Orchid House Surgery Updates

📅 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.

🙏 Respect for Our Staff

We kindly remind patients that all of our staff are highly trained and competent in their roles. Recently, we have had some inappropriate behaviour and comments directed towards clinical staff. Please be respectful and refrain from making comments about age or personal matters.

📑 Referrals

If you are waiting for a referral, you can check waiting times here:
🔗 www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk

Please note that waiting times across the NHS remain long in some areas.

👶 Support for Parents & Expectant Mothers

For advice and guidance if you are pregnant or need support for your child, please visit:
🔗 www.healthiertogether.nhs.uk

🌐 Online Services – Moving Forward

From 1st October 2025, eConsult will be replaced with SystmConnect.
This service will be available via our practice website and the NHS App.

You can use SystmConnect for:

Medication requests (48hr processing time)
Fit note requests (backdated if needed, but not future-dated)
Routine queries (you may be signposted to alternative services, receive a message, or be offered an appointment)

⚠️ Please only contact the surgery again if your symptoms change or worsen.

📲 Digital Appointments & Communication

We are beginning to send appointment booking links by text or email, including those for long-term condition reviews.

This helps us reduce costs and adapt to changes in postal services.
👉 Please check that your contact details are up to date so you don’t miss important communications.

✨ Thank you for your continued support as we move into a busy winter season.

June 2025 – Update

🌸 Orchid House Surgery News & Volunteer Call-Out 🌸

🚗 Join Our Orchid House Community Drivers!

We’ve launched a new patient-led volunteer driver scheme – thanks to our amazing Patient Participation Group!

The Orchid House Community Drivers help patients get to medical appointments if they don’t have transport or can’t afford taxi fares.
Our volunteers are already making a real difference – but we need more help to grow!

✅ Have a full, clean driving licence?
✅ Own a car?
✅ Can spare an hour or two a month?

👉 Email: oh.ppg@nhs.net to join!
🧾 Petrol fees are reimbursed.
💜 Volunteer as much or as little as you like.

👩‍⚕️ Staff Update

We’re sad to share that Dr Dogan has now left the surgery and we wish him the best for the future!
But we’re thrilled that Dr Green will be staying with us permanently as a salaried GP. We know many of you will be pleased to hear this!

We will have a new GP trainee starting in August when Dr Green finishes her training.

Our lovely nurse Victoria who has been on maternity leave, has decided not to return to Orchid House Surgery and we wish her all the best for the future!

📲 Text Messages from the Surgery

You may receive texts from us about:

Cancer care follow-ups as part of our support for research
Cervical smear questionnaire to find out why patients choose not to attend screening
Routine blood test clinics – we are trialling some self-book links to allow patients the ability to book straightforward blood tests themselves

These messages are designed to help us better care for you. Got questions? Just ask us!

💉 Coming Soon: Flu & Covid Vaccines

We’ll soon be texting you about flu and covid vaccinations for this season.
Both will hopefully be done at the surgery, so please keep an eye out and let us know your preferences.

Your support helps us continue delivering care where it’s needed most.
Let’s keep our community safe together!

🚫 Mounjaro (Weight Loss Injection) – Please Read

We are aware of increasing public interest in Mounjaro (tirzepatide) for weight loss.
However, this medication is not currently available in Dorset, and it is only prescribed on the NHS under very strict clinical criteria.

This will only be available for patients who