Brereton Surgery Newsletter March 2025

The Spring COVID Booster campaign is now underway. If you are eligible, such as those aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes, and individuals aged six months and over with a weakened immune system. We encourage you to book your appointment as soon as possible

Alongside the COVID booster, we also want to remind patients about other important vaccinations, including the shingles, pneumococcal, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines. These help protect against serious illnesses, so please check if you are due for any of them.

The NHS App is a quick and easy way to manage your healthcare. You can use it to book appointments, request prescriptions, and access your medical records. If you need help using the app, Dawn, our NHS App Ambassador, is available to provide support. 

For additional Information Technology (IT) help, Rugeley Library also offers support sessions at the following times: 

• Tuesday AM 
• Thursday PM 
• Friday AM 

If you would like guidance on using the app, please take advantage of these services.

Between October and December 2024, our practice remained very busy, supporting thousands of patients. Here are some key figures:

• Telephone Calls: 7,671
• Appointments: 8,527 (90% face to face)
• Hospital Referrals: 442
• Online Consultations: 406
• Prescriptions Processed: 9,369

Missed appointments continue to be a challenge, with an average of 16.15 hours of wasted appointment time per month during the last quarter. This includes:

• 3.16 hours GP appointments
• 1.5 hours Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP)
• 3.5 hours Mental Health Practitioners (MHP)
• 6.54 hours Nursing team
• 0.31 hours Paramedic
• 0.42 hours Pharmacist
• 0.22 hours First Contact Physiotherapists (FCP)
• 0.17 hours Urgent Care Practitioners (UCP)
• 0.33 hours Physician Associates (PA)

To help reduce missed appointments, we encourage all patients to use our Check and Cancel service. This allows you to easily review and cancel appointments you no longer need. In the last quarter, 200 appointments were checked, and 71 were successfully cancelled using this service.

Following the unfortunate incident on 12th December 2024, which caused damage to the front of our building, restoration work is well underway. We expect the work to be completed soon, and our waiting room will be fully functional again. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience during this time.

March marks Endometriosis Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness of a condition that affects 1 in 10 women. 

Endometriosis can cause a range of symptoms, including painful periods, chronic pelvic pain, fatigue, and bloating, which can significantly impact daily life. Despite being so common, it is often misdiagnosed or overlooked. This month, we aim to highlight the challenges faced by those living with endometriosis and provide support to those in need. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, we encourage you to visit NHS Website: Endometriosis or Endometriosis UK for more information, resources, and support.