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Patients in Cheshire and Merseyside can save time by ordering regular medication using the NHS App.

The NHS App is the quickest and easiest way to order a repeat prescription – and it puts you in better control of your own health.

You can use the App to order your medication at a time that’s convenient for you, and select which pharmacy you would like your medication to be sent to each time you order.

The NHS App also allows you to access a range of other NHS services – you can use it to view your GP health record, find your NHS number, register your donor status, check your vaccinations, and more. 

By ordering repeat prescriptions yourself through the NHS App, you’ll also help the NHS to reduce unnecessary medicine waste and save money, as you can just order what you need, when you need it. 

Dr Fiona Lemmens, Deputy Medical Director for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said: 

“Downloading and using the NHS App is a simple step that patients can take in order to help support the NHS – particularly over winter, when health services can become extremely busy.

“The App is a quick, easy and hassle-free way for patients to order their repeat medications and take better control of their own health. It also helps us as GPs too, by freeing up more of our time for treating patients who are very unwell – so I’d urge everyone to try using it, if they can.”

The NHS App can be downloaded straight to your mobile phone or another device via the Apple App Store or Google Play, or if you would rather use a PC, you can also set up an NHS account and log in via the website: www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/account/

For for more help getting started, you can also use the ‘Help’ button in the app, or visit: nhs.uk/helpmeapp 

Susanne Lynch, Chief Pharmacist for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said:

“The NHS App lets you order your repeat prescriptions yourself – meaning you can just order the medications you need, whenever you are running low, and you can choose to send them to any pharmacy of your choice. 

“But don’t forget that when you’re ordering medication online, you will need to plan ahead – just as you do with paper-based prescriptions. It’s best to order your repeat prescription seven days in advance. Don’t wait until you’re just about to run out, as it can take time for your request to be approved by your GP practice and dispensed by the pharmacy – especially when they’re very busy.”

We are pleased to welcome three new GPs to our team: Dr Fathima Kamal, Dr Rabhi Haseeb, and Dr Christian Basanta.

There are lots of viruses that cause sore throats, coughs and colds to circulate, especially over winter. These usually get better without needing any special medical treatment or medicine.  However, children can occasionally develop a bacterial infection on top of a virus and that can make them more unwell.

One of these bacteria is called Group A Strep (GAS), it’s very common, is not new and can be treated, responding well to antibiotics.  It has been in the news over the last few days as it has been found in some children who have become very sick, very quickly. Fortunately, this is still very rare.

Most children recover well after a mild illness.  Your child may be poorly for a few days but will usually recover well. Antibiotics may help them recover quicker, but they are not always needed.  There is more GAS around this winter than in recent years, causing a lot of children to be unwell. We think this is because there is much more mixing now and these bugs are new to many young children, so they are more likely to catch and spread them.

Signs that suggest your child might have Strep throat are:

• Fever within the last 24 hours

• White spots at the back of their throat (pus on their tonsils)

• Very large or red tonsils

• Sore (tender) lumps under their chin

• If they have become poorly quickly over the past couple of days

• No cough or runny nose

If you are concerned that your child might have these, contact 111 or the surgery.

Antibiotics are not routinely recommended as a preventative treatment and should only be taken when recommended by your doctor.

If there are cases identified in a child’s class, any child showing symptoms should be assessed by their GP and will be prescribed antibiotics if needed. Children are not infectious after 24 hours on treatment and can return to school once they’re feeling well enough after this period.

Good hand and respiratory hygiene are also important for stopping the spread of many bugs. By teaching your child how to wash their hands properly with soap for 20 seconds, using a tissue to catch coughs and sneezes, and keeping away from others when feeling unwell, they will be able to reduce the risk of picking up, or spreading, infections.

Keep unwell children off school or nursery and away from vulnerable adults and children.

We know that when there are lots of viruses circulating, like flu. Reducing these viruses through vaccination can help protect against GAS outbreaks and is the best way to make sure they are protected from serious illnesses.

We are pleased to announce that a new telephone system will be installed for us tomorrow on Tuesday, 8th February. We expect minimum disruption to our services but there may be brief moments during the day where you experience an engaged tone as the switchover takes place. This new system enables us to better manage our calls so you can get through to the right member of our team faster.

We advise users of Patient Access to check the name and email address of the sender, all emails from Patient Access will come via an email address that ends in @patientaccess.com. We advise users never to click on any log in links that you receive via email but to visit the site via the address bar of your browser instead so that you know you are on the genuine Patient Access log in page. You can find more information and guidance on our information security page here: https://www.patientaccess.com/security  

We strongly advise users to set up their Memorable Word security feature, as well as using biometrics (fingerprint ID) if they use the app.  

Email addresses used to register for Patient Access account are secure. We do not share any data and no data is ever saved or stored on any device you use to access Patient Access.

Starting from this Friday (28/05/2021), eConsult will only be available to use from 08:00 on Monday through to 18:30 on Friday.

The NHS has started its COVID-19 vaccination campaign across the country. The vaccine will be rolled out to eligible patients in stages. Some of you may have already been invited for your vaccination. We will be contacting all eligible patients in stages so please bear with us. Please ensure we have your correct mobile telephone number if you have recently changed it as invitations will be sent via text message for those with a mobile phone number on our system.

We are pleased to announce that the new eConsult service has now launched on our website. We encourage all patients with internet access to use this new service where possible.

We will soon be launching our new website for Egremont Medical Centre. We have some exciting developments lined up for September so be sure to check back frequently.