Covid-19 vaccination status
From 17 May 2021, people in England who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can demonstrate their vaccination status for international travel. A full course is currently two doses of any approved vaccine. Vaccine status will be available from:
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the NHS App which you can download from app stores
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the NHS website (from 17 May 2021)
It may take more than a week for your identity to be checked and verified so you can use these services.
If you cannot access these online services, and you have had 2 vaccines, you can request a paper letter from the NHS by calling 119. Only call 119 if you had your second dose more than 5 working days ago. It may take 7 working days for the letter to arrive.
This practice is not able to provide you with a letter that shows your COVID-19 vaccination status.
When you’re planning your travel, check the latest information on demonstrating your COVID-19 status when travelling abroad on the gov.uk website. Make sure there is time to get proof of your vaccination status before you leave.
GP Net earnings 2019/20
NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised, and the required disclosure is shown below. However it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice, and should not be used to form any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparison with any other practice.
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in this practice in the last full financial year was £124,344 before Tax and National insurance. This is for three full time GPs, six part time GPs and one locum GP who worked in the practice for more than six months.
Please see the below statement:
Dear Patient,
Following last night’s lockdown announcement we wanted to reassure you that we remain committed to delivering high quality care to all whilst also helping with the national coronavirus effort.
As many of you will know, Sunderland is busy vaccinating patients and our Staff are helping this effort. Therefore, it may take longer to access a routine appointment or have prescriptions/queries processed. As always, we continue to provide timely access for urgent issues.
We promise you will be contacted when you are eligible for the coronavirus vaccination-please do not contact the practice prior to this.
We ask that you support us in the fight against coronavirus.
Yours sincerely,
The Partners
Bridge View Medical Group
The Wait Is Finally Over
Our new telephone system offically goes ‘live’ tomorrow morning (17th Nov 2020). The system will be live from 8am.
Please remember there are still other ways of contacting us such as our online eConsult service to request non-urgent advice and fit notes.
You can also use patient online access to book your telephone appointments up to 2 weeks in advance. We also have telephone appointments that are released at 8am each day which can be booked via patient online access.
Your prescription request can be done through patient access or you can drop in your paper requests to our prescription boxes. We have 2 prescription boxes, the red prescription box in suite 1 next to the check in screen (as it was before) and one in suite 2 (formerly Dr Weatherhead’s practice). These boxes are looked at twice a day.
Our generic email is monitored on a daily basis where we are happy to accept your prescription requests and fit note requests. Our generic email address is SUNCGG.bridgeviewmedicalgroup@nhs.net.
Please note if you choose to email us we will only be able to send you a generic acknowledgement email for security reasons. Please do not use this form of contact to book or check an appointment.
We appreciate that is has been very difficult to contact us these back few months, but hopefully from tomorrow some of these issues will be resolved.
Thank you for your patience during this time.
Different ways to consult with your GP
NHS Sunderland CCG have just gone live with their new animation which focuses on new ways patient can consult with their GP. Please see the link below…
BREAKING NEWS
Following our previous post and in response to your comments and concerns we are pleased to announce that plans to install a new single telephone system have been reinstated following the easing of the lockdown. As you can appreciate there is a lot of groundwork to be done so the lead in time is approximately 12 weeks, please bear with us, we will keep you posted on progress.
As mentioned previously a temporary solution is being put in place to focus all calls on one system which will increase our telephone answering capacity. You can call either number 01915163940 or 01915026700 to speak to one of our reception team.
Please be patient with our Team as we move through the next step of the merger.
Thank you.
Patient Pod
Our Patient Pod machine is now back up and running!
This machine could save you a lot of time as you don’t have to book an appointment.
You can accurately keep track of your blood pressure, weight/BMI as well as checking your height.
You can find Patient Pod in Suite 2 (formerly Dr Weatherhead’s practice)
Please note that this machine is cleaned after every use.
The GP Patient Survey
We would like to share with you some of the feedback that we have received from The GP Patient Survey. This survery is an independant survery that is ran by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England. The survey is sent out to over two million people across the UK. The results show how people feel about their GP practice.
Our patients say:
91% describe their overall experience of the GP practice as good .
Local (CCG) average: 84% National average: 82%
We would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to complete this survey and provided us with feedback.
New appointment system update
Please click on the link below.
You said, We listened
Face Coverings
Following receipt of the Recovery Plan from our CCG and release of further guidance yesterday, we have been given the following updated advice about the use of face coverings:
All patients who come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment should wear a face covering. A face covering, either home-made or a scarf of some sort, is an acceptable alternative
Please can we also remind you that you should attend these appointments alone, unless support is required in which case this person(s) are also required to wear a face covering.
Also a gentle reminder that you should also wear a face covering when using public transport and as of Friday 24th July 2020 wearing a face covering in shops and supermarkets across England will become mandatory.
Thank you for your understanding
Practice Merger
From 1st April 2020 Bridge View Medical Group and Dr Weatherhead & Associates will merge. All patients should have received a letter informing you of this change. Dr Weatherhead & Associates will be adopting the name of Bridge View Medical Group and on telephoning the Practice this is how your call will be answered.
If you see a GP or Nurse on a regular basis this will not change, you may continue to see the clinician you are familiar with. However, the merger will provide more choice and a better range of appointment times.