which we normally review you annually, we’ll still want to have a chat with you to find out how you’re managing. You don’t need to wait for your annual review to speak to us if you’re finding things difficult. https://www.mind.org.uk/ https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/your-mind-plan-quiz/ https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/apps/

Some key information about our services in these uncertain times…..

CLICK HERE AND THEN HERE

Please visit our website: www.harboursidefmp.nhs.uk

Practice News

Nurse Jo Pullin retired from the

Practice on Friday 1st May—we wish her lots of rest

and relaxation for her retirement!

HCA Laura Horsman left our practice on Tuesday 5th

May —we wish her all the best in her future

endeavours!

Our Apprentice Ashleigh has now passed her Business

Administration Apprenticeship. She has been a huge

asset to our administration team and we would like to

wish her every success in all that she does! Her last

day with us is Friday 26th June.

We have a student nurse, Lilly, on placement with us

for 7 weeks. It’s possible you might see Lilly if you

have an appointment with one of our nursing team.

Our Patient Participation Group meetings are

currently suspended until further notice. However,

we are looking into holding some virtual meetings in

the future. For more information about our PPG

please see our website or email:

ppgharbourside@mail.com. Please do get in touch

and let us know if you have any ideas for how we can

make things better for our patients during Covid-19.

When attending appointments at the surgery please

can you bring your own face covering and ensure you

wear it before entering the building, thank you for

your co-operation.

We are pleased to announce that our new

eConsult system is now live! eConsult allows you to

get in touch with us, day or night, without the hassle

of waiting for an appointment.

The eConsult system allows you to securely message

our practice to ask for medical advice. Our clinicians

will then be able to

respond to you by the end of the next working day at

the latest, including the offer of an appointment if

you need one. It’s quick, secure and gets you the care

and advice you need, when you need it.

In this issue……… Page 1: Practice News, Portishead Coronavirus Support Network Page 2: My Time on Reception, Support for young people Page 3: Thank yous, Staying active Page 4: Key information about services

Harbourside Summer Newsletter 2020

I have been a patient at this surgery for around nine

years now and I have always found the staff, from

receptionists to nurses to GPs, to be very helpful.

During my latest visit to the asthma nurse, having

had a persistent cough for a few weeks, the service I

received and the effort to make sure I got the

treatment I needed could not be faulted. Even

though the staff were under increased pressure due

to the ongoing coronavirus concerns their

professionalism and empathy

shine through.

www.nhs.uk_March 2020

Portishead Coronavirus Support Network

This group was formed by local residents for local

residents, they coordinate and distribute tasks to

local volunteers in order to ensure no one is going

without essentials during the coronavirus pan-

demic. They adhere to the latest government

guidelines to ensure the safety and protection of

volunteers and residents and can help with

arranging shopping, prescription deliveries and

other essential errands.

For more information please see:

http://www.portisheadcovidsupport.co.uk/

ARE YOU aged 11-18 and:

Feeling tired or struggling to sleep?

Losing interest in things you used to enjoy?

Experiencing an increase or decrease in your appetite?

Struggling to concentrate?

Feeling like you just want to be alone?

Feeling irritable?

Finding it difficult to make decisions?

These are common symptoms which many people experience at some stage in their life. The good news is that

help is out there to support you with these difficult feelings and symptoms!

The Wellbeing Practitioners at Wellspring Counselling are offering free support to children and young

people (aged 11 – 18). This support is known as guided self help and involves learning and practicing techniques to

help you manage these symptoms.

If this is something you're interested in, please contact Krissie on krissie@wellspringcounselling.org.uk

This support is suitable for mild to moderate difficulties with wellbeing or mental health. Unfortunately

Wellbeing Practitioners are not able to work with young people who are struggling with difficulties which are

complex, causing high levels of distress or where the difficulties pose a risk to the young person’s safety.

My time on reception Receptionists have many tasks that they need to complete each day.

Their job consists of much more than just answering the phones and

booking appointments like most people expect. They are the first point of contact for

the practice, this means they need to have knowledge on all admin roles, they need to

know the correct protocols for lots of conditions without being medically trained and be able to handle

challenging conversations correctly.

The receptionists at Harbourside deal with a lot more tasks than I expected. For example they are able to

deal with prescriptions, register patients, chase hospitals and patients for information, manage waiting

lists for special clinics, register patients for online access and refer patients for Portishead porters.

At Harbourside we also have many other organisations working in the building. As our receptionists are

based on the ground floor many people also come to them to try and sign in or ask about their

appointments with these organisations. This means that all receptionists need to know which floor and

where to correctly direct outside patients.

The receptionists are essential for our surgery. They have all developed bonds with the patients and staff

and really care for their health and wellbeing. Our staff would do as much as they could do for a patient

to ensure they feel comfortable and safe.

When I first started my apprenticeship at Harbourside I did not expect the team to have so many roles

and responsibilities. They all work extremely hard each day and really understand the patient’s needs.

They ensure they work as a team each day so they can ensure all jobs are complete.

By Ashleigh (apprentice)

Thank yous

A number of local people and/or organisations have very kindly donated various food, drinks, PPE and general supplies to us over the last few months and we wanted to say a huge thank you to:

401 challenge Ben Smith – kindly donated water bottles to our staff

Airbus—kindly donated crisps and iced coffee

The Nursery, Portishead—kindly donated milk

Sainsburys and Tesco—kindly donated Easter eggs

The Dental Clinic—kindly donated face masks

Gordano school—kindly donated goggles

The Great NHS Sewing Bee—kindly made scrubs and face masks for our staff (thank you to Portishead Town Council for putting us in touch with Helen)

It is always so lovely when we receive gifts from our patients, including chocolates, flowers and biscuits and it has been especially welcome in the current climate.

Staying active

Being physically active is one of the most important factors in ensuring good health and remaining positive. Physical activity can range from sport, gentle exercise and stretching to housework and gardening. Keeping active has many benefits from helping to improve sleep, manage stress and maintain a healthy weight. The likelihood is that in the last few weeks and months you will have seen a drop in activity levels due to social distancing and home working. Therefore, doing some activity each day is really good for your mental and physical wellbeing for many different reasons. There are lots of ways to incorporate exercise into your day, even if it’s just star jumps in your kitchen, or shaking out your arms or legs as if you are warming up for a race, exercise helps get the adrenaline out of your system.

Top tips to help you keep active:

Set yourself a daily target to move around – e.g. 30 minutes

Build in regular breaks to your day

Have walk and talk meetings

If you are going out could you cycle or walk part of the journey?

Move your body position every 60 minutes – you can set up little reminders in your Outlook to prompt you

to get up and move

Join a gym/class/walking group for support – lots of these are running virtually at the moment

Find an exercise buddy – go for a walk and talk with a friend on the phone (or in person when we’re allowed

to) to get the blood pumping

Involve family in activities

NB: For more information on physical activity guidelines for

different groups of people please see the ‘Looking after yourself’

section of our website.