The Hadleigh Practice Newsletter: January 2024

A Happy New Year to you all!

Since Dr Timmis retirement last year, I have become the latest ‘senior partner’ of the Hadleigh Practice, following in the footsteps of many of my esteemed colleagues over the years. It feels an honour to have become senior partner even though the title is only bestowed on the GP who has been with the practice the longest. As I am approaching 30 years at the Hadleigh Practice this does make me feel rather old!

I was recently informed that one of my roles is to write the patient newsletters, so I hope you find my first attempt helpful.                              

New Year- New you!

With the start of the new year, I’m sure many of you are doing or planning new year’s resolutions and many of these may be related to making important decisions with respect to lifestyle changes. Stopping smoking, doing more exercise, losing weight, or reducing our alcohol intake are all important lifestyle measures we can make that will have lasting benefits for our future health.

There are numerous resources available to help with any one of these changes and locally we have ‘Livewell Dorset’ which is an excellent resource that offers information, coaching and support to those wanting to make these important changes.

There are many different practical measures available to help you become more active so they should be available to suit all ages and abilities. You can access them via their website or via phone on 0800 8401628. 

Blood Pressure

Did you know that 1 in 3 of us have high blood pressure also called hypertension and many people do not know if they are affected or not.

NHS Dorset is running a campaign to encourage people to ‘know their numbers’ by arranging to have their blood pressure [BP] taken at home by buying a low-cost home monitor or taken at a local pharmacy or their GP surgery. At Hadleigh, we have a BP machine at Hadleigh Lodge with easy-to-use step-by-step instructions on how to take your own readings. Once you know your readings you can use the NHS blood pressure checker to see where you stand and what it means for you. This can be accessed via the NHS app or online Blood pressure – NHS Dorset

Mental Health - ‘Brew Monday’

The third Monday in January is often referred to as ‘Blue Monday’ but this is a myth. We all have our good and bad days, and it is not for the calendar to decide.

The Samaritans are suggesting it be called ‘brew Monday’ where you reach out and connect with friends, family, colleagues and loved ones over a cuppa to help lift your spirits. Reaching out and offering support is important to us all and as a practice we are fully supportive of this initiative.

Learn more on the Samaritans website

Hadleigh Update 2024

With the start of the new year this is always a busy time at the practice, and we are now offering more appointments than ever through many different health practitioners. As well as appointments with our GPs and nurses we have prescribing nurse practitioners, prescribing pharmacists, first contact musculoskeletal practitioners, physiotherapists, a social prescriber and mental health practitioners all available to try and help you with your problems. Despite this increased capacity we are aware that it can at times be frustrating to get the appointment you feel you want but we would urge you to consider where would be the most appropriate place to seek help from and how best to access the help needed. 

There is good advice on a huge array of medical matters on the NHS website and through the NHS app and this is often an excellent place to start. Many minor ailments can be dealt with at a local pharmacy and through good self-care measures. Minor injuries may be better dealt with through the local minor injury service at Wimborne hospital.  If it is just simple advice or an administrative issue such as needing a fit note for work, a face-to-face appointment is unlikely to be necessary and these could easily be managed through the online system called eConsult available through our website.

We offer access directly into the various clinics through eBooking and our telephone system and always have many urgent appointments available at the start of every working day, but we would urge you to be considerate when booking these appointments in case the alternatives may be more appropriate. Although the waiting rooms may at times seem ‘quiet’ you can be assured that we are all working hard behind the scenes to help and support our patients in many ways that you cannot see. 

I wish you all a healthy New Year and hope you have found this first newsletter of the year a useful read. I would be happy to receive any suggestions for future newsletters.

Dr Watkins

Published: Jan 12, 2024