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Carer's Emergency Card

For peace of mind as a carer, apply for your Kent & Medway Carers Emergency Card

This gives carers confidence that the person they are caring for would be looked after if they were taken ill/involved in an accident

More information visit: https://www.medway.gov.uk/CarerSupport

COVID Update

To stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), please follow government guidance on social distancing

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing

For information on Isolation notes

Visit https://111.nhs.uk/isolation-note

Sick Notes

You can now generate your own sick note, via clicking onto the following website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-advice

Then click on “Get Isolation Note” – which is half way down page highlighted in green. 

This will take you to the NHS111 page where patients will be asked to answer a few questions. 

On completion a reference number will be emailed to the patient which is the sick note.

LD REVIEWS / FLU

We would like to point you to this information: https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/improving-health/#flu

COVID-19 BEREAVEMENT LINE

St Luke's are currently running a dedicated bereavement line for people that have lost loved ones to COVID-19.

The line is available Monday to Thursday from 1300 – 1630 and the number is below:

0333 400 2358

For more information please click the link below:

St Luke's Hospice Covid Bereavement Support Line

We hope this will help in times of need.

Employer Letter regarding The Issue Of Medical Certificates

Please follow the link below to download a letter for your employer regarding medical certificates for absence from work related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Employer Letter RE: Medical Certificates

Advice For Parents With A Child That Is Sick Or Injured

Please click the link below to view a poster with information for parents on what to do if a child becomes unwell.

COVID-19 Advice For Parents When Child Unwell Or Injured

Rescue Medication (Rescue Pack) Hoax

There has been an unhelpful and misleading message being widely spread on social media advising people with respiratory conditions including asthma and COPD to seek “rescue medication” from their GP.

Please DO NOT ask your GP for ‘rescue medication’ if you don’t usually have standby medication for your respiratory condition. The original post was taken down. It was posted in good faith but is potentially dangerous and is certainly unhelpful.

British Lung Foundation’s response

“We’ve been made aware of some posts on social media saying that if you have a lung condition, your GP will issue a rescue pack of steroids and antibiotics.

If you're normally advised to have a rescue pack available to treat your lung condition then it's a good idea to check you have one. This is recommended for some with COPD to be used as part of a personalised plan. For people with asthma, we do not recommend these as standard.

If someone’s asthma is bad enough to consider steroids it is essential they are assessed by a health care professional. Even at this busy time for the NHS, getting early support for any problems with your lungs is critical to keep you well and out of hospital.”

Along similar lines, please do not stockpile inhalers. If you haven’t needed one for many years don’t ask for one now. We are seeing increasing supply issues due to over-ordering. Please be patient with your community pharmacist, they are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances.

Letter To The Patients of Halfway Surgery

Dear patients,

We hope you are all doing well in these challenging times we find ourselves in and would want to thank you for adapting to the new ways of working we have to had to adopt. We would like to notify all patients of the Halfway Surgery that as of the 1st of April 2020, we merged with St. Mary’s Medical Centre.

We would like to stress that there will be no change to the quality of care we intend to provide. Patients and their welfare will remain the priority for the newly merged surgery. The merger will allow us to eventually have access to greater resources, aiming to improve the service on-offer to our patients even further. Behind the scenes things will take time to adjust, but for patients everything will continue as usual.

We will provide regular updates, but if you do have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us, as we will be more than happy to assist you.

Thank you.

Halfway Surgery