Newsletter - February 2019
Published: 07 January 2019
Lucky Squares total Thanks again to all those who purchased our Lucky Squares and congratulations to those who won prizes. We managed to raise and donate £306 to Magpas this year.
Thank you!We would like to publicly thank the Church for the Christmas gifts they gave to each and every member of the surgery staff. It was a brilliant surprise for us all, and we are very grateful that you took the time to remember us and spend time preparing this wonderful gift. Thank you!
Pill ChecksPatients requiring repeat prescription of the contraceptive pill need to make an appointment with one of the practice nurses in order to get their prescription. Please book well in advance, as repeat prescriptions take up to 48 hours to process.
Yellow FeverThe surgery will no longer be offering the Yellow Fever vaccinations for those that are travelling to countries where Yellow Fever vaccination is recommended. Please contact your local travel clinic to find details of alternative Yellow Fever Centres.
A leaving message from Nurse Barbara:"I was quite overwhelmed by all the kind words, gifts and cards which I received on my recent retirement and would like to say a huge thank you to you all. I loved working at both surgeries and shall miss seeing my colleagues and my patients. I would like to wish everyone best wishes for the future"
Missed GP appointmentsNHS England have recently published a report indicating that more than 15 million general practice appointments are being wasted each year, at a huge cost to the NHS. Around 1 in 20 (5%) are missed without enough notice to invite other patients. That’s around 15.4 million missed slots. Of these, around 7.2 million are with busy family doctors, which adds up to more than 1.2 million GP hours wasted every year or more than 600 GPs working full-time for a year.
Each appointment costs an average of £30, adding up to more than £216 million pounds, to say nothing of the disruption for staff and fellow patients. This sum would pay for: the annual salary of 2,325 full-time GPs; 224,640 cataract operations; 58,320 hip replacements; 216,000 drug treatment courses for Alzheimer’s disease; the annual salary of 8,424 full-time community nurses.
Unfortunately, this is a problem we experience at Willingham Surgery and Longstanton Branch Surgery. In December 2018, 102 patients did not attend their booked appointments with a GP or nurse, and we were unable to offer the appointment to someone else as we had no notice. This is an estimated average cost of £3,060*.
Due to demand, we can very often fill your appointment even with only an hours’ notice, so please inform us if you are no longer able to attend or do not need your appointment.
Check Before you tickA new campaign from the NHS aims to help people understand if they are entitled to free prescriptions and how to claim correctly to avoid penalty charge notices of up to £100. All you need to do is visit
nhs.uk/checkbeforeyoutick to use the eligibility checker.
Carers Support Meetings Meetings Held on the first Wednesday of every month. If you are a carer, please pop along and get some support from other people in the local community. Refreshments provided, no need to pre-book and completely FREE! Please contact Sue Lawson at the surgery or email her at
susan.lawson7@nhs.net for more information.
Cambridgeshire Hearing Clinics The next Hearing Aid Clinics at Willingham Surgery are on Wednesday 20th February, Wednesday 20th March and Wednesday 17th April from 2:00pm-4:00pm. No appointment necessary, just pop along for your free NHS hearing aid batteries and for help and advice regarding hearing loss.
A&E is not an alternative to a GP appointment. If we are closed, please call 111.