New Patient 'Self-Check Zone’ at Norwich Surgery
Magdalen Medical Practice a forward thinking GP practice based in the heart of Norwich has launched a patient ‘Self-Check Zone’.
Tracey Bullard practice manager said “We have been thinking about how best to meet the needs of our patients and how to improve access for our patients for what is an extremely stretched NHS workforce. Working with our patient groups we decided to design a ‘Self-Check Zone’. This is a designated area within the waiting room for people to just drop into. They will be able to take their own blood pressure, check their weight and height and provide other information via a health questionnaire which will then be assessed later by a clinician.
The clinician will contact the patient
if necessary from the information gained. The information entered will go into
the patient’s medical record.“
Tracey added “Patients do not always attend for these important health checks due to having to make an appointment or the appointment times not always being suitable, so this way anyone can just drop into the Self-Check Zone between 7.30 am and 6 pm Monday-Friday. We anticipate that this will also allow for a pro-active approach and capture opportunistic patients and treat them accordingly.”
The forward thinking GP Practice has also recently become an accredited Armed Forces Veteran Friendly practice. GP, Dr Kate Milne undertook the training and put processes in place to identify and flag up where a patient may have served in the forces. The practice are rightly very proud of this status, and the Self-Check Zone will be another opportunity to identify veterans to support them further.
The launch took place on Friday 24th March at 1pm, and was attended by MP Chloe Smith, Healthwatch Norfolk representatives and members of OneNorwich Practices.
Norwich MP Chloe Smith took time out of her busy schedule to meet with patients and staff at Magdalen Practice to learn all about the Self-Check Zone
