Over recent years we have been given funding to employ staff such as Pharmacists for medication reviews and a Physiotherapist for musculoskeletal problems. We also have a social prescriber and care co-ordinators who will be helping you to find the most suitable appointment. We are unable to recruit nurses or doctors with this funding.

This system change is to expand on these additional roles that we have been offering to ensure that patients are seen by the most suitable service/ clinician.

The main changes that patients will see from 4th July is that:

• there will be more appointments to book in the future

• patients will be advised of more appropriate services/ clinicians for their medical needs, due to this all patients will be asked what their medical problem is so that they can be appropriately navigated

• if we are unable to meet your expectations, instead of asking you to call back at 8am the following morning our reception staff will add you to a call back list and a care-coordinator based at the surgery will call you back to try and meet your needs. This is an initiative by the NHS to ensure that we have enough appointments, across a wide range of services, to provide all patients with the care they need.

We would appreciate all patients co-operation while we introduce and continue with this new way of booking appointments. We are very excited about this new opportunity to work collaboratively and feel that it will be beneficial to our patient population.

Yours in health, Mayford House Surgery