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Acute Care Team
At East Cliff, we pride ourselves on ‘going the extra mile’ for our patients and providing a high standard of health care that we as a team can be proud of.
Patients deserve continuity of care: patients seeing their usual GP for ongoing health care. The GP that knows/understands you best will be most able to provide the best care.
We believe that you should be able to access high quality medical care in a timely manner, appropriate to the urgency of your problem. As a Practice, we are always looking for innovative ways to improve the service your receive whether this is care of an ongoing problem or help with an acute illness. Nationally, patient demand for appointments is at an all-time high, whilst at the same time there is a recruitment crisis in general practice.
We have for some time been developing a number of alternative solutions that benefit both patients and GPs. Our receptionists are now asking the nature of your problem and a few other questions to ensure you see the most appropriate clinician.
As an initiative to optimise appointment use, we have also introduced a service called The Acute Care Team. It is staffed by three acute care practitioners, each of whom is an experienced nurse with additional training (and experience) in the management of minor illness.
This team will see the majority of patients with problems that need to be seen that day. The Acute Care Practitioners work alongside one of the practice GPs on a rotational basis. The Acute Care Team will deal with your immediate medical need and will direct you towards your usual GP if any further care is needed.
Our acute care practitioners:
- Can assess, diagnose and advise on management of a wide range of minor illnesses.
- Have knowledge of the medications used in managing minor illnesses. 2 Members of the team are also prescribers.
Our Doctors will take turns to be part of the acute team for the day and will see more complex patients and the youngest children.
The Acute Care Doctor may need to triage some calls on busier days to ensure that the most urgent/unwell patients can be seen. The information you give to reception is really important to help us with this.
Acute Care Team appointments are here to deal with one acute problem. If you have additional minor problems a further appointment will be needed.
How you can help us to help you:
- Home management - many minor illnesses can be managed without the need to be seen by a Doctor or Nurse. Visit www.umckent.co.uk/health-information for advice on your symptoms.
- Pharmacy – can advise on homely remedies and over the counter medications for a wide range of minor illness and symptoms relief for self – limiting illness
- A&E - for accidents and emergencies – Usually occurring within the last 24 hours or where a problem that has been present for longer changes so that emergency help is needed immediately. If patients take advantage of access by requesting appointments for minor illness that they have not tried to manage by simple means at home, our service will become saturated.
Please do not ‘save up’ a list of problems. A ten minute appointment really isn’t enough time to deal with more than one or possibly two problems. Your clinician needs the right amount of time to deal with each problem effectively.
Care for housebound patients
If you feel that you cannot get to the surgery, please contact the surgery as early as possible. We realise that people can become ill suddenly but it really helps us manage patients most effectively. The amount your doctor can do for you can be limited later in the day. A clinician will then be made aware and alternative arrangements made for your care. This may be by telephone or, if a visit is necessary, a clinician will come to your home, usually between 1.00- 3.00pm.
The TRUTH about antibiotics:
- Antibiotics can be really helpful
- They can be lifesaving for severe infections including sepsis
- There are a limited number of antibiotics available to us as health care professionals
- If we use antibiotics too often or when it is not appropriate, we increase the risk of bacteria becoming resistant to certain antibiotics – this means the antibiotics will no longer be effective when it is really needed
Viral Infections:
- Will not be helped by antibiotics
- Include sore throats, simple coughs and colds
- Can last 7-10 days
- Require symptomatic relief and rest