Dr Pete Howard will be running the London Marathon in 2019 in aid of the Duchenne Family Support Group. If you would like to support Dr Pete’s fundraising effort, please click on the link below to donate via his Virgin Money Giving page - Click HERE. Please note, we cannot accept sponsor money at the Medical Centres. We will be supporting Dr Pete’s fundraising with money raised from book sales over the next 6 months (October 2018 to March 2019). Thank you for your support.
Powys Community Health Council are looking for Volunteers – click here to download the information poster (English and Welsh).
More information on Powys Community Health Council can be found on their website HERE.
IMPORTANT - THE OUT OF HOURS CONTACT NUMBER IS CHANGING ON 3RD OCTOBER 2018.
Click here for information about the flu, who needs a flu jab and clinic dates.
If you have provided the practice with your mobile number then we may contact you via our Text Messaging Service.
The practice currently sends text messages to patients to invite them to contact the surgery to make an appointment to review their chronic disease. We also use the text messaging service to notify patients of health campaigns, such as flu clinics etc.
We have now expanded the Text Messaging Service to include appointment reminders for patients who have an appointment at the practice with either a GP, Practice Nurse or Health Care Assistant.
If you have a mobile telephone number recorded on your contact details and you have made an appointment to see a clinician at the practice then you will receive an appointment reminder via text, (provided you have not opted out). If you wish to cancel the appointment you can text back ‘cancel appointment’ up to 48 hours after receiving the reminder message (up to 2 hours before the appointment).
If you would be happy to receive a text message reminder about your booked appointment at the practice, please check with reception that the details we hold for you are up to date. However if you do not wish to receive text message reminder, please inform reception.
We do occasionally encounter problems trying to contact patients regarding health matters because the address or telephone number we have on record is out of date.
Please let us know promptly if any of your personal details change.
Click here to download the latest edition of 'Haygarth Pulse'.
We hope that 'Haygarth Pulse' will strengthen relationships with our patients and enhance our method of updating you with changes within the practice, plus hints and tips to support you in looking after your own health.
The newsletter is produced quarterly. Copies are available in the Waiting Room in Hay and Talgarth Medical Centres as well as downloadable from this website.
The Armed Forces are recognised as being an integral part of our society. Wales as a whole provides about 10% of the Armed Forces population in the UK. In recognition of the great service that our Armed Forces personally have provided and continue to provide to their country the Welsh Government has put in place a number of measures to ensure that Veterans and those currently serving are not disadvantaged due to their time in the Forces.
The definition of a ‘Veteran’ being used is ‘someone who has served for at least one day in HM Armed forces, whether as a Regular or a Reservist’.
Haygarth Doctors are pleased to announce that we now have a Veterans Champion – Steph Bufton.
We plan to set up a Veterans Health page on our website in due course – more information to follow. In the meantime, please click here for Veterans NHS Wales.
Changes to GP Access / Appointments in Hay and Talgarth Medical Centres.
In response to increasing waiting times to see a GP, Haygarth surgeries have introduced a new nurse telephone triage system to ensure we manage the increased clinical workload and ensure each patient ALWAYS sees the most appropriate clinician within an appropriate period of time.
This will be an extension to the current triage system which has been in place for on the day GP appointment requests but will now extend to ALL requests for a GP appointment even routine GP appointments.
GP either for a routine appointment or an emergency on the day appointment.
Optician, Physiotherapist or other health care professional.
If you attend in person at the surgery before telephoning you will be asked to return home and await a telephone call for the initial clinical assessment unless you are too unwell to do so.
Feedback from the current triage system is very positive and there will be an opportunity for you to give feedback on the new system in the form of a patient questionnaire once the system is fully established.
Due to the introduction of Total Triage, making appointments via My Health On-line has been suspended. However, you will still be able to order your repeat prescriptions on-line and cancel appointments.
Please keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks for updates on the way we work.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and co-operation during this transitional period.
The emergency clinic is not a drop in service and patients are seen according to the urgency of their condition.
• The emergency clinic is for acute problems which occur 'on the day'. It is run by a doctor and nurse. Please contact the reception team as early as possible.
• We now have a telephone triage system in place and you may be put straight through to a clinician (doctor or nurse) to ensure that you are seen and treated in order of clinical need, and the most appropriate appointment is made.
• Patients should phone for guidance from the practice team prior to presenting at the clinic, because the location and running of the clinic is subject to variation by its very nature.
• There may well be a longer wait to be seen in this clinic due to the nature of illnesses being dealt with by the clinical team, or the doctor being called out on a home visit to a very sick patient.
• We endeavour to keep you informed regarding delays via the patient call system.
Please click here to read Dr Pete Howard's article.
Sadly there has been an increased level of rudeness and verbal abuse towards our staff recently. In order to protect our staff and to provide a safer environment for patients and staff we will be asking anyone who causes such aggression to discuss their behaviour with the practice.
In cases where the staff feel a patient is abusive, threatening or violent, the patient will be reported to Management who will contact the Police and obtain a crime reference number which will be kept on record.
Please note we now record all telephone conversations for staff training, for triage management purposes and to protect staff from verbal abuse.
Do you need to update your contact details?
If yes, please click here to download a Contact Update Form then print, complete and return to either Hay or Talgarth Medical Centre.
The Medical Centre telephone lines are manned by practice staff from 8.30 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday. Please note, outside of these times - evenings, weekends and on Bank Holidays - if you need care that cannot wait until the surgery is open, please ring 111 which is a free number. If phoning from a mobile you may be unable to connect to this number - you will then need to phone 0345 46 47 instead.
Routine prescriptions can be collected during normal surgery opening hours.