March 2025 Patient Newsletter
🌷Our February round-up
We are enjoying the brighter, lighter mornings at Tudor Lodge! We continue to be busy with lots of patients coming through the doors or having telephone consultations with our medical staff. In February we:
- Answered 2,804 phone calls
- Processed 2,648 online requests (that’s an average of 95 requests a day)
- Delivered 2,926 appointments (face-to-face and telephone).
- Offered 2,397 GP appointments, 1,028 nurse appointments and 287 other healthcare appointments.
- Processed 1,343 prescriptions.
‼️Can’t Make It? Cancel It!
Can’t make your appointment? Let us know! In February alone, 153 missed appointments wasted 43.5 hours of valuable time that could have been used to help other patients. Please cancel with at least an hour’s notice so we can offer your slot to someone in need.
🚫 Take back your life this No Smoking Day
This year, No Smoking Day falls on Wednesday 12 March, and is a great opportunity to quit smoking for good! Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health and it’s never too late to try. Even if you’ve tried quitting before, give it another go this No Smoking Day. When you stop smoking, there are almost immediate improvements to your health and you save money too – on average, you could save around £2,500 per year by quitting smoking!
NHS Better Health offers a range of free quitting support including the NHS Quit Smoking app, Personal Quit Plan, 28-day email programme, local stop smoking service look-up tool, as well as advice on stop smoking aids including information on how vaping can help you quit smoking. For more information please visit https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/
💓Learn CPR in 15 mins
According to the British Heart Foundation, many of us will witness a cardiac arrest in our lifetime. To prepare for such an event, they are delivering RevivR, a free, interactive, online CPR training course. In just 15 minutes, you can learn how to save a life and receive a CPR certificate. You just need your mobile phone or tablet and a cushion to practice on. For more information please visit the British Heart Foundation website.
🧘🏼 Would you like a “Mindful March”
This March, “pause, breathe and notice, so you can respond more mindfully.” This is the advice from “Action for Happiness” who have put together a daily calendar with advice and tips about how to approach March in a “mindful” way. March’s daily tips can be found here https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar
🚶🏾♂️ Got a long-term health condition but want to keep moving?
“We Are Undefeatable” is a movement supporting people with long-term health conditions. They have a new, free app that gives you tailored exercise programmes that can be completed anywhere, anytime, and are suitable for a range of health conditions, no matter where you are in your journey. For more information please visit https://weareundefeatable.co.uk/
🤔 Help us to stay in the loop
From time to time, you may receive a request from us for information so we can keep your records up to date. Please respond to any requests you receive from the surgery as it helps ensure we’re providing you with the right care for you.
📋 Your annual medical review is important
A friendly reminder that if you live with a chronic disease such as asthma, diabetes or COPD to look out for your annual medical review. We send text message invites out in your birth month and ask you to book your appointment promptly. If you don’t receive an invite or have had to cancel yours in the past, please get in touch with the practice to arrange yours.
🌟 Tudor Lodge has been nominated for 2 national awards
We are thrilled to have been nominated for 2 national awards for our work with X-on Health to enable digital access for our patients. The project included digital patient support, digitally optimising the telephone system, and digital staff training at the surgery. Data from the project shows that increased digital access for patients has led to:
- Online prescription orders increased by 110% (193 to 404 a month)
- NHS app registrations increased by 10%
- 23% reduction in total daily calls received
- 54% fewer calls received between 8-9am (1460 to 678 calls)
- 48% reduction in missed calls
- 85% fewer missed calls between 8-9am
- The average call queue time has reduced by 71% between 8-9am.
The awards we have been nominated for are:
The HSJ Partnership Awards for the category “Primary and Community Care Project of the Year” and the HTN Primary Care Awards 2025 for “Primary Care Case Study of the Year”.
📨 Help Us, Help You – attending breast screening when
invited could save your life
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in England. Regular breast screening is one of the best ways to spot a cancer that is too small to feel or see yourself – it saves around 1,300 lives each year in the UK.
Anyone registered with a GP as female aged from 50 up to their 71st birthday will be invited for NHS breast screening every 3 years. You’ll get a letter in the post inviting you. Breast screening can detect cancer long before you can even feel it. Or more likely, put your mind at rest. So when you’re invited, save the date, it could save your life.
Search ‘NHS breast screening’ to find out more
👂🏽Signs of hearing loss
Hearing loss affects around 12 million adults in the UK. It can be hard to tell if you’re losing your hearing, but there are some common signs. It could be a good idea to get your hearing checked if:
- You need the TV volume to be louder
- You find it difficult to hear when you’re on the phone
- You can’t always hear people talking, especially in a crowd
- You have to concentrate more on hearing what other people are saying
- You find it difficult to keep up with conversations
- You often need people to repeat themselves
Find out more about hearing loss: https://bit.ly/4imD89t
🫱🏽🫲🏽 Are You Feeling Isolated? “Be a Friend” Can Help
Are you over 60, living alone in Wandsworth, and finding it difficult to get out and about or connect with others? Age UK Wandsworth’s “Be a Friend” service offers free, regular companionship to help combat social isolation. A friendly volunteer will visit you at home, usually weekly, for a chat, to share news, play games, or simply offer a listening ear. The aim is to build a genuine friendship and brighten your days.
Before matching you with a volunteer, a project coordinator will visit you to understand your needs and interests. They can also suggest local activities and groups you might enjoy. This service is available to anyone over 60 who lives alone in Wandsworth, has few friends, and finds it difficult to leave their home without assistance.
If you think “Be a Friend” could help you, or if you know someone who might benefit, visit the Age UK Wandsworth website.
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