Gillan House Surgery Newsletter issue 26

  • Welcome
  • Childhood Vaccinations
  • Enfield Carers Centre
  • The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service
  • The new Gillan House Telephone System
  • Raising Awareness of the Gillan House Patient Participation Group (PPG)
  • Who’s Who at Gillan House Surgery?

Welcome to the February 2023 edition of Gillan House Surgery’s Newsletter.  In this issue we highlight the importance of childhood vaccinations and the excellent work being carried out by the Enfield Carers Centre.  We also report on the recent initiative to increase the membership of our own Patient Participation Group. 

Childhood Vaccinations

Vaccines are the most effective way to prevent infectious diseases; they save up to 3 million deaths worldwide every year.  Since vaccines were introduced in the UK diseases like smallpox, polio and tetanus have either gone or are seen very rarely.  Other diseases like measles and diphtheria have been reduced by up to 99.9%. But unfortunately measles and mumps are starting to appear again in England.  This is serious as measles can lead to life-threatening complications like meningitis, and mumps can cause hearing loss.  Contrary to social media reports the MMR vaccine is safe and studies have found no evidence of a link with autism.  And vaccines do not overload or weaken the immune system – it is safe to give children several vaccines at a time.  If you have any concerns about childhood vaccinations then please speak to a GP immediately. 

Enfield Carers Centre 

Enfield Carers Centre is a local charity offering support and advice for all unpaid carers in the London Borough of Enfield. A carer is someone of any age who provides unpaid support to family, a partner or close friend who could not manage without help. This could be because of illness, frailty, disability, mental ill health or substance misuse problems. The Centre supports carers by providing training, information, a variety of support groups, counselling, complementary

therapy and respite activities.  If you, or anyone you know, needs support as an unpaid carer then please contact the Centre at Britannia House 137-143 Baker Street, Enfield EN1 3JL tel: 020 8366 3677 email: [email protected]  Phone lines are open Monday – Friday 10.00am – 4.00pm and there are drop-in sessions on Wednesdays 11.00am – 3.00pm and Fridays 1.00pm – 4.00pm.

The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service

This service now enables GP Practices to refer patients to a local pharmacy for minor illnesses and conditions such as constipation, cough, sore throat and joint pain.  This means patients can receive convenient, same-day consultations and obtain clinical advice and where appropriate buy over-the-counter medicine. It will also help make more GP appointments available for those patients with more serious conditions.  There is good evidence that advice provided by community pharmacists about minor illness results in the same outcome as if the patient went to see their GP or attended an emergency department.  Please be aware that when telephoning or visiting Gillan House Surgery for an appointment the receptionist may ask for the nature of your call or visit to establish whether it is appropriate to refer you to a community pharmacist.  Pharmacists are trained to recognise symptoms which may suggest a more serious illness and should that be the case they will help patients arrange an urgent GP appointment or escalate to an emergency department if necessary. 

The new Gillan House Telephone System  

A new advanced telephone system was introduced at Gillan House on 7 February 2023.  In the event that there is a high volume of calls to the Surgery that cannot all be answered at the same time the system offers patients a call-back service while maintaining the patient’s place in the queue.  This means patients will receive a return call and will not have to wait on the line.  The system also provides important management information such as the time and number of call drop-outs enabling the Surgery to plan better its call handling arrangements.  This new system will be kept under review and changes made if necessary. 

Raising Awareness of the Gillan House Patient Participation Group (PPG)

During the morning of 25 January 2023 members of our PPG handed out leaflets and spoke to patients in the Gillan House Waiting Room.  This was to publicise the activities of the PPG and to encourage patients to consider becoming a member.  It was a useful exercise and although nobody has yet come forward it did raise awareness of our Group.  Please contact the Gillan House Reception if you would like to join the PPG or to find out more about what is involved.  More information is available on the Gillan House website under “Have Your Say”.

Who’s Who at Gillan House Surgery?

The team at Gillan House currently comprises:

Dr Sinnappoo Karthikesalingam                   (Dr Karthi)

Dr Abirame Sambasivan                               (Dr Abi)

Dr Debjani Nandi

Dr Tim Fenn

Dr Rochelle Rosenthal

Dr Mark Curtin

Dr Semiya Aziz

Dr Nivedita Bose

Ms Maureen James                                      (Senior Practice Nurse)

Mrs Berrin Buyukarslan                                (Practice Manager)

Mrs Jennifer Zidan                                        (Admin /Receptionist)

Mrs Dee Topiwala                                         (Receptionist)

Mrs Fouzia Irshad                                         (Receptionist)                                                                         

Mrs Tasneem Malik                                      (Receptionist)

Mrs Saeema Malik                                        (Receptionist)

Miss Manisha Bhagbut                                 (Administrator )

Mrs Indrani Yogarajah                                  (Receptionist)

Miss Ayisha Malik                                         (Administrator)

Mrs Fakher Rauf                                           (Receptionist)

Mrs Bhavna Luchman                                   (Receptionist)

Mr Tayyib Awan                                            (Administrator )

Miss Elsida Cajka                                          ( Receptionist)

Mrs Fakher Rauf                                           (Receptionist)

Miss Khadija Akhtar                                       (Receptionist )

Network (PCN) working part-time at Gillan House

Pharmacist (based at Gillan House)                      Misha Patel

Physician Associate                                               Gentian Shehu

Care Coordinator                                                    Kayes Shagor  

Paramedic                                                              Bruno Arekion

Social Prescriber                                                    Lauren Delaney