Portesham Surgery

AS OF 1^ST JUNE 2022 NEW GUIDELINES HAVE BEEN ISSUED TO ALL HEALTHCARE SETTINGS TO HELP WITH TRANSITIONING BACK TO PRE-PANDEMIC INFECTION CONTROL AND PERSONAL PROTECTION MEASURES

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PATIENTS?

FOR THE BENEFIT OF OUR VULNERABLE PATIENTS WE WOULD ASK THAT

ALL PATIENTS STILL WEAR A FACE MASK IN THE WAITING ROOM IF YOU ARE ABLE 

PLEASE ASK RECEPTION IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A FACE MASK WITH YOU

ANY PATIENTS WITH RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS VISITING THE SURGERY

MUST STILL WEAR A FACE MASK

ANY COVID POSITIVE PATIENTS OR THOSE AT HIGH RISK, WILL STILL BE ASKED TO WAIT IN THEIR CAR OR ENTER VIA OUR SEPARATE ENTRANCE

 PATIENTS WITH NO RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS, AND WHO ARE NOT HERE TO SEE A CLINICIAN ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED TO WEAR A MASK – THIS CAN BE A PERSONAL CHOICE

 HEALTHCARE STAFF WILL WEAR MASKS IN CLINICAL AREAS AND WHEN DEALING WITH RESPIRATORY OR SYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS

 SOCIAL DISTANCING IS NO LONGER REQUIRED

 THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT IN KEEPING OUR STAFF AND OTHER PATIENTS SAFE OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, AND WE HOPE THIS FIRST STEP IN TRANSITIONING OUT OF THE COVID WAY OF WORKING IS A POSITIVE ONE!

The GP partners of Portesham Surgery and Prince of Wales Surgery in Dorchester are pleased to announce plans to merge the practices under one contract.  Joining forces offers many benefits to patients and practices alike.  As a bigger organisation we will be able to offer the combined skills within our GP and nursing teams to the patients of both practices, and will be more attractive to recruiting new clinicians, making us more sustainable.

We anticipate the merger taking place in early to mid-2023.  Once the application has been approved by NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, there will be a process to follow to bring our individual practices together contractually and systematically.  We will engage with you over the coming months to ensure you are fully informed and have an opportunity to ask further question or share your views with us.

You will undoubtedly have questions about what this means for you, so we have prepared some initial Questions and Answers - see the link below.  All this information is also available on leaflets in the surgery and we have written to, emailed or texted all our patients over the last couple of days, according to their preferences.  We have talked to our Patient Group representatives and they are happy to talk to you and help answer your questions - you can contact them through contact@porteshampatients.org.uk or click on the Patient Participate Group box below to look on their page on our website.

We look forward to working on your behalf to maintain and improve primary care services.

Dr Louise Beale                  Dr Stephen Scott

Portesham Surgery             Prince of Wales Surgery