Wuhan Novel Coronavirus

Currently, if 2019-nCoV infection is seen in the UK, it is most likely to occur in travellers that have recently returned from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand. 

If you have recently travelled to China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand please let reception know by calling 01946 830 207

Following advice from the Department of Health if you have returned to the UK from any of these areas in the last 14 days and develop symptoms of cough or fever or shortness of breath, you should immediately stay indoors and avoid contact with other people as you would with the flu and call NHS 111 to inform them of your recent travel to the country if you require a Doctors appointment you need to remain at home and contact 111 or us via telephone on 01946 830 207

The Dispensary will be closed for annual stock take on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th March 2020. Repeat prescriptions will not be available during this time.

We are a parkrun practice

If you want to .....

 Make friends
Be part of a community
Improve your health
Be active
Learn new skills

..... there's no better place than park run!

Walk, jog, run, volunteer or come along and watch!

Every Saturday at 9am

Whitehaven & Workington 

EVERYONE IS WELCOME AND IT IS FREE

Taking part is easy, register once at

www.parkrun.org.uk

Distington Surgery & Park Run

On Saturday 1st June 2019 Distington Surgery GPs and practice staff took part in and supported the NHS Parkrun in Workington.

The GP parkrun Pledge Day had the aim of raising awareness across the health sector of the physical, mental and emotional health benefits of joining up with parkrun.

It was a huge success!

Nationally there were:

• 182,000 participants at UK 5k parkruns on 1 June
• More than 5,000 general practice doctors, staff and patients pledged their support in advance
• Pledge Day itself saw nearly 10,000 additional walkers, joggers and runners participating nationally. 2,000 of those were first timer parkrunners (a 14% increase on previous weeks), with over 600 of them stating that they were inactive at the time of registration (a 4% increase)
• 1,200 registered parkrun practices

Go team Distington - Well done everyone!

Our Friends and Family Test results

Friends and Family Test (FFT) is an important feedback tool that supports the fundamental principle that people who use NHS services should have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience. Listening to the views of patients and staff helps identify what is working well, what can be improved and how.

In October 2019 92% of the patients surveyed were extremely likely or likely to recommend Distington Surgery to friends and family.

Need to see a clinician in an evening or at the weekend for a routine appointment?

Cumbria Health Extended Access (CHEA) offers pre-bookable appointments with a range of clinicians outside of your practice's normal working hours

Available at multiple bases: Appleby, Carlisle, Kirby Stephen, Penrith, Whitehaven and Wigton

Ask your reception team for more details on how to book an appointment  

To allow essential staff training to take place please note that the surgery (including the dispensary) will be closed from 13:00pm on the dates listed below and will re-open at 8:00am the following morning (for the surgery) and 09:00am (for the dispensary)

• Wednesday 12th February 2020
• Thursday 19th March 2020

 When our GP practice is closed, patients should call the NHS 111 service by dialing 111.  All calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.

What is the NHS 111 service?

A simple, free to call, easy to remember three digit number that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

The NHS 111 service directs patients to the service that is best able to meet their needs taking into account their location, the time of day of their call, and the capacity of local service

When should I use the NHS 111 Service?

• When it’s not a life threatening situation, and therefore is less urgent than a 999 call
• When visiting your own GP isn’t an option, for instance when the GP Practice is shut or you are away from home
• When you feel you cannot wait or are simply unsure of which service you require
• When you require reassurance about what to do next

Your needs will be assessed and advice offered or arrangements made for you to see a doctor.   You may be requested to attend their treatment centre at the West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven, for a more efficient assessment and treatment. 

Further information can be found at NHS Choices 111

Please do not ask to see a doctor out of hours unless you genuinely cannot wait until the surgery re-opens.

• Severe chest pain, especially with any of the following symptoms:
  • breathlessness
  • sweating
  • pain travelling elsewhere such as ...
    • arm
    • neck
    • throat
    • jaw
  • nausea and / or vomiting
  • any loss of consciousness or complaining of feeling faint or light headed
  • a history of heart disease
  • suddenly feel generally unwell
• Sudden loss of consciousness or collapse at the time of the call
• New and persistent unresponsiveness
• Severe breathing difficulties – sudden onset or worsening
• Severe or uncontrollable bleeding
• Uncontrolled fits, especially in children
• Suspected allergic reaction, causing any of the above symptoms or swelling of the nose or mouth
• Sudden palpitations (‘fluttering of the heart’) ONLY IF accompanied by fainting or loss of consciousness

GDPR - Information Sharing - Your Records

GDPR Privacy Notice

To ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Distington Surgery must ensure that information is provided to patients about how their personal data is processed in a manner which is:

• Concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible;
• Written in clear and plain language, particularly if addressed to a child; and
• Free of charge

For more information please read our Privacy Leaflet Privacy Information Leaflet

Why are receptionists asking the reason for the appointment?

In order to give our patients the best possible service our partner GP's have asked reception to ask all patients the reason for the appointment. This is to ensure patients are booked an appointment with the most appropriate member of staff in the correct type of appointment slot. Also fit notes and queries about referrals or insurance reports etc. can be dealt with by other members of the team and in many cases over the telephone there and then rather than waiting to see a doctor so this is much more efficient for the patient.

The 'sit & wait' facility for urgent appointments is no longer available, what if I need an urgent appointment?

If you require an urgent appointment please contact reception as early as possible in the day (before 10am if possible) reception will take a brief summary as to why an urgent appointment is needed and this will be passed to the on-call doctor who will then contact you via telephone to discuss this further. If the doctor requires to see you in person the doctor will make arrangements for this.

What if I need a home visit?

If you require a home visit please contact reception before 10am as there is time allocated following this for home visits to be carried out. By ringing in as early as possible this allows the doctor to discuss those patients requiring a home visit with the rest of the team and the most appropriate doctor can then carry out the visit.

Emergency Dental Care

Since the 1^st April  out of hours contact for patients requiring urgent dental care is through NHS 111.  Dental direct is no longer accessible out of hours.

Any patients requiring access to out of hours dental telephone triage and treatment services will from 01 April 2019 need to dial 111, which will direct them into the North West Region, NHS 111 service and North Cumbria dental out of hours clinical assessment service.

For patients without a current dentist who need in hours emergency care please call 01228 603900.

NHS Dental Direct

Outstanding CQC Rating

Following a two day inspection by the CQC Inspectorate the surgery are delighted to have received a rating of outstanding for the way patients are treated and the practice is run.

CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice in the North, Alison Holbourn says:

“This is an exceptional practice that is very well-led and supportive of its staff. We received a large number of positive comment cards and from the National GP Patient Survey the practice got a 98% satisfaction rating for delivering compassionate care.

When we look at GP practices we assess to see how they perform in six population groups; older people; people with long term conditions; families, children and young people; working age people (including those recently retired and students); People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable; people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). In each of these areas the practice was rated as Outstanding. It is clear that the Distington practice has the safety, health and welfare of all of its patients at the very heart of what it does and I congratulate them on their achievement.”

Patient Access to Online Services and Records

Please see our statement of intent and plan under our "latest news" tab on the right hand side. 

Note to patients regarding Junior Doctors

This practice trains junior doctors. They are fully qualified and have already done training in hospitals. You can expect them to provide a full range of GP services. If they are not certain about what to do they will ask more senior colleagues for advice.

Thank you

Would you be interested in joining the Distington Surgery Patient Participation Group? 

Our patient group meets once per quarter, our next meeting is Thursday 12th March 2020 - 1:00pm at the surgery if anyone would be interested in joining the group please complete the form below. Please read below for more details about the group complete the online form below or telephone Kirsty on 01946 830 207.

Dear Patient,

We would like to know how we can improve our service to you and how you perceive our surgery and staff. 

To help us with this, we have set up a patient representation group to allow patients to have their say with the aim to improve the surgery.  This group meets once per quarter here at the surgery, and if members are unable to attend questions or comments for discussion at the meeting can be sent via email or over the telephone. We ask the members of this representative group some questions from time to time, such as what you think about our opening times or the quality of the care or service you received.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the group please contact Kirsty Morley on 01946 830 207 or alternatively complete the form below.

Complete the Patient Group Sign-up Form Online

If you prefer, you can download the sign up form as a pdf document, print it out, complete it and return it to the practice.

Download the pdf version of our sign up form

 Minutes of previous meetings

2019 Meetings

PPG Minutes 29.08.19

PPG Minutes 02.05.19

PPG Minutes 31.01.19

2018 Meetings

PPG Minutes 25.10.18

PPG Minutes 06.09.18

PPG Minutes 28.06.18

Closure of Whitehaven medical centre doc 19.07.18

Agenda 01.03.18 - Cancelled due to snowfall

For information on 'Care Data' and 'Local Shared Record' please click on the links on the right of the screen.