FINAL  FLU / COVID VACCINES CLINIC 

The Practice will have a walk in clinic on Saturday 16th November 2024

8am - 12 midday in Carrick Hill Medical Centre.

This clinic will be for:

Patients aged 65 or over (Covid and Flu vaccines)

High risk patients aged 16-64 (Covid and Flu Vaccines)

Pre-school children (flu nasal vaccine) 

Please wear short sleeves for ease of access. 

 Practice Private Care Policy 

Information for patients who are planning or have received private care outside the NHS. 

Private Care Policy

CHILDHOOD VACCINATIONS TABLE 

PATIENT NOTICE 

If you have hearing loss or deafness the Practice has a range of methods for you to contact the surgery.
1. Email
    Please email the Practice at prescriptions1.Z00061@gp.hscni.net with your queries.
2. Text messaging
    We can provide a two-way text messaging service for a GP to communicate with you.
3. The British Sign Language (BSL) online.
    This can be used when you attend the surgery. If possible please email us with your preferred options to record in your notes.

PATIENT NOTICE / UPDATE 

Due to unexpected staffing issues, we will be consolidating the majority of services at our Carrick Hill site. We apologise for the inconvenience and impact this will have on patients of our Glen Road branch. We have had to take this decision under difficult circumstances, in order to ensure we can continue to deliver safe patient care. From 13 December 2022, only Warfarin and blood pressures clinics will be delivered from our Glen Road branch surgery. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and will keep you informed if the situation changes in the near future.

To All Patients registered with the Dr Crossin & Higgins Practice November 2022

Dear Patient(s)

The Crossin & Higgins Practice has been facing a lot of challenges over the past year mainly due to a shortage of GP’s.

We have been advertising for GP positions in a variety of forums, but have attracted no interest. This is an indication of the crisis in General Practice currently in Northern Ireland.

Despite multiple advertisements we have been unable to recruit new Doctors.  This is a situation a lot of Practices are currently facing in Northern Ireland.

We are not able to provide a safe service to our patients in both sites so we are regrouping our services to Carrick Hill Medical Centre.

All patients will be seen in Carrick Hill Medical Centre and not in The Glen Road Surgery.  This change will enable us to continue to deliver safer and personal care to you. Collections of prescriptions will be from your local pharmacy or Carrick Hill Surgery only.

This does not affect your ability to remain as a patient of the Crossin & Higgins Practice, it is the site not the service which is changing.

We fully appreciate this change may be challenging and disruptive for you and we acknowledge this. We hope to have your understanding and support.

From all the Doctors and Staff at Dr Crossin & Higgins Practice

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEE A GP 

PLEASE ATTEND YOUR LOCAL PHARMACY

FOR FREE CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE AND TREATMENT FOR:

Acne

Groin infection

Oral thrush

Athletes foot

Threadworms

Scabies

Diarrhoea

Vaginal thrush

Verrucae

Haemorrhoids

Earwax

Headlice

Mouth ulcers

Practice Update 

We are currently experiencing a high volume of telephone calls. Please be assured that our staff are working as efficiently as they can. It may take longer than usual to get through to the Surgery. Please be patient.

There are occasions due to the high volume of telephone calls there may be a delay with dealing with your queries promptly and your patience and understanding is appreciated.

In view of this it may help to know the following:

1. For a GP telephone call back please telephone the surgery between 8.30am – 10.00am.A face-to-face appointment can only be booked by a GP as we are not able to offer advanced booking for routine appointments currently.
2. Telephone after 2.00pm if you need any of the following:
   • Appointment with the Practice Nurse for bloods /BP/ Smear/ Asthma review/ COPD review/ Diabetic review/ Warfarin
   • Results of blood tests or investigations
   • Repeat sick lines
   • Other queries

Practice Update 

1. Triage Line

   Our triage line is available for urgent queries. Our staff will take details or send you a text questionnaire with your consent. Please answer these questions openly and honestly. Please respect that the GPs have directed staff to ask these questions and need the information to help you. Triage is opened from 8.30am - 10am. If you ring after this time and it is not an medical emergency, our team will advise you to ring the next day. In some circumstances the GP may feel its best that you do attend the surgery and may direct you to do so. Please be assured that we are trying to make the surgery as safe as possible for the small number of patients that are asked to come up to the see the GP. 

2. Routine phone call

   Our team have a limited amount of daily routine phone calls. These are booked on a first come, first served basis. Again, our team will ask you various questions that the GPs have asked them too. Please answer open and honestly. Please do not refuse to answer as we need this information. Someone from the team will call you back throughout that day. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR PRACTICE HAS A ZERO TOLERANCE ABUSE POLICY.

Our staff are working exceptionally hard during these difficult times to provide a safe service. Abuse of any kind, either verbal or physical to our staff will not be tolerated by the practice.

WE APPRECIATE YOUR CO-OPERATION DURING THIS TIME. WE HOPE THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS WE ARE TRYING TO PROVIDE A SERVICE WHICH IS AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE.

Our whole highly skilled team are working together to try and do the best job that they can. Our pharmacy team, office team, GP team and nursing team are all helping each other so you may get a phone call from the staff member who can best deal with your query. We ask patients to please wear a mask where possible when visiting our premises. 

The Community District Nursing team will begin vaccinating all our housebound over 80 years old patients in November.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS ARE UP TO DATE WITH THE PRACTICE

Better days Pain Support Programme 

There will be no walk-in baby clinics until further notice

The Practice will continue to see patients specifically given appointments by the GPs

If you telephone the Practice you will be offered a telephone call back from the GP. The GP will triage your call and where needed provide a prescription or immediately necessary treatment.  You will be asked to nominate a Pharmacy of your choice where your prescription will be sent for collection.

Click Here for Self Certificate of sickness

Dr Crossin & Higgins Practice

The doctors and nurses take pride in offering the highest standard of patient-centred healthcare.  We run many clinics for chronic disease care and offer a wide variety of other medical services such as antenatal and postnatal care, minor surgery, childhood vaccinations and well-person check-ups.

In addition to everything you need to know about the practice you will also find a wealth of health-related information in the menu on the right hand side. Please have a look around and do send us some feedback if you like.

Our Mission Statement is to provide a caring patient-centred service, combining health care and health promotion