22.11.2021- Update
A new CQC Inspection will be carried out at the practice soon. If you would like to share feedback about your care with an inspector please do so via this link:
" ON LINE CONSULTATION SYSTEM" BOTLEY MEDICAL CENTRE
Contact your doctor now to get advice on your problem
1. Complete a simple form about your problem or request. To complete the form, please click on the link and follow the instructions:
2. Your GPs decide on the best treatment for you.
3. The practice calls you or emails you with advice, a prescription or an appointment.
The practice now offers a video GP service- Livi -to all our patients
See a GP by video with LIVI.
From the 1st of September patients of Botley Medical Centre can see an NHS GP by video using Livi. Get medical advice, prescriptions and referrals on the same day- even on the weekday evenings and weekends. You can download the Livi app to your mobile phone or tablet from the App Store o Google Play. Or visit www.livi.co.uk for more information.
Livi GPs are all GMC-registered NHS GPs, who (with your consent) will be able to access your medical records and give you a considered, in-depth diagnosis based on your medical history.
Get the Livi app here: www.livi.co.uk
When should you use LIVI?
If you:
- Can’t contact or make it into the surgery, for example: due to time, work, or accessibility issues
- Are anxious and want to speak to a GP quickly
- Busy parents who have children aged 2-16 years old
- Are unable to get an appointment soon enough at the surgery
- Prefer to see a GP by video rather than face-to-face
For all non-medical questions, speak to LIVI Support on 0330 808 2074 or email: support@livi.co.uk.
Contacting Botley Medical Centre
If you are having difficulty getting through on the phone to Botley Medical Centre or the branch at Kennington you can book an appointment online to see a GP face to face. You will need to request access on line at the practice and once it is set up you will need to download the PatientAccess app on to your smartphone, tablet or home computer. You will need to follow a number of steps, including providing information to identify yourself, but when your account is set up you will be able to login safely and securely. This service can only be used for ‘on the day’ appointments after 8am and will only offer you a slot if there is availability for that day.
If you need advice from medical staff at the practice, but not necessarily an appointment, please try the online consultation service. When you have submitted the form you will be contacted by the practice with advice or a prescription. This may be enough to answer your concerns, or you may be asked to make a telephone or face-to-face appointment. Please note you cannot book an appointment directly through this service.
By making use of these online services, you could get a quicker response and help free the phonelines for patients without internet access. Thanks for your support.
You can also download the NHS app to access a range of health services on your smartphone, tablet or home computer.
FLU CAMPAIGN 2021-22:
Who can have the Flu jab at our clinics
- all those 65 years over (and those who will become 65 before March 2022)
- those aged 6 months to under 64 years in clinical risk groups.
- all children aged 2 to 15 (but not 16 years or older) on 31 August 2021 **Schools to do children except pre-school children 2 and 3 years.
- all those 50 to 64 years over not in clinical risk groups
- pregnant women
- carers
- close contacts of immunocompromised individuals
- those in long-stay residential care homes
If you fall into one of the eligible categories above, you can book your appointment by calling the practice and speaking to one of our patient services team or pop in to the surgery to book your appointment. We will start offering the flu jab to the elderly and at risk population first and will add more clinics over the next few weeks.
Please avoid our busy times by calling between 11.30am-13:00 pm or after 2pm Tuesday – Friday.
To ensure the safety of our patients and staff we will require you to follow the following instructions: On the day of the appointment:
- Ensure a face covering is worn at all times
- If you live locally and are mobile please come on foot
- Where possible we would advise patients to attend appointment alone
- Arrive at the time of your appointment, please do not arrive early
- You may need to queue outside so please be prepared to stand in the cold or rain
- When you enter the building you will need to remove your outer layers so that the top of your arm is exposed ready for your injection
- You will be asked to queue at a safe distance from other patients
- You will be called to the next available clinician, regardless of who you are booked in with.
- After your injection you will be asked to leave through the back door of the practice to ensure that we have a safe one-way system in place.
We will try to operate this efficiently as possible to minimize waiting times but please come prepared with comfortable shoes in case you need to stand for longer than normal.
# Botley Medical Centre# Flu Campaign 2021-22#
COVID 19 BOOSTERS
You will be aware the NHS in Oxfordshire has started delivering COVID booster jabs to people in eligible groups. You will be contacted about your booster vaccination by the NHS when six clear months have passed since your second COVID vaccination.
Eligible groups include:
people living in residential care homes for older adults
all adults aged 50 years or over
frontline health and social care workers
all those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19, and adult carers.
adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals
Although this practice is not offering booster jabs, you will be contacted by the NHS to go through the national COVID-19 vaccination booking service for your booster at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, one of the designated pharmacies in Oxfordshire or at another site on the system. You don’t need to get in touch with us about your booster jab. You will be contacted by the NHS when it’s your turn.
Anyone, who hasn’t already had their first or second COVID-19 vaccination can still get vaccinated at a walk-in clinic or by booking through the NHS booking service ( or call 119 free of charge, anytime between 7am and 11pm seven days a week).
CQC Interim Inspection Report
A new interim CQC inspection was performed at Botley Medical Centre at the end of August and the new CQC's report shows that the practice has made a good step in the right direction.
Botley Medical Centre would like to thank the patients, the PPG and the staff for their support during this difficult times.
• Improvements had been made to the monitoring of patients on high risk medications.
• The management of correspondence and clinical tasks was appropriate from the evidence we gathered.
• The monitoring of staff training had improved.
• There was a process for staff to receive role specific inductions.
Urgent News about Blood Tests – 01.09.2021
There is a national shortage of blood bottles, which is expected to last until at least the 20th of September 2021. This is affecting every healthcare service provider. We have therefore been instructed by the NHS to postpone all non-urgent blood tests.
We will:
Review all of the required blood tests to determine those that can safely be delayed
Advise patients if we feel that they urgently require blood samples taken to assist with treatment or diagnosis
Advise patients when the situation changes
We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience. This is something that is completely out of the surgery’s control and we are all hoping that the situation will not last long.
Opting out: Data sharing
You might have heard about the NHS Digital's plans for sharing patient data and have some questions around how this affect you. To help explain this in more detail, watch this video to find out more.
There are two types of patient data opt out, there is the the Type 1 Opt-out for patient data held by the GP Practice and the National Data Opt-Out (formerly known as Type 2 Opt-out). NHS Digital will automatically collect patient data unless you opt-out. You may select both types of opt-out or just one.
Type 1 Opt-out
If you do not want your patient data, held by the GP Practice, to be shared with NHS Digital, you will need to complete the Type 1 Opt-out form. Download the Type 1 Opt-out form here. Please return any completed forms to the front desk or email botleymedicalcentre@nhs.net
The Government has not yet confirmed the deadline to submit this form to exclude any historical data from the data scrape. However, we are working to a deadline of August 25th given that the Government will scrape the data on Sept 1st.
Find out more information about the Type 1 Opt-Out here.
Type 2 Opt-out (National Data Opt-Out)
To complete the National Data Opt-out please complete the online form here. There is currently no deadline for the National Data Opt-out.
LETTER FROM THE SENIOR PARTNER : Dr A. BALLESTERO
(CQC recent inspection)
1st June 2021
Dear patient
The dedicated practice team here at Botley Medical Centre and our Kennington branch surgery have always wished to give you high standards of care. We understand your disappointment and frustration over long waits to get through to us on the phones, accessing appointments and the updating of some patient records. Please accept our apologies.
We want to assure you that we are committed to making significant improvements as quickly as possible.
We have had many challenges over the last few months with staff shortages and trying to carry on providing ‘normal’ services, while at the same time taking part in the urgent COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.
With the closure of the vaccination programme, we will be able to concentrate on working hard to get on track so you can continue to have confidence in the care we provide.
The Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group is supporting us with extra practice management support to improve our procedures and processes. An agreed and detailed action plan has been drawn up which we will be following.
We recognise the role that the Patients Participation Group has played. They have communicated your concerns and disappointments to us. They have provided support through the volunteers at the Kennington Vaccination Centre and the 60 drivers who have brought elderly and infirm people for their vaccinations. They have also made offers of help which we hope to be able to take up. We will meet with them regularly from now on and keep you updated through our website. We are hopeful that we can make progress together to ensure the practice has a bright future.
You may be aware that we recently underwent a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection to check on progress after our previous inspection in October 2019 when the CQC rated the surgery as 'requires improvement'. We had started to address the CQC's concerns when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Regrettably, we have not made as much progress as we had hoped and this has been clearly communicated to us. The CQC has now published its report here: https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-544081039
In the meantime, we thank you sincerely for staying with the practice. We will keep you updated on our progress as we work on making Botley Medical Centre the practice you expect and deserve.
Yours,
Dr Aintzane Ballestero, Senior Partner.
On behalf of Botley Medical Centre’s Partnership
BOOKING APPOINTMENTS "ON LINE"
From the 1st of June our patients will be able to book on line " face to face appointments with the doctors " using Patient Access or the NHS App facility.
This is a "book on the day" system and the appointments will be released by 8 a.m. for the day.
Patient Access - GP appointments & prescriptions online
NHS App - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
~BMC~
IMPORTANT NEWS: COVID19 VACCINES
Dear patients : We are no longer offering appointments for first or second doses of the COVID-19 vaccination at our vaccination site at Kennington Health Centre. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this change but we want to ensure that both our sites can now offer you ‘normal’ services as much possible after the difficult challenges of the pandemic and the fantastic efforts of all our staff and volunteers in rolling out the vaccination programme.
Patients waiting for their second dose appointment and those eligible for their first dose now have two options:
- You can book an appointment via the National Booking Service online or by calling 119. You will be offered a range of local sites, including the Kassam Stadium and pharmacies in Abingdon and Oxford. The national booking service will allow you to book your second jab at another location even if you had your first dose in Kennington.
New appointment slots at vaccination centres are being added regularly. If you cannot find an appointment close to where you live immediately, please try later in the week.
- You may have already been contacted about an appointment at our partner practice in Faringdon at the RAC Business Park, or you will be contacted about this option shortly.
Please ensure you take up one of the two options to get best protection against the virus.
Please do not contact the practice about vaccinations.
Thank you for your support.
If you have any concerns or queries about this change please contact Patient Services at Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group OCCG.patientservices@nhs.net
Covid 19: Patients and Public attending the practice
If you need to attend the surgery for an appointment, make sure to follow any instructions given to you by staff at the practice.
You should continue to take precautionary measures against coronavirus whilst in the practice, as you would in any public setting.
This includes:
-Using hand sanitiser and frequently washing your hands.
-Avoiding touching your face with unwashed hands.
-Maintaining social distancing (making sure that wherever possible, there are at least two metres between you and another person).
-Wearing a face covering always unless you have an exemption card.
-If you need to use the toilet facilities at the practice, please ask for the key in Reception as our facilities are now locked due to Infection Control Guidelines.
Thank you!
*Appointment system*
This Practice is running a "book on the day" appointment system. GP Appointments are released on a day to day basis. If you need to be contacted by the Doctor, please, phone the surgery on 01865 248719/01865 730911. The GP will call you back to perform a telephone or video consultation. If you need to be seen face to face, they will advise you on the system already in place for these visits.
For emergencies/urgent care there is a Doctor and a Paramedic on site that will contact you for assessment.
Nurses, Health Care Assistants, Physician Associate, Clinical Pharmacist, Social Prescriber's appointments,etc.. can be booked in advance.
# Be Covid-19 smart#
#Wear a mask#Keep social distancing#wash your hands#
Welcome to Botley Medical Centre
(Branch Surgery: Kennington Health Centre, Kennington Road, Oxford. OX1 5PY )
Botley Medical Centre serves the West Oxford area, from the railway station, through Botley to Farmoor (to the Toll Bridge at Eynsham), Cumnor, Appleton, Wootton Village and Boars Hill, Kennington, Radley and the surrounding areas . We also provide medical services to Oxford Brookes University Harcourt Hill campus.
We are a practice of General Practitioners, contracted to provide services in conjunction with NHS Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group. Our team includes a practice manager, Advanced Nurse Prescriber, Clinical Pharmacists, practice nurses, District Nurses, Health Visitors, a Midwife, a Counsellor, Health Care Assistants and patient services staff.
We aim to provide and improve the best care for our patients. We want to attain the highest standard of clinical practice and to maintain a support working environment for our staff.
We have recently formed a Primary Care Network called White Horse and Botley Primary Care Network, we are working together with White Horse Medical Centre in Faringdon to improve the access to care for our patients.
Did you know that you can now have access to your medical records? Please, go to further information, Downloads, where you can find the form to request so.
(Site updated 26/11/2021)