COVID-19 Vaccinations Updates 

Changes to under 30s receiving Astra Zeneca vaccines:

Guidance recently released advised that patients under 30 years old should not recieve the first Astra Zenena vaccine.  Those eligible individuals aged under 30 will be contacted by the NHS and offered an alternative vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna), either through GP-led LVSs, Hospital Hubs, or at vaccination centres.  We will keep you updated via our webiste when we are able to begin the process of booking these.

Those patients aged 30 years and under who have already had their first will still be able to book themselves into Astra Zeneca clinics for their second dose. The guidance for not having the vaccine only applies to those first doses.

Guidelines for patients that are immunospressed

We are following govenment guidelines and have sent letters out to our patients that are immunospressed for their family members to receive the Covid vaccine. 

However, we cannot administer the Astra Zeneca vaccine to anyone under 30 years old until further guidance.   We will be in contact with those patients as soon as we have guidance on the vaccine. 

We appreciate patients are anxious to find out where they are in the vaccination programme so we will be using our website to provide weekly updates. Please do not call the surgery as we are being inundated with queries, increasing waiting times for those patients who require clinical care.

Update as at 16 April 2021

• Current clinics:
• Friday 23 April - group 10 (45-49s) 1st Astra Zeneca vaccines for invite only.
• Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29 April - 2nd Pfizer vaccines for invite only. 
• Friday 7 May - 2nd Pfizer vaccines for invite only. 
• Friday 14, Saturday 22 and Friday 28 May - 1st and 2nd Astra Zeneca vaccines for invite only. 
• Tuesday 1, Friday 4 & Friday 11 June - 1st and 2nd Astra Zeneca vaccines for invite only.
• Patients booking their 1st vaccine via our online system from 19 March, are now able to book their 2nd vaccine date at the same time.  

Group 1 – Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults.

Group 2 – Those 80 years of age and over.

Group 3 – Those 75 years of age and over.

Group 4 – Those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable.

Group 5 – Those 65 years and over (to be invited by NHS England).

Group 6 – Those aged 16-65 in an at risk group.

Group 7 – Those 60 years of age and over.

Group 8 – Those 55 years of age and over.

Group 9 – Those 50 years of age and over.

Group 10 – Those aged 45-49 years of age. 

Please see the coronavirus tab for more information including registering as an unpaid Carer and information for health care professionals. 

Welcome to The Surgery, Amersham Health Centre. We hope that you will find this website useful. We aim to provide a high standard of medical and nursing care for all our patients, with a strong emphasis on disease prevention, health education and self-help. There is much that you, the patient, can do to maintain your own good health and the aim of this website is:

To help you - by giving useful information about the services we offer and advice on how to manage minor illness in the home.

To help us - by making cleer how our services can best be used.

To help us to help you - by encouraging a team approach between the practice and the patients.

In an emergency, when we are closed, please phone Bucks 24/7 on 0300 033

988 for medical advice or to see a doctor urgently

What to expect when you call your GP surgery for an appointment

Our reception team are here to help you as always and will initially book you a telephone consultation with the Doctor or Nurse, depending on your requirements.

You will be given a timed slot and the GP will endevour to call you back within 1 hour of that slot. The call comes through as a withheld number so please ensure you pick up or you will be required to rebook which obviously wastes valuable appointments.

We may ask you to send a photo prior to your telephone appointment. The request comes through as a text message request so please provide us with a mobile number and permission to contact you via text as this speeds up the process.

The doctor may also arrange for a video conference, this will be arranged between yourself and the doctor at the time of the telephone consultation.

Should the Doctor or Nurse wish you come in for a face to face appointment, Blood Test or other procedure, you will be asked to follow these guidelines:

1. Come to the main entrance and enter through the automatic doors. Please do not continue into the surgery without ringing the bell. Please ring the doorbell once and wait for reception to come and take your details to check you in on the system. You will need to step back from the door to allow us to speak to you at the safe 2 meters distance.

2. The receptionist will either show you to the Doctors waiting area which is both limited by number and 2 meter spacing or the Nurses waiting area which is again limited by number and spacing.

3. The Doctor or Nurse will then come and collect you themselves. They will have the correct PPE on and we would ask that you also wear a face covering.

4. Please follow the one way system in the building.

5. You will be shown out of the building following a one way system.

Please be assured that we always have our staff and patient’s safety and welfare at the heart of all our procedures and will adapt them accordingly. Thank you for your assistance.

Prescriptions

We are trying to minimise patients requesting repeat prescriptions using paper request slips so whenever possible please either:

Request online through our Patient Access service. If you are not registered online, please contact the surgery to ask how to register.

Request through our website: www.ahc.co.uk - via the tab Repeat Prescriptions. Fill the form out and submit to the surgery.

We will send your prescription to your nominated pharmacy, where you can collect it.

If you don’t have a nominated a pharmacy, please chose which pharmacy you would like to collect it from and let us know.

If you do not nominate a pharmacy, your prescription will be sent to Collins & Jervie shop on Amersham High Street, (next to M&S).

This is a challenging time for us all, your understanding and co-operation is greatly appreciated during this period of uncertainty.

Our priority is the health and safety of all our patients and staff.

Thank you.

We are now using Chain SMS to message patients!

Chain SMS allows us to send text messages to patients. It means we can be much more proactive with communication, messaging you quickly and securely, so you are not waiting around to hear from us!

Some examples of how we might use it…

Reminders of notifications (eg prescription ready)

Responding to simple queries (eg if you had a quick question about your medication)

Letting you know we tried to call

Send you advice at the end of a consultation

The practice name will always be at the bottom of the message. You won’t be able to reply to them. Please help us to help you by keeping your number up to date. If you don’t want us to contact you in this way please let us know.

Improved Access to GP Appointments

An improved service to access GP appointments has launched in Buckinghamshire and is available to all patients registered with a Bucks GP. This service involves local GP practices working together to offer patients better access to appointments. It means that you can now book an appointment in a practice local to you:

Up until 8pm from Monday to Friday (Amersham Health Centre - Wednesday)

Selected hours on a Saturday (Amersham Health Centre 1 in 8 Saturdays)

9am until 1pm on Sunday and Bank Holidays (at one of the three Improved Access Hubs located across the county)

This should mean that patients also have greater flexibility for routine, bookable appointments. It is, however, not a walk-in service. If you need urgent medical advice after 6.30pm or at a weekend, please phone NHS 111 in the first instance – they will be able to advise you and book an appointment if necessary.

These appointments can be booked through the practice you are registered with, and are being offered from three Improved Access Hubs, located at:

High Wycombe Hospital: (located at the Urgent Treatment Centre or UTC) Queen Alexander Road, High Wycombe, HP11 2TT

Stoke Mandeville Hospital: Corridor 5, Gate 2, Mandeville Road, Stoke Mandeville, HP21 8AL

Threeways Surgery: Pennylets Green, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, SL2 4AZ