Patient Newsletter: Issue 13

Welcome to our Spring 2026 newsletter.

This newsletter will include information about community pharmacy services, home-start, bowel screening and news about our Bosham surgery as well as other topics.

We will also shine a spotlight on Dr Wilson, our GP and safeguarding lead.

GP Spotlight – Dr Wilson

Dr Wilson trained at the Royal Free Medical School in Hampstead, after completing a degree in Experimental Psychology at Oxford, travelling the world and learning to dive. She worked at Barnet Hospital and North London to complete her GP training and then as a GP in the famous Abbey Road, London, for 6 years before moving to Langley House in 2015.

Having grown up in Hampshire it was a pleasure and a relief to return the countryside and she has loved living by the coast with her husband, two boys and fox red Labrador. She spends her time walking her dog, watching her children in various sports matches and singing in a local choir.

April Practice Statistics

From March 2024 we started analysing our practice activity date to share with our patients and identify any areas of improvement. This data is on display in our reception areas.

Please find below April’s statistics;

• Telephone appointments completed: 1,170
• Face to face appointments completed: 2,036
• Incoming calls: 6,278
• Average call wait times: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
• Appointments not attended: 90
• Wasted hours from appointments not attended: 30.58
• Rapid Health forms submitted: 2,331
• Incoming documents processed by secretaries: 2,996
• Prescriptions processed: 11,811

Community Pharmacy Services

A new website has been launched to provide information about several NHS services that pharmacies in England are providing.

The website (communitypharmacy.org.uk) provides information on the following three NHS services:

• Pharmacy First Service;
• Blood Pressure Check Service; and
• Pharmacy Contraception Service.

There is a separate page for each of the services on the website providing information about the three services and there are links to the NHS website to find a pharmacy that offers the service.

The website also explains that patients have a right to choose which pharmacy they use to receive NHS services.

Larger Bosham Surgery at Broadbridge Business Centre

We have an opportunity to have a larger unit at the Broadbridge Business Centre where our current Bosham Surgery is situated. This will enable us to have 8 consulting rooms offering more appointments in the future. In order to gain NHS Sussex support, we need to demonstrate that we have our patient support. (There will be no change in service at our main site at Langley House.) Would you support the practice having a larger branch surgery at the Broadbridge Business Centre in Bosham

Give us your view, it will take less than a minute to complete

Let's Talk..

Have you Say About Local Health and Care Services in Sussex

NHS Sussex would like to hear about your recent experience of using NHS services in Sussex.

They are working to improve NHS services across Sussex so that everyone receives joined-up, high-quality care. To do this, it’s really important that they understand what is working well, as well as where there may be opportunities to improve.

If you have used any NHS service in the last three months, NHS Sussex would really value hearing about your experience.

The short survey will take 5-10 minutes to complete - Tell us about your experience of NHS services

Every response will be read, shared, and included in NHS Sussex reporting which will be reviewed at a very local level.

Thank you for taking the time to help us improve NHS services in Sussex.

Neighbourhood Health

You may have heard recently about the planned move towards Neighbourhood Health. We thought it would be helpful for you to read more about this shift, and have included some information:

• Neighbourhood health framework
• Neighbourhood Health Framework Response

Patient Experience of Rapid Health

 

94% of respondents between February and May 2026 (526 patients) rated their experience of GP appointments via Rapid Health as Good or Very Good.

For those patients who found the service poor or very poor, the only common theme was the concern that this booking system was not suitable for elderly patients or that the questionnaire was overly complicated. We wish to reiterate that on a daily basis, our reception team go through the questionnaire with patients requesting assistance. It is a medical tool that has been designed by clinicians for maximum safety. The suite of questions are designed to detect any red flag symptoms that need an urgent appointment or indeed a referral to A&E.

Here are some comments from our patients recently:

• “Excellent availability of appointments, efficient online rapid health system. The GP I saw was compassionate and knowledgeable.”
• “Very quick to get an appointment when I needed it”
• “Booking my appointment was easy and Doctor Ben is a fantastic GP.”
• “Very quick to respond to online and phone calls and staff are always polite and helpful. Outstanding.”
• “Fast reliable service that I always feel like I can trust and rely on”
• “Always very helpful, easy access to my details . Great response time to question etc. Staff are all kind professional and easy to talk to. This is by far the best GP surgery in the area. Thankyou”
• “I was offered an appointment later the same day. The doctor I saw was attentive and I am pleased with the treatment I received.”
• “I filled in an online appointment request and was contacted within half an hour by telephone from a gp. Outstanding service”
• “Rapid contact from the surgery following my request and a same day appointment”
• “All the staff, including doctors and receptionists are so kind and helpful. Their online appointments booking system is easy to use and I can usually find same day or next day appointments which is unheard of for other people at different surgeries. I've never come across an unhelpful receptionist. Couldn't rate the surgery more highly.“
• “I filled in the online Rapid Form with my symptoms and had an appointment the next day with a GP. I can't say that this could have been done any better and I consider myself fortunate that I was seen so promptly”
• “I completed the online rapid health form and was phoned by a doctor fifteen minutes after offering me an appointment for the same morning. The service the team provides is outstanding and they are always so kind and helpful.”
• “Easy booking of appointment via on line questionnaire and fast response. The surgery - polite courteous staff. The doctor respectful; explained things clearly - and options and pathways forward. The first time I have used the surgery and it was excellent. Thank you all”

Home-Start

Many parents need help, friendship, advice or support during those early years when children are young.

There is no rulebook for raising a family and sometimes it can seem overwhelming, particularly if your family if going through difficult times.

But if you get the support you need when you need it, then day-to-day family life for you and your children can be so much brighter

We help parents in Chichester and the surrounding areas just like you. Our support is mostly for families with at least one child under five, but we can sometimes help if your children are older. Our Home-Start volunteers are parents themselves or parenting experience – so they know just what you’re going through.

They will visit you in your own home – usually once a week. You decide what you will do together.

Maybe you need someone to talk to who won’t judge you; a shoulder to cry on or perhaps someone to play with or read to your children; maybe a bit of support to make and keep medical appointments or to find out what else is available locally. You choose.

There is a variety of support that they can provide:

• Regular 1-to-1 support with a trained volunteer in their home
• Support from one of our Family Coordinators
• 1-to-1 support using the Solihull Approach to Understanding Your Child’s Behaviour
• Access to one of our 5 free ‘Stay and Play’ family groups or dedicated ‘Baby Group’
• Guidance on a range of topics – budgeting, child development, statutory services
• Access to trips, outings and learning opportunities

The referral process is simple and can either be completed by the families themselves or by professionals supporting them.

Spring Covid-19 Vaccination Programme

Four weeks on from the start of the spring COVID-19 vaccination programme, more than 148,000 people across Surrey and Sussex have already received their vaccine (as of 6 May 2026).

The NHS is continuing to encourage those eligible to come forward for their spring dose to help boost protection against serious illness caused by COVID-19. This includes:

• adults aged 75 and over
• residents in care homes for older adults
• people aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.

Protection from previous vaccinations can reduce over time, and the spring vaccine helps provide important protection for those most at risk.

Eligible people can still book an appointment through the NHS National Booking System or attend participating walk-in services (information available on our Covid-19 vaccinations page).

Bowel Cancer Screening

Thousands more people across Surrey and Sussex are taking up lifesaving bowel cancer screening, with the NHS urging everyone sent a home test kit to complete it and return it.

131,285 people in Surrey Heartlands and 240,945 people in Sussex were covered by bowel cancer screening in 2024/25. In Surrey Heartlands, coverage among people aged 60 to 74 rose from 72.0% in 2021/22 to 75.4% in 2024/25. In Sussex, coverage rose from 73.3% to 75.3% over the same period. The England average for 2024/25 was 72.9%.

Bowel cancer screening is offered every two years to people aged 50 to 74. It uses a home test called a faecal immunochemical test, or FIT, which checks for blood in a sample of poo. The sample is collected at home and sent off by post for testing.

Screening can help find bowel cancer early, sometimes before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective.

People aged 50 to 74 who are registered with a GP are automatically sent a home test kit every two years. Depending on when they turned 50, people are first sent a kit at 50, 52 or 54.

People aged 75 or over can still be screened every two years, but need to ask for a test by calling the bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 6060.

Anyone who thinks they are eligible but has not been invited or has not received a test kit can also call the helpline. People without a permanent home address can ask for a test kit to be sent to their GP surgery or another address.

The NHS is also urging anyone with symptoms such as blood in their poo, a persistent change in bowel habits or ongoing stomach pain to contact their GP practice as soon as possible, whatever their age.

Ideas for our next newsletter

If you have any ideas for a future newsletter that you feel would improve patient understanding of the NHS, please do let us know by contacting us online.

Published: May 21, 2026