Peterculter Medical Practice
Dr CAROLINE HOWARTH, who was our GP registrar last year and has been working as a locum during Dr Owen's maternity leave, became a partner in the practice in January. We are all delighted to welcome her to the partnership, although Caroline has been a regular member of the team for eighteen months now already! We wish her a long and happy career at Culter. Dr Joanne Owen returns from maternity leave in mid-February and will be working a reduced number of weekly sessions. Our medical team will therefore soon be complete again! Dr Stuart Duncan's assistance during the maternity leave has been much appreciated, and indeed I think some folks may not have even realised that he had actually retired!
Over the last few months we have been missing our electronic patient call system in the waiting room. We now have our replacement and this should be up and functioning again by the time you are reading this. Such items of electronic technology have their definite advantages, making our surgery times a little more efficient;
also we can display important messages or items of health information on the screen. However, coming through to call our patients in person has a more sociable feel and perhaps is a nice 'ice-breaker' before the actual consultation starts - in addition we probably tot up several miles of additional exercise per month this way, thus 'practising what we preach'!
A notable medical news item over the past few months has been the significant rise in mumps cases, reflecting the situation generally in Scotland. At present (January) we are still seeing small numbers of new cases most of which are occurring in the 13-25 age group, especially around 17. This age group generally only had 1 mumps vaccine (in MMR) during earlier years and, at this age, their social patterns are likely to promote spread (groups, university etc). We have been trying to target young folk aged 17-20 to arrange further vaccination to protect them. If you are in this age group and have not had mumps vaccination discussed then please get in touch with the surgery.
In an effort to improve our care of asthma patients, we are considering trying out telephone reviews - often it is difficult for people to attend the asthma clinic, and individuals who feel well may be less keen to attend at the practice for a routine check-up. Useful follow-up can be on the telephone, and can prevent the need for an actual face-to-face consult. I would be keen on any feedback about this.
Dr Douglas Harris