Our Annual Flu Clinic is being held on Saturday 7th October here at Long Bennington Medical Centre.

Invites to patients are being sent out this week. Please do book following the link provided or contact our reception team if you have any difficulties using the booking link.

All patients aged over 65 years are being invited to book into the flu clinic, plus any patients aged 18 to 64 years who are in the clinically at risk group. Children will be invited either through their schools or seperately by us for those who are pre-school age.

Thank you

It has been bought to our attention that there are potential phone scammers operating in the Lincolnshire area contacting patients proporting to be their Doctors surgery. If you recieve a phone call (not from our usual 01400 telephone number) please hang up the phone and let us know.

All telephone calls we make to our patients will always come from our 01400 phone number. If you are ever in any doubt, please hang up and call us back on the telephone number on our website.

Due to the popular demand of our Wellbeing Walks, we have put on an additional August walk.

This additional Wellbeing Walk is on 16th August 2023 – 11:15am from Long Bennington Medical Centre – Please arrive 10 minutes before for registration.

Wellbeing Walks are short walks, run by friendly, specially trained volunteer walk leaders, who are on hand to provide encouragement and support. All walks are free of charge and are open to everyone – you don’t need to preregister, just come along, and join us. The routes start and finish at Long Bennington Medical Centre, and last between 30 and 90 minutes. Don’t worry about your fitness level - walks are over easy terrain and at a steady pace to suit everyone.

The walks can really help to boost your fitness and wellbeing. Almost all of us can manage a stroll, but our walks make it easier to start walking and stay active. It’s almost impossible not to feel good when walking outdoors – it’s a natural mood-booster, and you’ll certainly never be short of good company!

We hope you can make this extra walk - it would be great to see you.

Long Bennington Medical Centre are supporting the University of Oxford and London School of Medicine with research into Long COVID. Click the link to take part in the survey tinyurl.com/ykunthye

Long Bennington Medical Centre have not shared any of your information with the Imperial College London and participation in the survery is at the discretion of the patients.

Long Bennington Medical Centre is dedicated to supporting healthcare research. As such, we are collaborating with Imperial College London on a study to investigate the prevalence of social isolation & loneliness. Anyone can be feeling isolated or lonely. We will be sending out an SMS text to patients shortly asking if anyone wishes to participate in the survery to click on the link to the Imperial College survey.

Your voice matters - here is the link to the survey: https://imperial.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bkl7M6SUz5nnzIG

Long Bennington Medical Centre have not shared any of your information with the Imperial College London and participation in the survery is at the discretion of the patients.

After 22 years of service working as a GP at Long Bennington Medical Centre Dr Shauna Longfield has decided to retire. She will be working with us until the 18^th of August.

Dr Peter Watson and Dr Elizabeth Montague will continue to run the partnership and champion our mission to provide quality, patient-focused care, improving the health, wellbeing, and lives of our patients.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Alexander Courtier who will be joining our team from the 15^th of August. He will be working on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays looking after the patients that used to see Dr Longfield.

Dr Longfield wishes to express how lucky she has been to work in the Long Bennington team with great staff. She has felt privileged to help provide care for her patients.  She wanted to share with you all that she will miss both her patients and the team. 

She wishes you all well.

Boots Pharmacy 42-43 High Street in Grantham NG31 6NE. Is open the following hours covering the May Bank Holiday periods:

Monday 1st May - 10:00am to 16:00pm

Monday 8th May - 10:00am to 16:00pm

Monday 29th May - 10:00am to 16:00pm

The NHS across Lincolnshire has introduced a smartphone app, “WaitLess” which is designed to help people choose the least pressured urgent and emergency care services and to understand waiting times better.

The WaitLess app (available on smartphones) combines current waiting time, queue numbers and travel-time at urgent care facilities in the county.  This displayed information helps people make an informed decision about where to seek the fastest treatment for minor illness and injuries. Along with this, the app displays all available pharmacies in the area as an alternative treatment option.

Long Bennington Medical Centre including the dispensary will be closed on Friday 7th April and reopen on Tuesday 11th April for the Easter period. Should you require access to a pharmacy whilst we are closed the local duty opening times are:

National no smoking day is the 8^th March and we are working with Gloji Smokefree who offer FREE telephone/digital support to help you quit smoking in 12 weeks with One You Lincolnshire.

To get started you can book your 1st session using this link: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Thrivetribe@kick-it.org.uk/bookings/

Your next poo could save your life.

The NHS bowel cancer screening kit can save your life.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. However, the number of people dying has fallen in recent decades, with earlier diagnosis being the key. Yet still, the latest data shows that almost one third of people who were sent an NHS bowel cancer screening kit in England last year did not go on to complete it.

The NHS bowel cancer screening kit detects signs of cancer before you notice anything wrong. Detecting bowel cancer at the earliest stage makes you up to 9 times more likely to be successfully treated. So if you're aged 60 to 74 (lowering to 50 by 2025), live in England and registered with a GP practice, you’ll be sent a kit in the post automatically, every two years.

The kit is quick to complete and can be done in the privacy of your own bathroom using the step-by-step instructions on the box. You only need to collect one tiny sample of poo using the plastic stick provided, pop it in the sample bottle and post it for free, to be tested.

If something is found, you will be invited to have further tests, usually at a hospital.

The test works by checking for tiny traces of blood, which may not be visible to the naked eye. Blood in your poo is one of the signs of bowel cancer, but does not always mean cancer. Instead, it could be a sign of piles or polyps (growths in the bowel). Polyps are not cancer but could develop into cancer over time.

So if you’re sent the kit, help yourself by remembering to complete it. Put it by loo. Don't put it off.

For more information: nhs.uk/bowel-screening

Our next Wellbeing Walk is on 20th September 2023 – 11:15am from Long Bennington Medical Centre – Please arrive 10 minutes before for registration.

Wellbeing Walks are short walks, run by friendly, specially trained volunteer walk leaders, who are on hand to provide encouragement and support. All walks are free of charge and are open to everyone – you don’t need to preregister, just come along, and join us. The routes start and finish at Long Bennington Medical Centre, and last between 30 and 90 minutes. Don’t worry about your fitness level - walks are over easy terrain and at a steady pace to suit everyone.

The walks can really help to boost your fitness and wellbeing. Almost all of us can manage a stroll, but our walks make it easier to start walking and stay active. It’s almost impossible not to feel good when walking outdoors – it’s a natural mood-booster, and you’ll certainly never be short of good company!

For more information, contact our reception team.

Industrial action is planned to take place at East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) on Wednesday 11 January 2023, from 00.01 hours to 23.59 hours.

1. Patients should only call 999 if it is a medical or mental health emergency [when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk]
2. Ambulances will still be able to respond in these situations, but this may only be where there is an immediate risk to life.
3. There will be fewer ambulances on the roads during industrial action, with the NHS prioritising those with life-threatening needs. As a result, patients whose conditions are non life-threatening are unlikely to get an ambulance on strike day.
4. During strike days, it is likely 999 call handlers will be very busy. NHS 111 call centres will have fewer staff, with longer call response times expected across the system. As a result, we are urging anyone with a non-urgent care need to first seek help from NHS 111 online.

Industrial action is planned to take place at East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) on Wednesday, 21 December 2022 at 06.00 hours to 06.00 hours on Thursday, 22 December 2022.

Action will also take place on Wednesday, 28 December 2022, at 06.00 hours to 06.00 hours on Thursday, 29 December 2022.

Unless it is a category 1 call (immediately life-threatening) then all patients are being encouraged to use alternative transport (if appropriate) on these days.

18^th January 2023 – 11:15am from Long Bennington Medical Centre – Please arrive 10 minutes before for registration.

Wellbeing Walks are short walks, run by friendly, specially trained volunteer walk leaders, who are on hand to provide encouragement and support. All walks are free of charge and are open to everyone – you don’t need to preregister, just come along, and join us. The routes start and finish at Long Bennington Medical Centre, and last between 30 and 90 minutes. Don’t worry about your fitness level - walks are over easy terrain and at a steady pace to suit everyone.

The walks can really help to boost your fitness and wellbeing. Almost all of us can manage a stroll, but our walks make it easier to start walking and stay active. It’s almost impossible not to feel good when walking outdoors – it’s a natural mood-booster, and you’ll certainly never be short of good company!

For more information, contact our reception team.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continue to indicate that there is an out of season increase in scarlet fever and group A strep infections. Cases usually show steepest rises in the new year, but have increased sharply in recent weeks. For the latest information:UKHSA update on scarlet fever and invasive group A strep - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Our GP and Practice Team are working hard to care for you. We are however experiencing staff absences at short notice. This can make it difficult to provide a normal level of service for you including: longer call waiting times, increased turnaround times for prescriptions, and availability of on the day GP appointments.

If you have a minor illness, please consider accessing help in other ways including our local community pharmacies. If you are unable to wait for an appointment and need medical help please use the NHS 111 service or our local Urgent Treatment Centre at Newark.

UPDATE 03.02.22

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on the NHS. In Lincolnshire, we are working hard to tackle the backlog of patients whose care has been impacted by the pandemic. We need to do this whilst also keeping our patients safe. Please see below a link to the latest update about the referral process.

Waiting for your outpatient appointment during the COVID-19 Pandemic - United Lincolnshire Hospitals (ulh.nhs.uk)

If you have been referred to hospital and are waiting to be seen as an outpatient or inpatient, and your symptoms deteriorate, you should contact the hospital that you have been referred to.

UPDATE 22.12.21

The NHS in Lincolnshire is asking everyone aged over 18 who is eligible to please come forward and get their Covid-19 booster now - don't delay!

Omicron is a real threat to all of us and getting boosted is the best way to protect you and your family. We’re also urging people who’ve only had one vaccination so far, or possibly none at all, to come forward as quickly as possible. Visit https://lincolnshireccg.nhs.uk/grabajab or call 119 to find out how.