Author: stapsell

Group A Streptococcal infection

  1. There is a national warning to look for potential streptococcal infection, with a bacteria called Group A Strep.
  2. There is also a large number of viral infections in our community, including COVID, Flu, RSV and Hand, foot and mouth, affecting adults and especially children.
  3. Thirdly we are running low on antibiotic supply, needing to use our stock wisely.

The combined mix of a virus along with the strep bacteria seems to be the biggest danger.

So what are we looking to treat with antibiotics (or maybe hospital) ?

  • Scarlet fever with “sandpaper rash”, “strawberry tongue”, high temperature, sore throat, sore glands.
  • Chest infections, where a bacterial (Streptococcal) infection may have added on top of the viral infection. Not just a cough, but other symptoms of being more unwell such as high temperature, rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, dehydration, not eating and drinking normally.
  • Sepsis. Drowsy, rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, not responding normally, reduced feeding.
  • Persisting or worsening symptoms: Most viral infections are improving around the 4-5 days of infection.

What are we not treating with antibiotics?

  • Every cough, every sore throat, every headache, every temperature.
  • We need to monitor these “viral infections” for signs of illnesses above, but we will not be able to give antibiotics “just incase”.
  • This advice could change in local areas where a serious outbreak of “invasive” infections is taking place – where the bacteria seem especially dangerous.
  • We are not currently aware of these serious cases in North Devon.

For advice about common infections, see links below.

What should parents do?

Sensible advice from BBC website:

Trust your judgement if your child seems seriously unwell.

Contact your local surgery if they:

  • are getting worse
  • are eating much less than normal
  • show signs of dehydration, such as a dry nappy for 12 hours
  • have a temperature of 39C or higher, or 38C if under three months old
  • are a baby and feel hotter than usual when you touch their back or chest or sweaty
  • are very tired or irritable

Call 999 or go to an accident-and-emergency unit if:

  • they are having difficulty breathing – you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their ribs
  • they are pausing when they breathe
  • their skin, tongue or lips are blue
  • they are floppy and will not wake up or stay awake

Practice Nurse – Job Vacancy

VACANCY NOW CLOSED, Jan 2023

Our current practice nurse, Holly, will be moving to a new post “up country” early in the new year. We are grateful that she has served our community really well for nearly 5 years and I’m sure very many of you will  want to wish her well. We are sorry to be losing such a great member of our team, but happy she is taking up new opportunities.

We are advertising for a replacement:
Practice Nurse Job Advert
Practice Nurse Job Description

Practice Nurse Hartland Surgery, starting early 2023

Would you like to join a friendly GP practice in a stunning coastal North Devon location?

At Hartland Surgery we are a great team that supports each other to offer high quality primary care to our community. We especially enjoy supporting our patients to improve their health by making effective lifestyle changes.

Working in a small rural practice enables us to really know the individuals and families we look after and to feel supported by our community. We are looking for someone who shares our enthusiasm.

As we’re a small team, our practice nurse’s role is broad. You would be covering all aspects of practice nurse work including immunisations, contraception, cervical smears, minor injuries and chronic disease clinics. Training and support are available to develop or refresh these skills. The role is supported by our 3 skilled and experienced HCAs and involves working closely with the 3 GPs.

Hartland is a training practice so we often welcome GP registrars, medical students and nursing students on placements. As members of the Torridge Primary Care Network we also benefit from a number of visiting practitioners including, health and wellbeing coaches, social prescribers, pharmacists and physios. We have 2900 patients and use SystmOne clinical IT system.

We are happy to support our team to develop skills to reach their potential. We are also keen to promote good work-life balance, by encouraging lunchtime exercise and accommodating flexible start and finish times if required.

Desirable characteristics

  • An enthusiastic, caring, approachable and experienced practice nurse
  • Communication and organisation skills
  • Teamwork and leadership skills
  • A flexible approach
  • IT skills
Salary – Competitive, based on experience
Hours – Preferably full time. Part time or job share considered
Start date – 20th February 2023 (negotiable)
Closing date for applications – 29th December 2022

(we may bring this date forward depending on applications received)

Please apply in writing with a CV and covering letter to

Mrs Trudy Bowles
Practice Manager
Hartland Surgery
66, The Square
Hartland
Bideford
Devon
EX39 6BL
trudy.bowles@nhs.net

For more information visit hartlandsurgery.co.uk or ring 01237 441200 or send Trudy an email.

COVID Autumn Boosters at Hartland British Legion Car Park each Wednesday

Thanks to the excellent mobile vaccine team, there is a “pop up” vaccine van on the following dates in Hartland, at the Royal British Legion, 10.30am to 4:30pm:

  • Wed 28 September
  • Wed 5 October
  • Wed 12 October
  • Wed 19 October
  • Wed 26 October

There is no need to book and after an impressive busy first day today, they may be less busy in the coming October dates.

To check eligibility here:

I’m not sure if this will be the same each time, but today we had the bivalent moderna vaccine (which has better protection for omicron variant), and I was grateful to get my autumn booster as NHS staff, so we should keep our surgery up and running through the winter!

Who can have the seasonal COVID-19 booster?

At the moment, those being prioritised for a seasonal booster dose (autumn booster) of the COVID-19 vaccine include people who are:

  • aged 65 years old or over
  • pregnant
  • aged 5 years old and over and at high risk due to a health condition or weakened immune system
  • aged 5 years old and over and live with someone who has a weakened immune system
  • aged 16 years old and over and a carer, either paid or unpaid
  • living or working in a care home for older people
  • a frontline health and social care worker

Other people, including those aged 50 to 64 years old who are not at higher risk, will be able to get the booster jab later in the autumn 2022.

Bank Holiday for Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday 19 Sep 2022

We will be closed all day this Monday 19 Sep 2022.

  • Routine care should wait for normal service to resume on Tuesday 20 Sep 2022.
  • Urgent care should contact 111 if there is a problem which cannot wait for the practice to re-open.

We are open this Saturday 17 Sep and Sunday 18 Sep mornings for pre-booked appointments only, as part of the improved access rota. The telephone lines will not be open, but you can collect medications 9.15am – 11.15am at reception. We wont be planning to process urgent medication requests over the weekend.

Hartland Surgery: Patient Coordinator (JOB)

Application Form for Patient Coordinator (pdf)
(Application Form in DOC format)

Job Description Form for Patient Coordinator (pdf)
(Job Description in DOC format)

We are a busy GP surgery looking to recruit 2 friendly, dedicated and enthusiastic individuals to join our busy, established admin team. The positions are part time from 18 to 27.5 hours a week, Monday to Friday however some flexibility will be required to meet the needs of the Practice.

Applicants should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and be able to remain calm, empathic and professional when faced with challenging situations. They should be organised, motivated, be able to work on their own initiative and be a great team player.

The successful applicants will undertake a varied and wide range of duties within the busy admin office whilst offering support to other teams within the Practice as and when necessary.

Application forms and full job description are available on our website
www.hartlandsurgery.co.uk

Closing Date: 8th April 2022
Interviews will be held on: 29th April 2022

Private Counsellor – Belinda Shackson

Hello, my name is Belinda Shackson.

I have been very privileged to work with a variety of clients over the last 2 and a half years as a student counsellor at Hartland Medical Centre. I work with clients facing daily life struggles, bereavement, living with anxiety/ depression/illness, trauma and general mental health issues.

The client leads the way in the sessions and I always have the clients best interests at the heart of the work. I have been a client myself and I understand fully how important it is to be heard with acceptance and empathy.

Now, as a qualified counsellor I am looking to carry on practicing privately in my locality. It has always been my aim to be as accessible as I can be, within the local area that I have lived in for the last 18 years. I will be offering more competitively priced sessions, than the average at £30 per hour. I can also work with clients over telephone or Zoom.

I am based in Hartland on a Friday, sessions are also open to non patients. I work with age 16 and over.

Please direct any enquiries you may have to bshacksoncounselling@gmail.com or contact me on 07585 334 399.
Thank you-Belinda.

An update on the Healthy Lifestyle / Real Food Low Carb groups

The monthly Hartland Thursday night group in the Parish hall has continued although we are having to cancel the next 2 sessions (Thursday 17th March and 21st April). The next Hartland session will be Thursday 19th May at 630pm.

Dr Ruth Tapsell and the Torridge social prescribers Verity, Justine and Nicola have been running a 12-week program since January to help patients from across the Torridge area to improve their weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, mental wellbeing, sleep, acid reflux etc.

They have been delighted with the engagement and have seen many patients in the group transforming their physical and mental health through making changes to their diet and lifestyle. The program has been run as a combination of fortnightly education and support sessions on zoom with weekly walking and yoga groups.

They are hoping to run the program again (starting in April or May 2022) and this will again be available to patients registered with a GP in any of the 6 Torridge practices (Hartland Surgery, Bideford Medical centre, Northam Surgery, Wooda Surgery, Torrington Health Centre, Castle Gardens Surgery).

If you would like to register for the next program or would like to find out more, please email verity.hookway3@nhs.net

Red Warning – Storm Eunice, High wind, closed surgery in the morning.

We have a UK met office red warning for high wind on Friday 18 Feb 2022, 7am to 12 noon, surgery closed until at least 2pm.

What to expect

  • Flying debris resulting in danger to life
  • Damage to buildings and homes, with roofs blown off and power lines brought down
  • Uprooted trees are likely
  • Roads, bridges and railway lines closed, with delays and cancellations to bus, train, ferry services and flights
  • Power cuts affecting other services, such as mobile phone coverage
  • Large waves and beach material being thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and homes, including flooding of some coastal properties

Extremely strong west to southwesterly winds will develop over southwest England and south Wales early on Friday. Widespread inland gusts of 70-80 mph are likely and up to around 90 mph near some coasts, with dangerous conditions on beaches and seafronts. Winds are expected to ease from the west during the late morning.

To avoid risks for patients and staff, we plan that the surgery will remain closed until 2pm. We hope that in the afternoon we may resume as normal, with appointments, medication collections, telephone calls although we will need to see how things develop in the morning.

Please stay at home and stay safe this Friday morning, collect any medications on thursday evening if possible, before 6pm.

Face masks still required at Hartland Surgery

Masks are still required at the moment in all healthcare settings including GP surgeries and hospitals.

COVID infection levels remain high and symptoms like nasal congestion, sore throat and headache are currently more common for omicron, as well as the cough, fever and loss of smell symptoms.

There are still some vulnerable patients in our community despite the excellent vaccine efforts, and we still need to ensure our practice is as safe as possible for patients and staff. I’m proud that all our staff have been fully vaccinated / boosted.

We are not sure how this will change in the future, but I hope that when warmer spring weather comes through, we can open the windows wider, and stop requiring the masks most of the time.

I expect for the next few years we will continue to ask patients and staff with any “viral symptoms” such as cough, fever, sore throat to wear a mask inside the building. This has been common practice in Asian countries for some time.