SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2001
Doctor News | Dr Harker | Dr Elliot | Heart Disease | Smoking Cessation | Summer Travel | Practice Nurses
We are delighted to welcome Dr Calabro to the Practice in a full time capacity. He has now been with us for 6 months and is very pleased to be in Darlington. We now have the equivalent of 6 full time doctors in the Practice as several of the partners are now committed to other duties.
Dr Harker is now Chairman of the Darlington Primary Care Group which is going to become as important as the Health Authority used to be in deciding the health needs of the town.
Dr Elliot is also reducing his commitment slightly to the Practice in order to be Tutor for Darlington GPs, but also meaning he is slightly less available. We hope Dr Calabro will be able to take up some of the patients they are unable to see but recognize that some of you who wish to see your own doctor will have to wait a little longer.
The Practice is committed to increasing supervision of Heart Disease and Heart Disease prevention. This has been advised by the Government who have set up national service frameworks which give us guidance and guidelines of work we have to do. This involves a lot of work for the doctors and nurses but we are keen to reduce Heart Disease in the area and you will notice that we are now trying to do more blood pressure checks and advise on smoking.
We are now able to prescribe smoking nicotine patches. These are usually given for a total of 10 weeks, 6 weeks at a high dose then a gradual reduction during which time the smoker should have less craving for nicotine and should be able to reduce and stop their cigarette consumption. Please make a non-urgent appointment with your doctor to discuss this if you are interested.
As ever everybody is booking up holidays and we wish you all an enjoyable holiday. Unfortunately due to pressure on nurse appointments we have been unable to satisfy the demands for vaccinations. We would advise you contact other centers, such as the British Airways Clinic to arrange your vaccinations.
We have just recruited another nurse in the Practice after Sister Jennifer May left us to pursue her career in research and we wish her all the best.