Children under 11 years of age do not need to wear a face mask when attending the surgery.

Zero Tolerance Statement

Our staff come to work to care for others, and it is important for all members of the public and our staff to be treated with respect. We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our staff or patients. If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be asked to stop. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action to have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients. In line with the rest of the NHS, and to ensure this is fully observed we have a Zero Tolerance policy, whereby aggressive or violent behaviour towards our staff will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Anyone giving verbal abuse to members of staff will be sent a letter from the Practice stating that this behaviour will not be tolerated and may result in removal from the Practice patient list. There will be no appeal process. Any incident of threatening, abusive or violent behaviour may be reported to the local Police Service as part of the NHS Zero Tolerance campaign. We hope that you will understand and welcome this Policy which is in place for the best interests of our hard working staff as well as all the patients we serve.

COVID19 Update

Important Patient Notice

As lockdown eases we are expecting an increase in footfall at the surgery.

All patients will be required to wear a mask or face covering when entering the surgery and when attending a face to face appointment with a Clinician.

This is for the ongoing Safety of all Patients & Staff as outlined in the Government Guidance.

We apologise but we will be unable to supply face masks or face coverings to patients.

This will become mandatory from Monday 22^nd June 2020.

ANTIBODY TEST KITS FOR HOME USE

Some UK providers such as high street pharmacies and private healthcare providers offer COVID-19 antibody testing for members of the public. The test involves taking a fingerprick blood sample. The laboratory tests are CE marked and safe for use on blood drawn from the vein by a healthcare professional, but have not yet been validated by the manufacturer of the test to be used with a fingerpick blood sample.

It’s very important for people at home to be able to understand the reliability of the result and what it means for them. A positive result may not mean a person is immune or if they demonstrate immunity now, or how long this will last.

The Government strongly advises members of the public or organisations who have purchased these tests and received antibody results to continue to follow the Government’s advice whatever the result of the test. The Government is contacting providers of the antibody testing services and the laboratories running these tests to ask them to temporarily stop offering these tests for sale until the regulatory and safety concerns have been resolved.

119 CALL CENTRE

By calling the 119 call centre, members of the public who don’t have online access can book a coronavirus swab test and ask any questions relating to having a test and getting results.

UPDATE TO SHIELDING GUIDANCE

Now that the peak has passed and the prevalence of Covid-19 in the community has reduced, the Secretary of State announced that those advised to shield can take initial steps to safely spend time outdoors. The shielding guidance is now updated to reflect this announcement and will lay out how a shielded person can go outside once a day with members of their household or, for those shielding alone, with one other person from a different household. This is in accordance with evidence that the rate of transmission is much lower outside.

Some important aspects of the guidance will remain the same. Apart from going outside once per day, as outlined above, a shielded person should continue to avoid all non-essential face to face contact. This means they should not go to places like supermarkets or to pharmacies. The support for shielded people remains in place and unchanged.

As with all shielding policy, this is advice and is not mandatory. If a shielded person does not feel comfortable going outside once a day then that is of course up to them.

The Government has also confirmed that it will be reviewing shielding guidance alongside wider changes to social distancing, including plans to write to those on the shielding patients list with information about next steps on shielding after the next review on 15 June 2020.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/people-at-higher-risk/advice-for-people-at-high-risk/

List of diseases and conditions considered to be high risk: 

1. Solid organ transplant recipients
2. People with specific cancers:
• cancer and are having chemotherapy
• lung cancer and are having radical radiotherapy
• cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
• immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
• other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
•had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
6. Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

All patients must call if they require an urgent appointment. 

• Do NOT come to the surgery.
• Most appointments will be telephone consultations in the first instance.  If you need to be seen you will be invited to attend the Surgery.
• We will try and manage your condition / needs without you having to come to the surgery
  

Coronavirus Information For The Public

PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE BUILDING IF YOU HAVE

-a cough

-a high temperature

-shortness of breath

If you have please stay indoors and avoid close contact with people.

NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do.

The latest information on symptoms of coronovirus infection and areas where recent travel may have resulted in a high risk of exposure can be found on

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

As online appointments are booked without knowledge of the patients symptoms we have taken the advice of Mid Essex CCG to no longer allow online appointment bookings.

 To help prevent the spread please;

•       wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
•       always wash your hands when you get home or into work
•       use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
•       cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
•       put used tissues in the bin straight away and wash your hands afterwards
•       try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell

 Thank you for your co-operation. 

Welcome to Dickens Place Surgery Online      

The doctors and staff at Dickens Place Surgery in Chelmsford are proud to offer the highest standard of patient-centred healthcare.  

We run many clinics for the management of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes and offer a wide variety of other medical services including antenatal and postnatal care, minor surgery, childhood vaccinations and well-person check-ups.

In addition to everything you need to know about the Practice, you will also find a wealth of health-related information in the menu on the right hand side.

Staff Training Half Day Closures

Please note that on the following dates the surgery will be closed from 12.30 pm for staff training.  If medical assistance is required during these periods, please contact NHS 111

• Tuesday 30th June 2020
• Wednesday 29th July 2020
• Wednesday 30th September 2020
• Thursday 29th October 2020
• Tuesday 24th November 2020 
• Wedneday 16th December 2020

 If you require medical assistance during these times, please contact NHS 111