Prescription Prepayment Certificates (PPCs)
Staff Training Half Day Closures
Please note that on the following dates the surgery will be closed from 12.00pm for staff training. If medical assistance is required during these periods, please contact NHS 111, or in an emergency please call 999.
- Tuesday 28th February 2023
- Thursday 23rd March 2023
- Thursday 20th April 2023
- Wednesday 17th May 2023
- Tuesday 20th June 2023
- Thursday 20th July 2023
- Wednesday 20th September 2023
- Thursday 19th October 2023
- Tuesday 21st November 2023
- Wednesday 13th December 2023
- Tuesday 27th February 2024
- Thursday 21st March 2024
Healthier Together – A Community Initiative
The healthier together programme relies upon patients and healthcare professionals working together to improve how local healthcare is delivered. The website provides advice for parents, young people and pregnant women, and clinical resources to support healthcare professionals - which means that your child is likely to receive consistently high-quality care, irrespective of which healthcare professional they see.
Please click on following link for further information
Out-of-hours GP Services are changing
Practices in Basildon and Brentwood, Mid Essex, and South East Essex:
We want to provide the right services at a time which is convenient for you. We’ve listened to feedback from people in our local area, and we are making changes to our out-of-hours appointments to deliver better services for you.
The new way of delivering out-of-hours appointments will give you:
- Access to more healthcare professionals. This new service will be delivered by professionals including GPs, nurses.
- More choice about the type of appointment you want. These include a mixture of in-person face-to-face appointments, and remote appointments like telephone, video, or online appointments.
- Make it more convenient for you to travel to out-of-hours appointments. These appointments are being planned and delivered locally, so it is likely they will available closer to your home.
From Saturday 1 October 2022, out-of-hours appointments will be available from 6.30pm to 8pm on weekdays, and from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays.
Out-of-hours appointments were previously planned by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) on behalf of many GP practices in a bigger area. From Saturday 1 October 2022, this is now being planned and delivered locally by Primary Care Networks (PCNs).
We are working together with other GP practices in our local area as part of the Phoenix PCN Primary Care Network. You can find out more about Phoenix West PCN Primary Care Network on our PCN website at https://www.phoenixpcn.nhs.uk/
An out-of-hours appointment might not be at your regular GP surgery. When you book an appointment, you will be told where the appointment will be.
These appointments will not be available as walk-in appointments. You will need to book them in advance
To book an out-of-hours appointment, you should contact your regular GP practice in the usual way. They will advise you on the appointments which are available, and which healthcare professional is the right person to help you.
If you need medical help now but it's not an emergency, you can also go to 111 online or call 111.
111 Appointments
Some key facts for our patients. The more you know the more you can understand some of the processes and challenges we face.
Every GP practice in England must “hold a contract” with NHS England. As part of our contract we MUST make available a proportion of our appointments to 111. This allows 111 to triage patients and if appropriate book the telephone appointment directly with the practice on behalf of the patient. During the height of the pandemics we had to make available 1 appointment per 500 registered patients. For us that was approximately 31 appointments. These appointments must be spread throughout the day and are not to be booked by surgery staff. That was 31 additional patient contacts that had to be fitted in to already full clinic lists. We were able to do this as some other “contractual” work was paused to allow for the added pressures the pandemic was bringing. Fortunately as the pandemic situation eases we now MUST make available 1 appointment per 3000 registered patients, approximately 6 appointments throughout the day. We know you would like to know what the GP’s are doing in the time they have now they don’t have an additional 25 patient contacts to address. Completing medical reports that have been on hold which had created a backlog as it was non priority work, restarting services like joint injections, contraceptive fittings, minor surgery, increased workload of test results being generated as our patients are being held in our hands, primary care, for longer without the help and intervention of secondary care as they too are under enormous pressure and have incredibly lengthy waiting lists. Non of this is our patients fault but please understand this is not ours either. It’s the system we currently are working with and we are doing our very best to help you all. So when the receptionist suggest to you that you call 111 this is because they have available slots to book into that we can not use until the appointment time has passed by which time the GP’s have been given more admin duties in that appointment time so not a minute of their day and precious time is not dealing with patient care.
We understand the system is frustrating. We are constantly reviewing and changing what we can to make things better and more accessible for you but some things we contractually can’t change.
Data Sharing
For more information about this visit NHS Digital
As of 1st July 2021 your data will be shared with NHS Digital to help improve health, care and services
Patient data from GP medical records kept by GP practices in England is used every day to improve health, care and services through planning and research, helping to find better treatments and improve patient care. The NHS is introducing an improved way to share this information - called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.
NHS Digital will collect, analyse, publish and share this patient data to improve health and care services for everyone. This includes:
- informing and developing health and social care policy
- planning and commissioning health and care services
- taking steps to protect public health (including managing and monitoring the coronavirus pandemic)
- in exceptional circumstances, providing you with individual care
- enabling healthcare and scientific research
Any data that NHS Digital collects will only be used for health and care purposes. It is never shared with marketing or insurance companies.
NHS Digital will not collect any patient data for patients who have already registered a Type 1 Opt-out in line with current policy. If this changes patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out will be informed.
If you do not want your patient data shared with NHS Digital, you can register a Type 1 Opt-out with us. You can register a Type 1 Opt-out at any time. You can also change your mind at any time and withdraw a Type 1 Opt-out.
Data sharing with NHS Digital will start on 1st July 2021.
If you have already registered a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice your data will not be shared with NHS Digital.
If you wish to register a Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice before data sharing starts with NHS Digital, this should be done by returning this form to us by 23 June 2021 to allow time for processing it. If you have previously registered a Type 1 Opt-out and you would like to withdraw this, you can also use the form to do this. You can call 01621 876433 for a form to be sent out to you.
If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after your patient data has already been shared with NHS Digital, no more of your data will be shared with NHS Digital. NHS Digital will however still hold the patient data which was shared with us before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.
If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out (also known as Type 2 Opt out).
What do you need to do?
If you are happy for your data to be shared as above, and haven't previously Opt'd out - you do not need to do anything.
Type 1 OPT-OUT - to stop sharing your details with NHS digital (or to opt back in, if you have previous opt'd out)
Complete this form OPT OUT FORM (or you can complete this to opt back in)
If you are not able to complete this form, call 01621 876433 for a form to be posted to you or come into the practice and we can give you a copy to complete.
Then, either;
- Hand the form into reception
- Post it to us to: Longfield Medical Centre, Princes Road, Maldon, Essex, CM9 5DF
- Complete and e-mail the form to: longfieldmc@nhs.net
Type 2 OPT-OUT (Also known as National Data Opt-out) - If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, which has been already shared with them (or to opt back in, if you have previous opt'd out)
NOTE: You can only do this via the following ways - as a GP practice we cannot opt you out of Type 2 (National Data Opt-out)
You need to, either;
- Call 0300 303 5678