Sandy Row Practice
Tel: 02890 323973

Falls Road Practice
Tel: 02890 312292

News:

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DOCTORS

APPOINTMENTS AND WHAT WE OFFER

The Surgery offers a range of appointments to our Patients and responding to questions and queries and comments from this website we decided to list for ease of reference what we offer. If you think we can improve on this we would be pleased to hear from you.

1. Routine Appointments - Can be made with any doctor in advance.

2. Open Access surgeries mean that patients dont need an appointment and can attend between 8.30am -10.00am On designated days -(see appointments for times and locations of open surgeries).

3. Urgent / Emergency appointments - Patients can see a doctor on the same day if needed by contacting the practice and requesting an emergency appointment. Reception staff will take your details and a doctor will contact you and make appropriate arrangements with you.

We understand that patients who like to see a particular doctor and can't get an appointment for weeks in advance. We hope you understand that patients are registered with the practice and not individual doctors, whilst we understand individual perference if a particular doctor has poor availability this is because they are simply already booked by patients who share the same perference. We can always facilitate other appointments if you need to see a doctor.

Announcements

01 Sep - 01 Oct
NHS Smokefree

Find out about all of the free NHS services available to support you as you go try to give up smoking.

01 Aug - 01 Oct
NHS Summer Health

Stay safe in the sun, including sunscreens, sunburn relief, heat exhaustion, eczema and moles. Summer holidays are great fun for children, but can bring risks. Find out more

01 Jul - 01 Oct
Change for Life

Would you like loads of tips and help to make changes for a healthier future? As part of Change4Life, you will receive tons of helpful information, recipes, tools, tips, and games for the kids.

BBC Health

More obesity ops 'will save cash'

Millions of pounds is lost in England by the failure of the NHS to provide more obesity operations, a study says.

Statins 'may cut arthritis risk'

Taking statins may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, a study suggests.

Call for morning sickness action

More needs to be done to establish which are safe and effective ways to relieve morning sickness, experts say.

ME 'virus link' found in children

ME, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, in children could be caused by a virus, scientists say.

UK radiotherapy 'lagging behind'

Too few UK cancer patients are receiving state-of-the-art radiotherapy care, experts from Cancer Research UK say.

Gaps persist in cancer survival

Despite significant improvements in cancer survival rates across England, regional differences remain, national statistics show.

'Genetic link' to breast cancer

Researchers have identified a series of genetic variations which may play a role in a common breast cancer.

Bipolar 'not linked to violence'

People with a mental illness are no more likely to be violent unless they abuse drugs or alcohol, a study suggests.

NHS in Wales faces £380m cutbacks

The Welsh NHS faces making £380m worth of cutbacks by April, with managers saying it is the biggest challenge they have faced in 20 years.

Diabetes drug advice 'not heeded'

A type two diabetes drug is still being prescribed in the UK two months after it was recommended for withdrawal, BBC Panorama learns.

Yahoo Health

US smoking rate still stuck at 1 in 5 adults (AP)

AP - U.S. smoking rates continue to hold steady, at about one in five adults lighting up regularly, frustrated health officials reported Tuesday.

FDA cites claims on 2 green tea beverages (AP)

AP - Federal health regulators have issued warnings to the makers of Canada Dry ginger ale and Lipton tea for making unsubstantiated nutritional claims about their green tea-flavored beverages.

FDA relents from midodrine withdrawal plan (AP)

AP - Federal regulators have backed off a plan to remove a Shire PLC low blood-pressure treatment from the market after warning in August that the drug has not been proven effective.

Judge won't let stem cell money keep flowing (AP)

AP - A federal judge on Tuesday refused to lift his order blocking federal funding for some stem cell research, saying that a "parade of horribles" predicted by federal officials would not happen.

Japan confirms its first case of new superbug gene (AP)

AP - Japan has confirmed the nation's first case of a new gene in bacteria that allows the microorganisms to become drug-resistant superbugs, detected in a man who had medical treatment in India, a Health Ministry official said Tuesday.

Picking right blood pressure medicine challenging (AP)

AP - It's hard to predict which pills will best lower which patient's high blood pressure, but researchers are hunting ways to better personalize therapy — perhaps even using a blood test.

Lack of Sleep May Be Linked to Childhood Obesity (HealthDay)

HealthDay - MONDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Infants and preschoolers who don't get enough sleep at night are at increased risk for later childhood obesity, a new study suggests.

For Bonobo Males, Mom Is the Best Wingman (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - To most human males, the thought of your mother anywhere near your sex life is probably horrifying. Not so for the bonobo, one of our closest primate relatives. A new study confirms that hanging out with mom boosts male bonobos' chances of getting intimate with a fertile female.

Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 7, 2010 (HealthDay)

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of ClinicalConnection.com:

Autistic Toddlers Prefer to Gaze at Geometric Patterns: Study (HealthDay)

HealthDay - MONDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- When given the choice to gaze at geometric patterns or children dancing and playing, toddlers with autism spent more time looking at the patterns while typically developing toddlers preferred to look at other kids, a new study finds.

MedPage Today

Judge Won't Lift Block on Stem Cell Research Funding

(MedPage Today) -- Federal spending of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research will remain off-limits for now, a federal judge ruled, dealing yet another blow to the Obama administration's efforts to support such research.

Cigarette Smoke May Affect Fertility (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Smoking may provide an explanation for reduced fertility, results of two studies suggested.

Adult Smoking Hits Plateau

(MedPage Today) -- One in five U.S. adults continues to smoke tobacco -- a percentage that hasn't budged since 2005 -- suggesting that more aggressive efforts are needed to reduce smoking-related diseases and deaths, the CDC said.

Pandemic H1N1 Similar to Seasonal Strains (CME/CE, with video)

(MedPage Today) -- In general, the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus did not cause more serious disease than other recent influenza A strains, researchers found.

Nevirapine Reuse Possible in Exposed Children With HIV (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- In most HIV-infected children being exposed at birth to nevirapine (Viramune) doesn't rule out using the drug again later, researchers reported.

PCV-7 Vaccine May Promote Serotype 19A Infection (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Infants receiving a three-dose regimen of heptavalent PCV-7 pneumococcal vaccine were more likely than unvaccinated controls to pick up a nonvaccine pneumococcal strain associated with invasive infection and antibiotic resistance, researchers said.

More Human Trials Needed for HIV Vaccine Hunt

(MedPage Today) -- HIV vaccine researchers are calling for more and better human trials as part of the quest for ways to block transmission of the virus.

Patients Expect More from PCI than It Delivers (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Cardiologists fully understand the limits of percutaneous coronary interventions -- but their patients are often overly optimistic about the benefits of PCI, a new survey revealed.

Splint Matches Cast for Kids' Wrist Fractures (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- In children with wrist fractures, a splint works as well as a cast, researchers reported.

Behcet's Takes Higher Toll in Men (CME/CE)

(MedPage Today) -- Men with Behçet's disease are much more likely than women to die of this chronic multisystem vasculitis, a large French study found.

Patient Satisfaction Survey Results 2008/09

Please see below a summary of results from our 2008/09 patient satisfaction survey.

You can take the survey online on the home page!

Summary of results

GPAQ evaluation questions

The following table summarises the individual scores for the evaluation questions in GPAQ, i.e. the ones where patients made a judgment about how good that aspect of care was. Each score is expressed as an average (mean) for all patients who completed the individual question. They are represented as a percentage of the maximum possible score, so the best possible score in each case is 100. You will be able to see the areas where your practice scores well and where improvement may be needed, both comparing aspects of care in your own practice and comparing yourself with others.

The figures in the right hand column contain current national GPAQ benchmarks for that question. Once again, these figures are expressed as percentages of the maximum possible score in this table. These are regularly updated on the GPAQ website. Details of how many patients completed each of the individual responses for each of these questions for your practice are given in full in appendix 3.

	Mean score	GPAQ benchmark
Q2. Satisfaction with receptionists	88	77
Q3a. Satisfaction with opening hours	81	67
Q4b. Satisfaction with availability of particular doctor	58	60
Q5b. Satisfaction with availability of any doctor	76	69
Q7b. Satisfaction with waiting times at practice	63	57
Q8a. Satisfaction with phoning through to practice	64	59
Q8b. Satisfaction with phoning through to doctor for advice	63	61
Q9b. Satisfaction with continuity of care	72	69
Q10a. Satisfaction with doctor's questioning	92	81
Q10b. Satisfaction with how well doctor listens	93	84
Q10c. Satisfaction with how well doctor puts patient at ease	94	84
Q10d. Satisfaction with how much doctor involves patient	91	81
Q10e. Satisfaction with doctor's explanations	91	83
Q10f. Satisfaction with time doctor spends	91	80
Q10g. Satisfaction with doctor's patience	93	84
Q10h. Satisfaction with doctor's caring and concern	94	84
Q11a. Ability to understand problem after visiting doctor	64	69
Q11b. Ability to cope with problem after visiting doctor	66	66
Q11c. Ability to keep healthy after visiting doctor	59	62

Practice Information

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