If you have recently travelled from Wuhan, China or any affected areas and are looking for advice please contact NHS 111 or your GP via telephone/AskMyGP or click here to visit the NHS website
Please avoid coming in to the surgery
Welcome Dr Tabitha Smith
Dr Tabitha Smith trained at Southampton University Medical School and graduated in 2003. She completed her GP training in Poole and spent the next 10 years working in GP practices in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. Tabitha also spent a year working as a GP in Auckland, New Zealand from 2016-2017.
She is married to James Smith, a Consultant in Trauma and Orthopaedics at Dorset County Hospital. They are both excited about putting down permanent roots in West Dorset.
Tabitha enjoys all aspects of General Practice and she has a particular interest in education and training of future GPs. She is a member of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine and enjoys talking to her patients about all aspects of their health and wellbeing.
Tabitha enjoys running, cycling and choral singing. You may also find her wielding her pens and brushes at local gatherings of Urban Sketchers groups.
Welcome Helen our Pharmacist
Helen is a clinical pharmacist with over ten-years experience. She currently works at the surgery on three mornings a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays). When she is not at the surgery Helen also works at the University of Bath teaching on the Pharmacy degree. Helen sees patients for medication reviews - especially for patients on large numbers of medications, consultations about blood pressure and cardiovascular health and deals with all sorts of medication queries. She is looking forward to helping you with any of these issues in the future.
Welcome Dr Helia Esteves
We are pleased to announce that Dr Helia Esteves will be working with us 3 days a week.
APPOINTMENTS
In order to provide a timely response to urgent and routine medical problems we are altering the way we offer appointments.
We ask that you phone the surgery, or use the askmyGP link below and give reception a brief outline of the nature of your medical problem. You will then be given an approximate time when you can expect a return telephone call from your GP. It is useful at this stage to specify any times that you may be unavailable so that the GP can ring at time that is convenient for you to accept the call.
Following this triage we are able to offer an appointment with the appropriate clinician for the appropriate amount of time having arranged appropriate tests and paperwork beforehand. We also find that many issues can be dealt with on a phone call alone and saves you a visit to the surgery.
If you want to contact a specific GP you will need to phone on the day that they are working (click here to check your GP availability)
For those who are unable to use this system, e.g. hard of hearing, please let the receptionist know and they will make alternative arrangements.
Please note that booking appointments to see a Nurse or HCA has not changed. These can be pre-booked in the usual way.
Please note that we are now using the newest version of AskmyGP (Version 3). You may need to re-register with this version but in most cases your log-ins will have moved across.
Click on the logo below to use askmyGP. This will send us an electronic message to the GP who will respond by message or telephone.
The easiest way to contact us is through askmyGP.
It's available 24/7 - we respond in working hours, 8.30 am to 6.30 pm Monday to Friday (not bank Holidays)
In working hours, we can usually get back to you within 1-2 hours, you will need to check your emails for a reply
All our registered patients are welcome, and as a parent or carer you can use askmyGP on behalf of a patient
You can choose a particular named GP if you wish
You may prefer a telephone or email response
You can login now, without any paperwork
Please note that sometimes replies will go to Junk folders so please check all inboxes for your response and make AskMyGP a trusted source to fix this and prevent them from being sent to the Junk folder in the future.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING US TO HELP YOU!
Improved Access:
Queen Camel, Bruton, Milborne Port, Milbrook and Wincanton GP Practices are now working collaboratively to offer appointments to their own and each other’s patients who cannot easily access primary care services during normal working hours. Four of the practices in turn will offer extra appointments with a health care professional between 6:30pm and 8:00pm Monday-Friday and Queen Camel will offer appointments (for all practices) between 9:00-10:30am on a Saturday morning. Milbrook Surgery will additionally offer appointments from 7:30-8:00am on a Tuesday morning. The appointments will be with the host practice staff, not necessarily your registered practice staff.
This is a new initiative across Somerset whereby patients can make appointments at extended times (up until 8pm at night, Monday-Friday and on Saturday mornings) at other practices across the local area. When booking a telephone appointment, there will be a mixture of pre-bookable and same day appointments available across the week. They may be with a doctor but could also be with another healthcare professional such as a primary care practitioner or a nurse. We are keen to balance the importance of continuity of care with convenient access for patients whilst ensuring that the service is safe.
To book an evening or weekend appointment please contact your registered practice during normal opening times, this will help us to signpost you to the most appropriate option for your particular problem. By contacting us we can fully explain the process, to ensure that the booking is appropriate (as we hope to be able to meet your needs by offering an appointment with your usual GP) and cover all the relevant information (and consent) that we need to before we book an appointment for you.
You need to agree to your medical record being shared with the host practice who are providing your appointment. The clinician providing your appointment needs to have full access to your medical record. There is an opportunity to access same day appointment on a Saturday at Queen Camel Medical Centre. These are allocated on a first come first served basis by calling the practice.
Patients are reminded that the extension to routine GP services at evenings and weekends does not replace the current Somerset Out of Hours Urgent Primary Care Services. If patients or their family members become ill overnight or at the weekend and need medical advice or help outside of practice opening hours, they should continue to call NHS 111.
If you would like an appointment during one of these sessions, please contact your registered practice and request an “Improved Access” appointment. This is NOT a walk-in-service and anyone would turns up to a practice without a pre-booked appointment will be asked to contact the Out of Hours Service.
If you or somebody you are with become seriously ill, injured or consider symptoms to be life threatening then please call 999.
If you have a non life threatening emergency please call NHS 111. It is fast, easy and free. A highly trained advisor supported by healthcare professionals will assess your symptoms and direct you to the best medical care for you.
Pharmacists are highly trained health professionals who are able to advise you on treatment for common problems and also help you to decide if you need to see a GP.
Self Check in on arrival
If at all possible please could patients try to use the self check-in screens in the reception area. This not only allows you to be seen quickly but cuts down on unnecessary queues at the reception desk. Using it is very easy and only requires you to answer 3 simple questions about yourself. If you are more than 10 minutes early or ten minutes late then you will be asked to report to reception
NHS Family and Friends Test
You, the patient, are at the heart of everything that we do, and we really want to understand your overall impression of the service you receive. So, we are asking this question,
How likely is it that you would recommend our services to friends and family?
From 1st December 2014 it is a contractual requirement that all GP practices undertake the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT). We here at Milborne Port Surgery are implementing it as of 1st October. The FFT is anonymous.
The Friends and Family Test is a feedback tool that supports the fundamental principle that people who use NHS Services should have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience that can be used to improve services.
It is not a traditional survey, it is a continuous feedback loop between patients and practices.
The primary aims of the FFT are to:
· Gather useful feedback from people who use services that can be fed directly to staff that provide their care, in a simple format, in near real time
· Identify areas where improvements can be made so practical action can be taken
· Inform current and prospective patients about the experiences of those who use the practice services
Please click here to complete form and either return by hand, post or email to somccg.milborneportsurgery-reception@nhs.net
Here are our FFT feedback results so far. Friends and family feedback graph, January 2018- January 2019
Care Quality Commission
Care Quality Commission page on Milborne Port Surgery
(Site updated 28/02/2020)