Archive News

Posted on February 18th, 2026

December 2025

📰 Orchid House Surgery Newsletter

Our fantastic Patient Participation Group (PPG) has created a newsletter — by patients, for patients.

👉 Click the link below to view our December issue:

Orchid House Surgery – December 2025 (1)

👩‍⚕️ Staff Update

Dr Every will be retiring on 31 January 2026. We are pleased to welcome Dr Sanal Abraham as our newest GP Partner from the end of February 2026.

If Dr Every is your registered GP, you will be transferred to Dr Abraham. This is for administrative purposes only — you will still be able to see any GP at the surgery.

🌱 Inhaler Prescribing

Our GP trainee, Dr Williams, has completed a project focused on making inhaler prescribing more environmentally friendly.

If you currently use a metered-dose inhaler, you may be asked at your next asthma review to switch to a dry-powder inhaler. This change supports reducing our carbon footprint and will continue to control your symptoms.
For more information, please speak to your asthma nurse.

🎓 Student Nurses

From January, we will be supporting student nurses as part of our role as a training practice.

If you are seeing a nurse, healthcare assistant, phlebotomist, or other clinician, a student nurse may also be present. They are fully supervised by our experienced practice nursing team.

🎗️ Bowel, Breast & Cervical Screening Campaigns

We are sending text messages to patients who have not yet responded to invitations for bowel, breast, and/or cervical screening.

This helps us understand any concerns or barriers to attendance and allows us to signpost helpful information so patients can make informed decisions about their health.

🤝 Get Involved

There’s lots of great work happening at Orchid House. If you have feedback, would like to join our Patient Participation Group or our Community Drivers, please email:

📧 oh.ppg@nhs.net

If you no longer wish to receive text updates from Orchid House Surgery, please email the same address.

🎄 From all of us at Orchid House Surgery, we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

🧡 October 2025 

🍂 Welcome to our October Update

Autumn is here — and with it comes a few important updates we’d like to share with all our patients.

🩺 BLS Training – PLT Closure

The surgery will be closed on Thursday 27th November 2025 from 1.30pm–4.30pm for staff training (Basic Life Support).
During this time, urgent medical cover will be provided by NHS 111.

We appreciate your understanding as we use this time to keep our team’s clinical skills up to date.

💻 Online Services & Digital Support

You can now:

• Order repeat prescriptions

• View test results

• Book appointments
  via the NHS App or Patient Access.

If you haven’t yet registered, our reception team can help you get set up — it only takes a few minutes.

We’ve also introduced Olive, our digital assistant, to help you navigate online services and manage administrative queries.
When you call the surgery, you’ll be given the option to receive a text message that will direct you to Olive on our website. She can assist with many common queries — saving you time and helping the practice manage calls more efficiently.

This helps to reduce call volumes during busy times and free up the phone lines for patients who need to speak to us directly.

👩‍⚕️ Staff Update

We’re pleased to welcome Dr Alison Burridge, who joins the practice from Monday 3rd November 2025 and will be with us until the end of March 2026 (as it stands).
We’re delighted to have her as part of our team supporting patient care over the coming months.

We would also like to let patients know that Dr Every will be retiring in 2026. Further details and farewell arrangements will be shared nearer the time.

🏥 Help Us Help You

Every week, a number of appointments are missed and not cancelled.
If you can’t attend, please cancel in advance — this allows another patient to be seen sooner.
Thank you for helping us make the best use of appointments.

🌍 Stay Connected

Keep up to date with practice news by:

• Visiting our website

• Following our Facebook page

• Reading our monthly waiting room board

📰  September 2025

💉 Flu & Covid Vaccinations

We are holding clinics at the surgery for flu and Covid vaccinations:

• Flu & Covid Clinics (Ages 65+/75+)
  📅 Saturday 4th October
  📅 Saturday 11th October

• Flu Clinic (Under 65s)
  📅 Tuesday 7th October

👉 Eligibility:

• Flu vaccine – you must be 65 or over on 31st March 2026.

• Covid vaccine – you must be 75 or over on 31st January 2026.

Additional clinics will be available if you are unable to attend the above dates. Please support your practice by booking with us when appointments are released.

🏠 Housebound patients and care home residents will be visited by the Primary Care Network team to receive their vaccinations.

👩‍⚕️ Staff Update

• We’re pleased to confirm that Dr Green has now joined us permanently.

• Dr George Williams has joined as our latest GP trainee until February.

• Abbey Baker has joined the team as our new phlebotomist, following Sharon’s departure.

• Tina, our valued receptionist, will be leaving soon – and we look forward to welcoming two new reception team members shortly.