The last year has offered up many new challenges for all of us, and we have all been made to adapt to new ways of working and socialising. This has been especially evident in how we have been able to safely look after our patients in a global pandemic.

For months, we have been working with a ‘triage first’ approach where every patient is offered a telephone appointment with a nurse practitioner or GP first, and then offered a face-to-face appointment if the clinician thinks it is necessary. Occasionally we have been able to offer routine phone appointments with a GP, which can often only be booked a few weeks in advance.

As you can imagine, our reception staff and clinicians have been working tirelessly to manage this increasing workload; and we are sure that you have experienced the longer queues on our phone system, and the wait for an appointment with a GP of your choice.

With your help, we would like to start opening some of our services back up.

When contacting the practice from June, you will be offered the choice of being placed on the duty triage list to receive a call back from a clinician on the day, or you will be offered the next available appointment with a GP of your choice.

The duty triage list is only for patients who have an urgent, on-the-day medical need. If your condition is not urgent, and you are able to wait for the next available appointment, please do so. This will allow us to free up more clinicians, so that more routine appointments can be booked with your preferred GP or nurse practitioner.

As you all are, we are very eager to return to some sense of normality in our daily lives and return to a more efficient and sustainable way of running the practice and seeing patients. To make this a reality, we all need to work together. By agreeing to wait for the next available appointment (if your condition is not urgent), you will be instrumental in helping us to return to a similar way of seeing and treating patients as we were pre-pandemic.

There is, of course, no guarantee that we will return to the exact same way we were working before the pandemic, but with your help, we will be able to work in a way that will continue to provide excellent patient care with more options available to you on how this can be done.

Thank you for the continued patience and kindness you have shown us over the last 14 months.

If this is not successful, please contact the CCG Vaccination Support Service by calling 01752 398836, or by emailing d-ccg.devonvaccinationsupport@nhs.net

PLEASE NOTE: We will continue to contact patients to offer their 2nd dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

Please CLICK HERE to open the Coleridge Medical Centre leaflet for more information on the 2nd vaccincations taking place (such as locations, side effects, and what to do if you experience a reaction to the vaccine). 

If you are asked to provide your NHS number when making an appointment, and you do not know your NHS number, you can find it by accessing this service: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/online-services/find-nhs-number/ 

If you have a healthcare need, please continue to phone the practice on 01404 814447. A telephone appointment will be made for you with one of our clinicians and, if they believe you need to be assessed in person, they will arrange this for you.

If you have the means to, please use our eConsult service found in the banner above.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO SOCIALLY DISTANCE AND WEAR A FACE COVERING

Further information can be found at: www.gov.uk/coronavirus

THERE IS ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AVAILABLE IF YOU NEED IT

Lockdown can affect us in many ways. This may affect our mental health and wellbeing, our relations with our household, make it difficult to get much-needed supplies such as groceries and medication, and it can exacerbate abusive relationships. There are organisations available to offer the support you need:

• Ottery Help Scheme - 01404 813041
• TalkWorks - 0300 555 3344
• Samaritans - 116123
• National Domestic Abuse Helpline - 0808 2000 247
• Galop: The LGBTQ+ Anti-Violence Charity - 0800 999 5428
• Respect: Men's Advice Line - 0808 8010 327

We are a friendly and welcoming GP practice located in the historic market town of Ottery St Mary. We look after approximately 16,000 patients who live in Ottery and the surrounding villages. 

We are open Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). You can speak to a Patient Services Adviser on the telephone between 08:30 to 13:30 and 14:00 to 18:00. For face to face enquiries you can call in between 08:00 and 18:30.   

Our Mission Statement

Coleridge Medical Centre – A Healthy Practice

Our Vision

We aim to provide a high quality, caring, safe and friendly atmosphere within which we help members of our community achieve and attain optimum levels of health.

Established in 1990, the Ottery St Mary Medical Trust has enabled the Coleridge Medical Centre to remain at the cutting edge of general medical practice. 

As the demands on the NHS increase, the generosity of those who have donated to, fundraised for, or left a gift in their will to the Trust, has enabled the GP Partners at the Medical Centre to enhance the care provided to our patients. The Trust has invested the funds received in equipment and services which otherwise would not have been funded by the NHS.

The gifts the Trust receives are an acknowledgement of the care the practice delivers to the community. It is, therefore, fitting that the funds help us provide an even better service for Ottery St Mary and the surrounding villages.

The GP Partners, as Trustees, welcome and will consider all requests and suggestions for purchases that will benefit patients and users of the Medical Centre. The Trust is regulated by the Charity Commission and all purchases must meet the criteria set out in the Trust Deed.

Your donations have undoubtedly helped us provide reassurance, dignity and comfort to our patients, whilst potentially saving lives. From pre-birth to end of life, you have made the difference.

To DONATE to the Ottery St Mary Medical Trust Fund, please do so by following this link.