April 2023

Patchs© - a different e-consulting platform

About four years ago, eConsult© was made available to Wirral GP practices. After a slow start from clinicians and patients alike, eConsult became very useful during 2020 as we all faced the challenges of the Covid pandemic.

Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board have replaced eConsult with a new tool called Patchs©. We have been using Patchs to a small extent over the past few weeks - some patients will have received messages sent using it, especially those with asthma or very high blood pressure.

The time has come to stop using eConsult and make the switch to Patchs. Our non-clinical staff, the care navigators who help you get access to the most appropriate service, are ready. The doctors are signed up and trained. The switchover will be on Wednesday 12th April. You can find out more about Patchs by clicking here.

During the Covid lockdowns in 2020, we discovered that about 30% of our patients did not have Internet access. We think this figure is down to about 10% now. But, to ensure that those without Internet access get fair access to practice services, Patchs will only be available from 7am to 2pm, Monday to Friday.

The Junior Doctors Strikes

It may surprise you to know that there are currently five "junior" doctors at Blackheath. A "junior" doctor in primary care is qualified as a doctor but is only allowed to work under the supervision of a fully trained general practitioner.
The junior doctors strikes will reduce the number of appointments available at the practice, and may slow the processing of repeat prescription requests, incoming lab reports, and hospital correspondence.

March 2023

Positive feedback for Blackheath Medical Practice

During March, the practice received two pieces of positive feedback.
First, we received a "Silver Award" following an external audit of our care of people with learning disabilities.
Then, the University of Liverpool awarded us a "Quality Certificate" for the 2021-2022 academic year.