Welcome to The Avenue Medical Practice, Greenhill

The Practice had been well established in Greenhill for a number of years before it was transferred to a purpose built building on Reney Avenue in 1989.

The Practice Team offer a full general practice service and run specialist clinics for chronic diseases.  We aim to allow ample time for listening, explanation and advice, so as to promote the better health of each patient in our care. 

The promotion of a “healthy lifestyle” is an important part of all consultations and educational literature is given to patients whenever appropriate. We have notice boards in the waiting rooms, on which we display health promotion posters on different topics.

 For support, advice and guidance on common conditions - please click here

THERE IS A  NATIONAL MAJOR TECHNICAL ISSUE AND WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCESS ANY PATIENT NOTES THEREFORE FOR THE SAFETY OF PATIENTS THE SURGERY IS CLOSED UNTIL THIS IS RESOLVED. PLEASE CONTACT 111 AND ONLY ATTEND A&E IF YOU FEEL YOUR SITUATION IS LIFE THREATENING

Telephone system

The phone system will ring engaged if all the lines are busy. You need to redial to get into the queue. If you get through to the message you are in the queue to be answered. You will be told where you are in the queue. There will only ever be a maximum of 6 people queueing but how long the call takes to be answered depends upon the nature of the other patients calls. If they ask complex questions it can take longer.

Appointment system changes now in effect -Survey results in!

Why change- we conducted a patient survey (through March and April) that showed a large majority of those surveryed didn't like the current system. Patients said you wanted to be able to pre-book again. Others said they don't want to be spoken to over the phone and want to come in to see a GP. Finally many of you found the telephone triage system difficult when at work etc.. as you couldn't have your phone with you at all times.

What will it mean- We will be offering face-to-face appointments for you to book in without triage every day. Some will be pre-bookable upto 2 weeks in advance, others will not be opened until the day, so if you need to see a GP with a more urgent issue there are still slots available

Does it mean the end of telephone consultations? - No we will still use them for some simpler issues such as medication queries etc..

Why can I only book 2 weeks in advance? - Simply because people forget when appointments are booked weeks/months in advance. Also we want to ensure that those that need

Will there be less appointments? - By using traditional face-to-face appointments and using telephone appointments for quick fire issues we have not reduced the capacity at all

Are there any downsides? - Pre-booking appointments will mean less appointments available on the day, but we are reserving 50% for on the day. It will also mean more complex issues will not be able to be dealt with over the phone, as we have only allocated 5 minute slots for each telephone consultation in order to be able to deal with the quickfire issues.

IMPACT AFTER ONE MONTH

One month in we have not received any negative feedback, but have had many positive comments. We have reduced the amount of on-the-day appointments available but the wait for a pre-bookable appointment has remained under 2 weeks and is more often around 1 week in advance.

IMPACT AFTER THREE MONTHS

Feedback remains positive. Pre-bookable appointments are more often than not available 2 weeks in advance

IMPACT AFTER NINE MONTHS

Please find our survey results HERE. The survery in March 18 showed only 19% of patients didn't want the old appointment system to change. So we changed it in May 18 based upon the comments patients made.

As of Feb 19 -76% of patients like the new appointment system. That doesn't mean it's perfect but it's a huge step in the right direction. The next 2 areas to be tackled are ensuring pre-bookable appointments are available more evenly across the week (that doesn't mean an unlimited supply, just a more even spread across working days), and tackling patients that book apoointments and then fail to turn up, meaning others can't use them.

Have any views?-  Please let us know, or even better join our patient participation group and help us to develop the practice into something that works for patients

Shingles Vaccination

Please follow this link for more information http://www.shinglesaware.co.uk/

Practice Learning Initiatives

Our next Practice Learning Initiative's are provided by the CCG (NHS) to allow GP staff to attend arranged learning session. All GP's and nurses have to undertake training every year in order to remain registered and so we understand patients frustration at our closure but these sessions are vital to ensure all staff are kept up-to-date. During the hours we are closed, the out-of-hours service is delivered meaning our patients still have access to a GP if required urgently.

The Practice will be closed every first Tuesday in the month from 1pm - 3pm for staff training

Tuesday 10th December

Practice Closures - Please ensure you order any prescriptions in advance over these dates

27th May - Bank Holiday

26th August - Bank Holiday

25th and 26th December- Christmas