News
General Update - October 2023
Now that Dr Kemp has retired only 3 GP partners remain. We have been working extremely hard to prepare for this so that we can reduce the impact it will have on the service that we provide, please be assured that we have every confidence we will be able to continue to provide access to a high quality of care for all of our patients.
The points raised in the post below titled 'Winter Pressures at Siam Surgery – December 2022' remains relevant at this time, with a few things noted here to bring it up to date:
The challenging bits –
- We now have over 11,600 patients registered with us and look after two care homes (previously one). We are still registering an average of 100 new patients per month.
- We have been actively recruiting for a full-time GP for over a year now but sadly this has proved difficult with a national shortage of GPs and the numbers continuing to fall.
- Increased pressure on other NHS services (hospitals, pharmacies etc) impacts on our workloads, and visa versa.
The positive bits -
- We have warmly welcomed clinicians Ellie (Paramedic) and Phil (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) who have made a huge difference to the practice already and soon we will be joined by Cheryl (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) who we are sure will quickly become another wonderful asset to our team.
- We have a new telephone system in place which enables us to have more receptionists working at any one time to reduce waiting times on the phone and the previous system faults are no longer an issue. We have increased the size of our reception team.
- With some very good will from our staff we have increased the number of clinicians working on a Saturday meaning more appointments are available outside of our core hours.
- We have successfully implemented some new systems to streamline administration processes and reduce the burden of these workloads on our clinicians.
- Dr Kemp will provide ad hoc cover for our doctors so that they can take their much needed annual leave without this reducing our capacity in the surgery.
Moving forward –
- We are currently recruiting for various clinical and non-clinical positions in order to increase the size of our workforce and the skill mix within it. We will continue looking for new ways to manage workloads so we can support our clinicians in focusing on patient care.
- Please read through the 'what can you do to help' section below, we ask kindly for this support from our patients and their families so that we can continue to be there for everyone who needs us.
Usual GP
Every patient is allocated a 'usual GP' who will predominantly deal with the administration aspects of your care. Due to Dr Kemp's retirement we have reallocated his patients evenly between the remaining doctors at Siam Surgery. You can still choose which doctor you see for appointments. Your usual GP will be listed on your repeat prescription slip, correspondence from the practice or alternatively you can ask for this information when you next need to contact the practice.
Dr Kemp's Retirement - September 2023
After devoting 41 years to Siam Surgery, sadly the time has come for us to announce the retirement of our much loved GP, Dr Kemp.
Dr Kemp is extremely well-known for being one of the kindest and most compassionate doctors there is. He has truly made a difference to so many people's lives and we know that he will be sorely missed by his patients and colleagues alike.
Dr Kemp says "I have enjoyed my time working with the staff and patients of Siam Surgery and have dealt with many lovely patients over the years."
Some of you will remember that he has actually 'retired' once before back in 2016. We think he means it this time as he is very much looking forward to spending more time with his children, grandchildren and travelling.
We have been lucky enough that Dr Kemp has offered to support the practice by working on an ad hoc basis to cover periods of leave whilst we continue our search for a new GP. We will provide you with more information on how the surgery will manage this change next week, but for now we would like to concentrate on wishing Dr Kemp all the very best for the future.
If you would like us to pass on any well wishes then please hand these in to our reception desk or email to siamsurgery.patientcontact@nhs.net.
New telephone system - August 2023
We are very pleased to say that we now have a new telephone system in place!
Please be aware that our telephone number has now changed. Our new number is:
01787 322420
We are sure the majority of you are aware that for a long time now our telephone system has been unable to cope with the volume of calls that we receive. There have been numerous faults resulting in people being cut off at various points in the call queue, sometimes even once they have appeared to get through.
We are so sorry to all who have been affected by this. We understand how difficult it has made it to contact us by phone and the impact that this has had on our patients. Staff have also been left very upset and frustrated, they've received a lot of verbal abuse over this and have spent many hours trying to resolve these issues.
Our new system is purpose built for busy GP surgeries. We will have more control over the system, the faults should disappear AND we have said goodbye to the hold music which is loathed by just about every patient we know.
We hope once we have settled in to the new system you will see a big improvement when contacting the surgery.