“I will be doing Formula 1 next“, Leslie Graham aged 82 and a patient of Haughton Thornley Medical Centres! he has always ridden a bike although nowadays he needs a little help and so has bought this bike with a motor on to help him cycle when going up hills. He still has to cycle even when the motor is on but it is much easier to do so. It collects energy too to keep the motor topped up. But it’s great fun downhill and on the flat! He is able to lock the bike on the railings at the front of the surgery too!
“Repeat prescriptions, booking appointments and even checking letters from other medical professionals I see have been received so my doctor is up to date – all at the touch of a few buttons. What could be better? No long phone calls, explanations of why I want to know about letters or having to get people to run around with bits of paper for more medication. Now it’s all done in comfort in minutes” – Graeme Roper, patient of Haughton Thornley Medical Centres
“Self-care doesn’t mean no care. By using the Practice website you use reliable links to approved websites. After suffering from sinus problems for many years, but feeling that I didn’t want to go down the operation route, a friend recommend nasal irrigation. Sounded awful but decided to look into it. Going to self-care on the Practice website, I then went to the Map of Medicine. The advice for self-care suggested nasal saline spray and nasal saline irrigation may be of benefit. A quick visit to the pharmacy next door to the surgery provided the sprays. Guess what – it really has helped. It’s just a matter of finding what works for you.” Blog on self care section of Dr Hannan’s blog
You can see other videos that Yvonne has done by clicking here
“I love to use this website to manage my own health. It may be I want to access my health records to print information when I am going to the hospital. By following the various links I was able to look up information about an operation I needed to have. The information was very easy to understand and there was even a diagram. I found the information very useful. I was not anxious when I went for the operation as I knew exactly what to expect. I have even used the site to look up information for friends and family. The up to date information on Swine Flu is very good. ” Margaret Rickson on Dr Hannan’s blog on self care
You can also see a video by clicking here of Margaret explaining how she has becoming eMPOWERed and you can too!
My “Records Access” experience
My 90 year-old Aunt recently died in the care home where she had been living for the past five years. I was her next of kin and held Power of Attorney for her, a responsibility complicated by the fact that my Aunt lived in England and I live in Australia.
Most of her affairs could be managed with the use of modern technology and annual visits to the UK. But it was be- tween these visits that I felt frustrated when trying to gauge how my Aunt was actually feeling, whether she had any medical problems and how they were being handled. Speaking with her on the phone was sometimes difficult because she could not always hear me clearly and when she wasn’t well she could be a bit confused.
When I spoke to staff members at the care home, they could mostly only give me a general picture of my Aunt’s state of health. When I was particularly concerned I phoned my Aunt’s surgery. This was helpful but I couldn’t always contact a doctor who had seen my Aunt recently. It was during one such call when Dr. Han- nan spoke to me about the ‘records access’. My Aunt was enthusiastic for me to have the access and it was quickly set up.
What a boon this turned out to be. Now I could get complete and current medical information. I could see what problems or symptoms had prompted the doctor being called, what the results of the examination were and what had been prescribed or recommended.
The back history, referrals, results of hospital visits and tests was also valuable information and enabled me to ask more relevant questions, by phone or by email. I also believe that as a result of my overt interest in my Aunt’s health, through ‘records access,’ my Aunt got more regular and thorough attention. The staff at the care home were also more forthcoming in accurately describing what was happening. All this information meant that as my Aunt was declining in her final weeks I was kept in the picture, almost day-by-day as the end approached.
It’s unfortunate that we, my Aunt and I, only had the benefit of ‘records access’ for such a short time, but I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in it.
Niece of Deceased patient from Australia
(E-mail received by Dr Hannan after her aunt passed away peacefully and kindly re-printed with permission)
Margaret Rickson and Alan Yates, active members of the Haughton Thornley Medical Centres Patient Participation Group shown here at a health fair sponsored by NHS Tameside & Glossop telling shoppers about how they have access to their GP electronic health records and some of the services offered by the practice and what the PPG has been doing. For further details about the next Patient Participation Group as well as minutes of the meetings and what they have managed to achieve click here .
“WALKING CITY WALKING or COUNTRYSIDE Get out there and do it!”
Some children of Haughton Thornley Medical Centres.
Donald Hunter (extreme right) chairman of the Haughton Thornley Medical Centres patient participation group with patients and staff on the grand opening of the pharmacy next door to Thornley House Medical Centres, He became chairman of the PPG to work tirelessly to get a pharmacy next door because he saw the difficulties patients had of getting prescriptions and advice after leaving the surgery and although there are a number of pharmacies in Hyde, he felt that patients should have greater choice and be able to access a pharmacy closer to the surgery if it was possible having achieved his goal, he plans to step down at the end of this year to pursue other interests and let somebody else take the helm!
Click here to see a letter from Donald to the patients and also to learn how you can get involved or send comments to the PPG if you would like them to know anything about the practice or local NHS services too.
Dr I Ghafoor, trainee doctor (who was only in the practice for 2 months as part of his training) decided to put on a talk to increase breast cancer awareness in the practice and also across Tameside & Glossop. He talked about breast cancer, what it is and some of the theory around its management. He contacted Vanessa Hickson, specialist breast cancer nurse at Tameside Hospital Foundation Trust to come and talk about how to do breast self examination competently, what happens if you suddenly discover a lump in your breast and are referred to the breast clinic, what happens if cancer is diagnosed, what the different treatments are and the very important role the specialist Breast cancer nurse has in supporting patients and their families through this very troubling time. We all have a role to play to support the patient.
You can watch the video of the talks by clicking here and learn more about breast cancer awareness.
A meeting was held at Thornley House Medical Centres in the Health Promotion Room in conjunction with the Asian Healthy Living support workers explaining what obesity is, the importance of lifestyle changes and the need for them to get access to their GP electronic health records. Participants were invited to measure their height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure as well. The Imam (Muslim Priest) of Hyde Mosque was particularly impressed and encouraged others to come forward and do the same as well as promoting the event to the community on the Friday afternoon sermon that he gives.
Sheila Caldecott, mother of children at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres and an active participant of the Haughton Thornley Medical Centres Patient Participation Group as well as the local Care Record Development Board, a committee of NHS Tameside & Glossop PCT was keen to encourage children to identify their health seeking behaviour. She has developed a questionnaire for children from across Tameside & Glossop to fil out indicating what health establishments they have been to in the past 3 years, what websites they have gone to learn about their own health and what issues concern them. Click here to see what she has to say, why she thinks this is important and also to encourage your children to take the anonymous survey so that we can feed the results back into the healthcare service too.
She has advocated that children should also be encouraged to get access to their GP electronic health records. To watch a video on why she feels strongly about this, click here to hear the perspective of a mother.
There are just under 12,200 patients at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres. Over 800 patients now have access to their GP electronic health records. We have been offering the service for over 4 years now and NOT had a single problem! About a year ago, we started recording in the notes who had access to their records. Just under 500 patients have got this code, The graph above shows the breakdown in age bands. 3% of our patients over 90 have access to their records, The majority seem to be in the 45 to 75 age group ie those with a number of long term conditions who clearly have a lot of contact with health services and hence need to keep abreast of what is happening and manage their healthcare better. Is it not time YOU got access to YOUR GP electronic health records too as a way of impving your ability to self care too?
And finally a comment from a patient of Haughton Thornley Medical Centres who posted this on a blog on October 8th, 2007:
“I am thirty something working mum looking after a small child, a part-time job, a husband a house…..the list goes on and on. I also have diabetes, an under-active thyroid gland, fertility problems, suffer with depression, asthma and recently started medication to protect my kidneys! I don’t have time to be ill! In 2007 I was introduced to my electronic medical records access. I now order my prescriptions to see the doctor, check my test results and sometimes I even go over the conversation I had in my consultation with the Doctor when I feel I need to clarify issues to understand my medical needs better. I feel I am taking a positive step towards maintaining a healthy life, understanding my medical needs and doing it all on my time, when it’s CONVENIENT for me.
I shop on-line, I communicate online, I educate myself online, I control my finances online. In 2007 it’s only right that I look after myself ONLINE”
Real-time Digital Medicine!
If you would like access to your GP electronic health records then please send an e-mail to [email protected] and ask the receptionist for your PIN numbers, If you would like a text message reminder then please give your mobile phone number too!