Update from the Medical Practice
Firstly, thank you to everyone for your continued patience with our changed working practices at the surgery. Many will know that when ringing for an appointment with the doctor or nurse, you now get a call back and your appointment may be completed by phone, or if needed we will book you a face to face appointment. It is all a bit slower than usual, and we would ask you to call before 10:30 in the morning to give us time to organise things. If you have an emergency, of course you can still call us at any time.
We now have facilities to see you face to face via video call. This is an NHS service called Near Me. It will work on everything from a computer to a smartphone. If we offer you a Near Me consultation we will firstly explain how it works over the phone. Using the technology is not hard at all and it is becoming more and more popular.
If we need to see you face to face, we will be wearing a face mask and will offer you one to wear too. It’s for everyone’s protection, but if you can’t manage with a facemask on, that’s OK; you just need to say.
We are glad to say we have not had any suspected cases of Covid-19 since our last update. We have not had a chance to put it to the test, but we believe it would now be much more straightforward us to get testing for anyone with symptoms.
We will have all seen in the media that slow changes to the lockdown are coming nationally. We know these changes will be a worry to some and a relief to others, but however we feel about it, it will eventually lead to an increase in the amount of activity on the island. When that happens, it will be more important than ever to keep to the distancing guidelines and keep one another safe.
You will also have seen the government bulletins asking people not to delay seeing their doctor if they have symptoms they are worried about. We really want people to take that advice on board and see us if they need to. If you needed to go away for investigations, it takes a bit more organising, but it can be done and you wouldn’t have to spend two weeks in self isolation on return. You would just carry on with social distancing and look out for any Covid-19 symptoms, like we all do.
If there are cases on Tiree, it is vitally important that we know about them as soon as possible. Please let us know if you have symptoms of cough, fever, or loss of smell and we will get you tested. With your permission, we will help trace back who you have been in contact with and we will support those needing to isolate. That will give us the best chance to contain an outbreak, if one should happen.
It is nice to see that people are getting out and about and getting some exercise in the fabulous weather we have been having. Staying fit and staying happy are the best things you can do in such trying times. To everyone who signed up to the Exercise Initiative, we are really sorry that we had to suspend the classes. We still have the funding in place to run the initiative, and once we can have group exercise again, it will be back.
Finally, thank you again so much for the gifts we have been given by some very thoughtful and kind people and to everyone on the island for pulling together and keeping up your efforts on social distancing. When the Medical Practice Team go out to clap on Thursday nights, we are clapping for you.
Tiree Medical Practice
