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Thank you to all of you that have booked in for your flu jabs.

Can we please make a plea? - if you go for a covid vaccine or indeed when you book your covid vaccine and they offer you a flu jab please decline and come instead to your booked appointment.

Last year, we had to discard unused flu vaccines due to missed/cancelled appointments and the surgery struggles to carry the weight of the lost revenue.

We have reduced the number of flu vaccines bought this year in the hope that we can use them all.

It's not too late to book with us if you are eligible. Contact us: 01295 758372.

After careful consideration Cropredy Surgery has decided to align with other local practices as well as NHS and BMA guidance and as of 1^st September 2024 we will no longer agree to ANY shared care prescribing with private providers. Existing arrangements will be honoured for the foreseeable future but we retain the right to review this policy. This change will apply to both adults and children.

We are sorry to any patients who may be affected by this change in policy. It is required in order to protect our patients from missing out on necessary specialist input that is required when taking certain high risk medications. While highly skilled and experienced, our GPs are not trained in managing particular medications without the expertise of our secondary care colleagues.

We are aware that NHS waiting times at present are longer than would be ideal. We will still be happy to refer to the private sector for diagnosis. However, if any recommended treatment is ‘shared care’ on the Oxfordshire formulary, to which we must adhere, then we will no longer be in a position to prescribe and treatment must be sourced from your private specialist on an ongoing basis, or until care can be transferred to a secondary care NHS service. Should you wish your private specialist to refer you to NHS services they ARE able to do this and you do not need to return to your GP to request a referral. Such requests will be passed back to your specialist. Due to capacity and workload we are also unable to undertake any monitoring requests from private or ‘right to choose’ providers.

Please be aware that at present no referrals are being accepted by Adult ADHD services within Oxfordshire and referrals made under the ‘right to choose’ scheme will be for diagnosis only, in accordance with LMC guidance. For complaints relating specifically to this matter please contact: bobicb-ox-plannedcare@nhs.net or your local MP as this is a commissioning issue and not something that we have any control over.

We are proud to be ranked 61 out of 6307 surgeries in England in the recent 2024 GP Patient Survey for % who say overall experience of the surgery is good.

And a fantastic 100% positive rating for helpfulness of our reception and adminstration team. We are absolutely delighted and so very proud of our wonderful team who are always here for you.

Practice Policy - Prescription of sedatives for patients attending hospital or dental appointments, imaging investigations or other procedures

Sometimes we are asked to prescribe 'a low dose sedative' for patients attending hospital or dental appointments, for imaging investigations or other procedures. These are the reasons we do not prescribe this medication:

Small doses of benzodiazepines such at 2mg diazepam are probably sub-therapeutic for most adults for any effective sedation. Conversely anxiolytics can have an idiosyncratic response in patients, and even very small doses can cause increased agitation in some subsets of patients.
A patient may take a sedative 'an hour' before their assumed procedure, to then attend the hospital to find their procedure has been delayed, therefore the timing of the anxiolytic being sub optimal.

GPs are not regularly involved, skilled, trained or appraised in sedation skills. All hospital consultants, both those requesting imaging and those providing it, have access to the same prescribing abilities as GPs. If a patient needs a certain medication to enable an investigation to go ahead, they are just as well positioned to provide a prescription, either through the hospital pharmacy or a hospital FP10.

Sedated patients should be regularly monitored, and I have been made aware of a case where a GP-provided sedative was given, the patient not monitored, and subsequently had a respiratory arrest in an MRI machine.

The Royal College of Radiologists‘ own guidelines on sedation for imaging makes no mention of GP involvement or provision of low dose anxiolytics and stresses the importance of experienced well trained staff involved and the monitoring of sedated patients: This is the web link to find out more

We maintain that we are not being 'obstructive’ but adhering to our duty of care to provide safe, consistent, and appropriate care for our patients.

We would be grateful if you could discuss with the relevant specialist who has requested this, to prescribe as they see fit.

Healthwatch Oxfordshire is surveying patients and carers about their experiences with hospital discharge. If you would like to participate, please followo the links below.

https://healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk/news/leaving-hospital/  (covering information)
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/leavinghospital/  (direct link to the survey)

If you would like a paper copy of this survey to complete, would like it in another format or language, or would prefer to speak to someone about this, please contact Healthwatch on 01865 520520 or at hello@healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk

Thunderstorm Asthma occurs when high winds draw pollen particles into the higher atmosphere. When the pollen granules contact with water, they break down into smaller particles that when inhaled, can get deeper down into the smaller airways in the lungs and trigger asthma symptoms. Some airborne allergens involved in thunderstorm asthma are grass and tree pollens and mould spores. More than five million people in the UK have asthma
and changes in weather, pollen, air pollution and thunderstorms are all triggers for the condition.

Data from UKHSA shows that thunderstorms coincide with an unseasonal spike in people ending up in hospital with their asthma. During the thunderstorms we experienced in June last year, those who were particularly affected were in the 15 to 44-year-old age bracket. This led to the busiest day the Oxford A&E department had ever experienced. People living with both asthma and hay fever should be advised to take any antihistamines and steroid nasal
sprays as needed to help control their pollen allergy, but it is essential for people with asthma to take their preventer inhalers as prescribed in the days preceding possible storms.

During stormy weather and thunderstorms, the following advice is based on recommendations made by Allergy UK-
• If possible, stay indoors before, during and after a storm, with windows closed.
• If outdoors, wear a mask to reduce pollen exposure.
• Avoid any known triggers which may make symptoms worse.
• Have an up-to-date Asthma Action Plan that can be referred to help identify when asthma is deteriorating.
• Stay vigilant to weather forecast alerts for high pollen and sign up for thunderstorm alerts.
• Check local council air quality pages to learn of pollution hot spots and action being taken to try and improve air quality.
• Keep a reliever inhaler with you so it’s ready to use if required.

We are coming into May/June when thunderstorms and higher pollen levels occur:

Thunderstorms can trigger asthma attacks. If you have asthma use your preventer inhaler regularly in the days before a forecast thunderstorm and keep your reliever inhaler with you before and during the storm.