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Free mental health and wellbeing service

For patients of Balance Street, Millview and Northgate GP Surgeries.

Are you confused by what support is there for you and your child/young person? Are you unsure of where to go, or who to ask?

For information, guidance and advice contact us Monday to Friday from 9am until 5pm.

Please call our main office number on 01889 567756 or our duty mobile number on 07763 225412 and speak to a member of our team.

Please note this is not an emergency or crisis service, in a mental health emergency please call the NHS Mental Health Support Line:- South Staffs 0300 555 5001.

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Coronavirus testing

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Dr Emma Wood is joining us!

Balance Street Practice is pleased to announce that as of the 1^st June 2020 Dr Emma Wood will be joining the Practice on a permanent basis. We are delighted to have such an experienced GP on board and all patients that have up until now been assigned to a locum GP will be allocated to Dr Wood. However, we will still be supported regularly by our long standing locums covering sessions for all the GP Partners.

We would like to thank patients for your continued support and understanding over the last couple of years.

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We are asking all patients and visitors attending the practice to wear a face covering to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Balance Street Practice is asking all patients and visitors attending the practice to wear a face covering to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. Please visit the online government guidance on how to wear and make a cloth face covering

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-wear-and-make-a-cloth-face-covering/how-to-wear-and-make-a-cloth-face-covering

We thank you for maintaining social distancing measures in an aim to keep everyone safer.

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You must contact the surgery *before* attending for any reason

You need to contact the surgery *before* attending for any reason, please do not attend the surgery unless you have spoken to a member of our team first.

• If you have a medical query you can use the patient access app – This allows you to send messages and order your regular medication .We have switched off the appointment booking facility but hope to get this working soon for telephone appointments.
  
  This link enables you to register: https://app.patientaccess.com/registration/create
  
  Or phone the surgery and a member of our team will either arrange a telephone consultation with a clinician for you or they will send your doctor a note and they will get back to you. The clinician will arrange a video consultation or make other arrangements with you if they feel they need to see you in person to assess your query.

• We will be posting out all sick notes (sick notes for self-isolation are arranged through 111, not from the surgery)

• If you are a dispensing patient please phone the surgery and select option 2 to arrange a time to collect a prescription

• Repeat prescription requests can be posted through our letterbox to the left hand side of the door.

• If you would normally collect a prescription please call reception and inform them of a pharmacy that you would like it to be sent to and we will arrange this

• If you need to change your address, telephone number or email address please do one of the following;
  Use patient access – you can change these details on their website or app and it will be approved by the surgery
  if you do not have patient access please email balancestreet.practice@nhs.net with your name, date of birth and postcode that we hold on file to enable us to find you on our system then you will need to inform us of the changes that you would like to be made in the email and we will action this.

Thank you for your patience and understanding at this difficult time and please follow Government guidance and stay safe.

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How to get an isolation note for your employer

This service, at nhs.uk, is for those who have been told to stay at home because of coronavirus and you need a note for your employer.

This service is only for people who:

• have symptoms of coronavirus and have used the 111 online coronavirus service
• have been told by a healthcare professional they have symptoms of coronavirus
• live with someone who has symptoms of coronavirus

If you are not sure if you need to stay at home, get the latest NHS advice on coronavirus.

If you have to stay at home but feel well enough to work, ask your employer if you can work from home. If you can work from home, you will not need an isolation note.

You can also use this service for someone else.

Get an isolation note.

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Coronavirus – Latest Advice

The NHS in Cheshire and Public Health England (PHE) are well prepared for outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The NHS has put in place measures to protect patients, our community and NHS staff while ensuring as many services as possible are available to the public.

If you have symptoms associated with coronavirus including a new continuous cough, loss or change to your sense of smell or taste and a high temperature, you are advised to stay at home for 7 days.
Please do not book a GP appointment or attend your GP practice.

If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home. After 14 days, anyone you live with who does not have symptoms can return to their normal routine.
But, if anyone in your home gets symptoms, they should stay at home for 7 days from the day their symptoms start. Even if it means they’re at home for longer than 14 days. The most up-to-date public guidance is always online at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.

If your symptoms are serious, or get worse, NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need further medical help and advise you what to do. 

Only call 111 direct if you are advised to do so by the online service or you cannot go online.

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Changes to appointment bookings due to Coronavirus

In order to minimise the spread of Coronavirus, until further notice we will initially offer our patients a telephone consultation with a GP or ANP, we have also removed the facility to book appointments online. This is a precautionary measure to minimise the amount of patients sat together in our waiting room.

We would also ask patients to call the surgery when booking an appointment rather than booking an appointment at the reception desk. 

Thank you for your co operation .

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For patients concerned that they may have coronavirus or may have come into contact with someone who has, the NHS 111 online service has created coronavirus pages that tell patients what they should do based on their particular circumstances.