We are replacing eConsult with a different online consultation system called Anima from 23rd January 2025.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP AND/OR SIGN IN TO USE ANIMA

What is Anima?

Anima is a system designed to enhance access to care at Siam Surgery, specifically for those who prefer the convenience of digital access. It will help us direct you to the most appropriate care for your medical needs, supporting us in making the best use of our resources in a safe and efficient way. Anima works in a similar way to eConsult, you can submit your request without having to call the surgery and wait in a queue.

For patients of Siam Surgery, Anima is aimed at those who prefer, and choose to use this digital method of access. If you prefer not to use Anima, you can continue to access our services as usual and this change will not affect you. We are not implementing this as a full online triage system, we will still operate our traditional appointment model alongside Anima.

What can I use Anima for?

1. Requesting non-urgent GP Appointments or Health-Related Advice - You can submit a request for a non-urgent GP appointment, Med3 certificates (sickness or fitness to work) or ask general health-related questions. Your request will be triaged, and this could result in an appointment being offered (via an online booking link) or other advice being provided based on the details you provide. If there is a specific outcome that you are hoping for please make sure to include this in your request. 
2. Administrative Requests - You can submit non-urgent administrative requests and you can also keep us up-to-date with information relevant to your medical record for example if you change your contact details or address.
3. Prescription Requests - While we don't recommend that you request repeat prescriptions through Anima (please continue to use the NHS app), it can be used to request medical advice if you need changes to your medication.

What can't I use Anima for?

Urgent issues: We are using Anima to work alongside our current booking system but not replace it. Medical requests submitted through Anima will be dealt with within 2 working days. Should you feel that you require a same day GP appointment or need urgent advice, please contact our reception team on 01787 322420. 

Emergency issues: For any urgent or life-threatening concerns (such as chest pain, breathing difficulties, or severe injury), you should call 999 or go to the nearest Emergency Department.

Repeat prescription requests: Please continue to use the NHS app for this service.

How do I access Anima?

Anima is not an app, it can only be accessed through a web browser. We have a link available on our website homepage which is the same as the link provided above. You will need an Anima account to use the service, or you can log in using your NHS app credentials. We recommend setting up your account now so that you can start using Anima as soon as you need it. 

What are the opening times for Anima?

You will be able to submit non-urgent requests via Anima from 6am to 10:30pm on weekdays (excluding Bank Holidays).

How soon will I hear back?

We aim to respond to all medical queries within 2 working days, and administrative queries within 5 working days. You can always check the status of your query through your Anima account.

Can more than one person use a single Anima account?

Yes, you can add dependents to your account, such as family members or those you care for. If this person is over 13 years old, please contact the surgery first.

Can I contact Anima directly?

Yes! We would encourage you to email Anima’s support team on support@animahealth.com if you have any trouble using the website.

Sign up to Anima today so it is ready when you need it. Here are some helpful videos:

How to create an account

How to add a dependent

How to submit a request

How to check the progress/outcome of your request

We would like to share some important updates on our progress as we continue to adapt and grow to meet the needs of our patient community.

We now have over 12,500 patients at Siam Surgery which is a significant increase on previous years. Along with the majority of GP surgeries across the country we are facing a truly unprecedented demand on our services, which, due to a multitude of factors, is becoming increasingly difficult to meet. At Siam Surgery we have been working extremely hard to not only protect our service, but to improve it too.

Our Challenges:

First and foremost, we want to acknowledge that due to the demand on our services increasing significantly within a relatively short space of time this has meant that within the last few months there have been periods where we have seen waiting times for non-urgent GP appointments extend up to 14 days (mostly between 7-10 days). We have also found that we have often reached our safe working limit for the day (no more same day appointments available) earlier than when this limit was first introduced.

This is something that we as a surgery do not want to accept as the norm, and we have been working relentlessly to reduce these wait times in a safe and sustainable way. We understand how frustrating this can be, and we have always remained vigilant in ensuring that waiting times are clinically safe. If we’ve found that the wait time isn’t appropriate for any of our patients then they will have been signposted to an alternative service. Throughout each winter period we experience a surge in demand for same-day appointments, largely due to seasonal viruses and illnesses such as colds, flu and other infections. We add more clinics, review and streamline processes, staff kindly work additional hours, yet still the demand on our services often outweighs our capacity to provide safe care during these times.

We want to thank you for your understanding and assure you that improving access to good quality care remains a top priority.

Changes to Our Team:

You may or may not be aware, but we struggled to find a replacement GP when Dr Kemp retired at the end of 2023 and so we had to adapt! Our remaining three GP Partners have been supported by a wonderful team of now five Nurse Practitioners, three of whom have joined us in the past year. Our Nurse Practitioners are highly skilled and experienced clinicians who offer a wide range of services. They are qualified to diagnose conditions, prescribe treatments, make referrals, and order necessary investigations, providing comprehensive care for our patients. We have a dedicated nursing team which includes two experienced Practice Nurses who provide care for patients with long-term health conditions and perform a wide variety of services and procedures. We are also incredibly proud of Bex, our Nursing Associate, who has recently qualified after three years of dedicated study and training!

Through our Primary Care Network, within the last year we have doubled our allocation of First Contact Physiotherapy with appointments available at the surgery all day on a Monday and Friday. We have a team of Clinical Pharmacists working remotely to provide support for patients with medication reviews and changes- a service that has been established in addition to our in-house Clinical Pharmacists who also see patients face-to-face. We have welcomed two new Care Coordinators who work hard to improve patient outcomes, especially those with long-term health conditions, and we still have our Social Prescribers who provide support to our patients for a variety of issues that affect their health and well-being.

We’ve also expanded our reception and prescribing clerk team and have trained other staff members to provide additional support by answering the telephones during peak periods. Our other non-clinical team members continue to work extremely hard 'behind the scenes' carrying out vital tasks that support the smooth running of the surgery. 

Plans for 2025:

We are very much looking forward to welcoming two new salaried GPs into our team later this year. We are confident that their arrival will have a really positive impact on our service, benefiting both our patients and staff. We are also currently recruiting for a Health Care Assistant to further support our nursing team.

With this we expect our capacity to increase throughout 2025 and we plan to restart our minor surgery clinics as soon as possible.

To accommodate our growing team we’ve recently acquired two new clinical rooms in the Health Centre, so you may see these when you next come for your appointment.

In the near future, we plan to increase use of our call-back system to further reduce the telephone wait time as we recognise that this is still an issue for those calling early in the morning, generally towards the start of the week.

We are changing our online consultation tool from 'eConsult' to 'Anima' and will be focusing on increasing our scope for online appointment booking over the coming months.

We would like to increase our patient engagement and will do our best to keep you informed, and involved in the decisions we make. We listen to and value all of your feedback, and will continue to use it to make meaningful changes to our service.

We kindly ask for your continued support as outlined in our 'What Can You Do to Help' section at the bottom of this page. This will help us enormously in making sure that that we can be here for everyone who needs us.

Thank you for giving us your trust and support. We’re looking forward to the coming months and remain committed to delivering the best care possible for all of our patients.

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.

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.

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.

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.