A Message from Claire Patten

Announcing my retirement

It is with great regret that I have had to make the decision to formally retire from clinical practice early on ill health grounds. I would much rather have retired in a more measured way with time to say goodbye to some of the many patients that I have known for their whole lives.  I have been touched by the hundreds of cards and messages from patients that I received after my initial diagnosis of Stage 4 Non Small Cell Lung Cancer in October last year.

I have been a partner at Grayshott nearly 27 years and when I was initially diagnosed, I was in a small subgroup of people with a genetic mutation and was able to go on special targeted chemotherapy which did allow me to come back to work (albeit very part time) and continue to contribute to patient care. Unfortunately in mid July the medication stopped controlling the cancer and I became very ill quite quickly. I have now started intravenous chemotherapy and I am hoping it will improve things for me.  My patients who know me; will know I am trying to look for the silver linings every day ,but it is a tough journey I am on. Realistically I will not be able to work. I am very lucky that Dr Anne Horrobin who has ably stood in for me as locum whist I have been off has agreed to stay on at the practice as a salaried partner.

I will miss my second family immensely at Grayshott as over the years I have probably spent as much time in the practice as at home. We are a very unusual practice – we have the highest number of patients in nursing homes in the Guildford and Waverley area and the highest number of patients registered over 65 years of age. Over the years we have also developed unusual expertise looking after patients with severe learning difficulties. All these patient groups deserve to know their doctor to allow all their complex needs to be met and we try our best to do this. I hope our patients appreciate how lucky they are to have such a good team of doctors all working towards the same aims of good compassionate care with continuity. This is rare in the modern NHS. Many practices in the local area cannot even appoint locum doctors to fill gaps. We are so lucky that not only have we had excellent long term locum support to fill the gaps left by the planned retirements of Dr Dunbar and Dr Holmes this year but also my illness. It is testament to the nurturing ethos of mutual respect amongst the clinical team that our locum doctors want to stay; and I am very proud that 4 of our partners are GPs that Dr Dunbar and I trained to be GPs over the years. I know the practice is not perfect and there are always improvements to be made. We are trying our best to implement improvements in the buildings despite increasing financial constraints. The practice would not function without the support of our wonderful administration staff led by Sue Browning and Kellie West and all the many receptionists, prescription clerks and secretaries who work behind the scenes doing a difficult job of trying to balance everyones’ needs. I have not mentioned our excellent nursing staff who are integral to managing our patients with chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes.

So this is Goodbye from me.

I will miss you all.

Claire Patten

Online Patient Access

With Patient Access, you can now access your local GP services at home, work or on the move — wherever you can connect to the internet. You can use either your desktop or a Mobile app to use the service.  Because Patient Access is a 24 hour online service you can do this in your own time, day or night.

Sign up to Patient Access online services and you'll be able to use a website or app to:

•  Book or cancel an appointment with a Doctor.  Single appointments only and no Nurse Appointments

•  Order repeat prescriptions online

•  View parts of your GP record, including information about medication, allergies and vaccinations
 

The service is free and available to everyone who is registered with a GP Practice.
 

Please click HERE for further information on how to register, or if you're already registered, please click the link below.

https://www.patientaccess.com

The patient Access link above will take you to the website.

Please Note only routine 10 minute doctor's appointments can be made online; this does not include nurse's appointments, vaccinations and medicals.

GP Extended Access Service – Extra GP Appointments on evenings and weekends

This is a national programme which has been introduced to make GP services available 7 days per week. It is intended to help with the ever growing demand for GP appointments and to provide patients who need it with evening and weekend access.
This service has been commissioned by Guildford and Waverley CCG and is run by Procare Health.  Patients can book these appointments no matter which Guildford and Waverley GP practice they are registered with.

Appointments are available on weekday evenings between 6pm and 8pm, on Saturdays between 08.00am and 12.00pm, and on Sundays 10.00am until 2.00pm.

Extended Access appointments may be booked through Grayshott Surgery reception in the usual way.  The appointments take place at a number of ‘hubs’:

Fairlands, Guildford
Villages, Send
Merrow Park, Guildford
Binscombe, Godalming
Haslemere

Information sharing agreements are in place to ensure that practice records are available to the GP who is handling the appointment, giving a safe and innovative service. The record of the clinic appointment will also be available to the patients' own GP.

SHARING YOUR DATA WITH THE ROYAL SURREY COUNTY HOSPITAL

Since 1st October 2015 the Royal Surrey County Hospital has provided a facility that allows clinicians in the Emergency Assessment Unit and Care of the Elderly wards to access your GP medical data, with your consent, whilst you are in their care.
The data contains information about any medicines you are taking, allergies you suffer from and bad reactions to medicines you have had, to ensure those caring for you have enough information to treat you safely.
We believe that this is clearly in your best interests; it could save your life and it will certainly contribute to the provision of comprehensive medical care during your time in the hospital’s care.