We want to make sure it is as easy as possible for you to contact us about our services.
If you need to speak to PCS about any of our services then click on the blue button below to find out how to get help. Alternatively, you can book into one of our 'drop-in' sessions with Dr Andy Hilton and Nicki Doherty.
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Vaccine walk-in clinics extension
We are continuing to work with those PCNs which have chosen not to deliver vaccinations for cohorts 10-12 by providing additional vaccine capacity through our clinics.
We've expanded the Darnall clinics which now accept walk-ins every evening and at weekends.
We are also hosting a pop-up clinic at Hillsborough Stadium this Saturday 9am - 3pm and will be confirming additional pop-up sites in due course.
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24 Hour ECG Service
The PCS 24 Hour ECG service is experiencing high demand at a time when our colleagues in practice are already under pressure to provide normal day to day services. Some practices providing this service for PCS are offering reduced capacity compared to pre-Covid appointment numbers. These factors combined have led to an increase in waiting times for the service. We are monitoring this carefully and working with our providers to keep delays to a minimum however, we feel it is important for you to be aware of this when opting to refer to our service.
If you are considering a new referral to this service, we would politely request that you share all our possible locations with your patient because waiting times must be prioritised over patient choice in order for the service to be delivered safely. We understand that this may not be appropriate for patients who are less mobile or do not have access to transport but it will help manage expectations for the vast majority of new patients.
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Extended Access Current service
We have received feedback, reflecting the current pressures in Primary Care and asking Extended Access to support this. PCS and the CCG are working together on trying to secure funding to support additional capacity. We will keep you posted on this.
In the meantime, many practices have fed back comments about the service model, that they feel could be tweaked to support the current demand. Some of these comments included advising practices on their share of appointments per practice, per day to try and prevent overuse, and holding back appointments until later in the day for those late in the day urgent needs. We have also suggested keeping all Monday’s appointments back to make them available on the day. We have developed a questionnaire to gather opinion, which can be completed by using the link below.
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Vasectomy Service
You will be aware that the PCS Vasectomy service was suspended in March 2020 and has not yet remobilised. We have been working to secure appropriate estate from which to provide this service and hope to have a solution in place very soon in order to address our waiting list.
We are currently unable to accept new referrals to the service but we are assured that our colleagues at STH can accept these referrals via eRS.
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Cost-sharing Workshop
Following requests from practices and Primary Care Networks we have been facilitating ways for PCNs develop and employ staff directly so that we can all work more effectively at a network level.
As part of this we arranged for employment lawyers BHP and Hempson's to jointly host a cost sharing workshop today.
If you didn’t make it you can find attached a recording of the session and copies of the slides for reference. To watch the meeting you must enter the passcode manually below:
jM+Vk7H?
Also attached is a copy of the Cost Sharing Agreement discussed last week and shared previously.
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Registering service development interests and expertise
As GP practices you came together to create PCS to do the things that you can't do alone. It's your organisation.
Our experience has shown that to deliver things the way you need them delivered we need to involve clinicians, managers and practice teams from the outset when services are being created.
Rather than wait until we have any specific project in the first stages of development, we would like to be pro-active and build up a register of those with an interest in future project development. So, if you have a specific area you are interested in then let us know so that we can contact you if input is needed in that area.
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Patients in need of emergency contraception
We have been asked to provide some clarification around how patients can access emergency contraception.
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PCS 'drop-in' sessions
The PCS team is always keen to hear about anything you would like to raise with us in the way of feedback or any ideas you may have on how we might shape things going forwards.
Dr Andy Hilton and Nicki Doherty keep a lunch time 'drop in' slot available in their diary on Wednesday (Andy) and Friday (Nicki). If you would like to catch-up with them in one of those, please simply click the button below, and we will get back to you to arrange that.
Please note that these 'drop-in' sessions are in addition to the 1:1 meetings we have been arranging with practices.
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Booking COVID / Confirmatory PCR test following a positive lateral flow tests for your team
Please use this service to access COVID tests for your team members when they are either symptomatic or require a confirmatory test following a positive lateral flow test .
Download: Ask staff to save the contact details so they can easily access the service when needed.
Book a test: using the button below.
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