Sternhall Times

March Edition

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From Our Pharmacy Team

Electronic Repeat dispensing (eRD)

eRD allows your GP to send a series of repeat prescriptions to your pharmacy in one go, so there’s no need for you to order them each time. It’s reliable, secure and confidential. Your regular prescriptions are stored securely on the NHS database, so they’ll be ready at the pharmacy each time you need them.

eRD was rolled out nationally in April 2019. Within three months, nearly 700,000 patients were using the repeat dispensing process and today over 1.2 million patients benefit from this service. It is estimated that eRD has helped manage increased pressure on the health service and saved over 90,000 hours of GP practice time – time that can be invested in patient care.

However, not everyone is eligible for repeat dispensing. You may not be eligible if you require regular reviews, repeated blood tests, frequent dose changes or have newly started medications.

If you are eligible, it’s really easy to sign up , just ask your GP practice or pharmacist.

Support From St Christopher’s

St Christopher’s are a dedicated team who support palliative (people living with chronic diseases and illnesses) and end of life patients. They offer a variety of services including; community support groups, complementary therapies, art and music therapy, spiritual and emotional support and many more.

If you feel that you could benefit from their support based on the health condition that you have, please get in touch with the surgery.

For more information about St Christopher’s, please visit their website

Introducing Marian: the newest member to our pharmacy team

My name is Marian Hassan, I am a PCN pharmacist working for IHL since November 2022. I studied Pharmacy at University College London and have been a community pharmacist for the past 5 years. I have made the move into primary care to become a more well rounded pharmacist. I am very happy to join the amazing team here at Sternhall Lane Surgery and look forward to learning and growing as a pharmacist. My scope of practice includes minor ailments, same day medication queries, post discharge medication reconciliations. I also do long term conditions reviews including hypertension, diabetes, asthma, COPD heart failure. I can also review depression medication and contraception

Long Term Conditions: annual reviews

In order to improve the continuity of care to our patients, we have developed pathways to streamline the process for our patients that need an annual review (planned care review). Part of the process can now be completed using the online e-consult template. Completing the template ahead of you planned care review, will enable to doctor to construct/ develop your care plan. It also allows for the review process to be as smooth as possible. The clinical team will be able to easily update your records so that you have more time doing your appointment to discuss your health conditions.

Depending on the health conditions being reviewed, there may be multiple steps involved. Different clinicians are responsible for specific parts of the review, so for some conditions, you will need one than appointment. This may be either face to face or by telephone. If you have a preference for the clinician that you would like to carry out your annual review, please do let us know and we will try our best to accommodate. If you have any questions about your annual review, please get in touch in the surgery and speak to a member of the planned care team.

It’s Still Flu Season

We very much encourage our patients to have the flu vaccine. It is the most effective way to stay protected against getting the flu. If you would like to have the vaccine this year, please get in touch with the surgery.

You may also be eligible for the pneumococcal vaccination, this help protect against pneumococcal infections. If you would like to check if you can have this done, please give the surgery a call.

Published: Mar 6, 2023