St Peter's Health Centre

If you have an ongoing, or long-term health condition, your NHS is encouraging you to book your free COVID-19 and flu vaccination as soon as possible.

For some, flu or COVID-19 can be very dangerous and even life-threatening. Vaccines reduce the risk of serious illness in colder months.

It is important to top up your protection, even if you have had a vaccine or been ill with flu or COVID-19 before, as immunity fades over time and these viruses change each year.

We are contacting our patients who have an ongoing health condition who are eligible to receive the vaccinations and inviting you to book an appointment.

Alternatively, eligible adults can book their flu and COVID-19 vaccinations by visiting www.nhs.uk/seasonalvaccinationsor on the NHS App.

Those who can’t get online can also make a booking at one of the same sites by calling 119 for free.

For further information about the COVID-19 and flu vaccination programme, please visit: Covid-19 and flu vaccinations - Sussex Health & Care (ics.nhs.uk)

Frequently asked questions

How is it decided who is eligible to get the flu and COVID-19 vaccines for free on the NHS each year?

The flu and COVID-19 vaccine programmes aim to reduce the number of people that get se-riously ill and reduce the spread of the viruses. The government decide which groups will be eligible for free vaccines on the NHS. Their decision is based on the independent advice of clinical experts in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) who review the latest clinical evidence and data

Which health conditions make me eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination?

The COVID-19 vaccine is offered to those with a serious health condition.

Those that can get the COVID-19 vaccine due to a health condition are broadly similar to those that can get a flu vaccine including:

•respiratory conditions, ie poorly controlled asthma

chronic pulmonary disease, including emphysema and bronchitis, cystic fibrosis

diabetes

•heart conditions such as coronary heart disease or heart failure

•being very overweight –a BMI of 40 or above

•chronic kidney disease

•liver disease, such as hepatitis

•neurological conditions, ie Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) or cerebral palsy

•a learning disability

•those with a severe mental illness

•problems with your spleen, eg sickle cell

•a weakened immune system as the result of conditions ie HIV and AIDs or taking steroids or chemotherapy

If I have had a flu or COVID-19 vaccine before, do I need to get it again?

If you are eligible for the flu or COVID-19 vaccine, it is important to top up your protection, even if you have had a vaccine or been ill with flu or COVID-19 before, as immunity fades over time and flu and COVID-19 viruses change each year.

We have been informed that there is currently a long waiting list for outpatient appointments 

If your GP has referred you for a hospital outpatients appointment and you have not received your appointment information within 18 weeks from the date you were referred, please contact BSUH Outpatients on 0300 303 8360. 

Referrals can often take weeks/months for triage from submission due to current extensive demand for services. Until referrals are triaged by a specific service, patients are unable to access information via the outpatients system. 

Please also note that, if a referral is submitted as urgent by a clinician, this does not necessarily ensure that it is treated as urgent by the service and may be downgraded to routine at the discretion of the triaging consultant following local protocols and pathways. 

Please do not contact us regarding your appointment waiting time as unfortunately this is outside of our control. 

St Peter’s Health Centre

Unfortunately, following the pandemic, hospital waiting times for procedures and appointments have increased.  If you are waiting for a procedure or appointment at the hospital please do not contact the practice about this, as we do not have access to the hospital appointment or waiting list system. Please see below numbers and contact the department directly.

BSUH  Hospitals Outpatients: 0300 303 8360

MSK (musculoskeletal service): 0300 303 8063

Wellbeing Service: 0300 002 0060

Diabetes Care For You: 0300 373 1886

Dermatology Outpatients: 01273 665140

If your condition has worsened please contact the outpatient department to enquire when your appointment will be. The details of the outpatient department should be on any correspondence that you have received from the hospital.  If you feel that your symptoms are more severe and that the appointment time is too long, then please contact the specialist’s secretary to ask the specialist reviews your referral in light of your new symptoms. The number and email for the specialist secretary should be on the correspondence which you have received from them.  If you are unable to contact outpatients or the specialist secretary then please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).  If you are concerned that your new symptoms may not be related to your original condition then you should let us know, and we can assess, advise, and manage your new condition.

Thank you

Latest new on our new premises

The contractors working on our premises are in the process of changing.  This unfortunately has slowed progress and we are now looking at completion in 2024, most likely around Feb or March.

We are sorry about this and I'm sure you will appreciate that this is completely out of our control.

Therefore we will not be closing our Albion Street site as early as anticipated.

Regards

Carol Witney, Managing Partner

PLEASE NOTE  THIS IS A COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGE OF THE COMPLETED BUILDING & ONLY THE BACK HALF IS CURRENTLY BUILT

Through our partnership with Brighton and Hove Federation, patients now have access to additional appointments from 18.30 to 20.00 weekdays and 09.00 to 17.00 Saturday and Sunday.  

These include remote and face to face GP appointments as well as appointments with a nurse, pharmacist or health care assistant.

Specialist clinics are also being available (e.g. menopause and womens health). Please refer to the Federations website, https://www.brightonandhovefed.co.uk/enhanced-access, for updates.  

Access to these clinics is by contacting thepractice in the normal way. These appointments might be held at a different location to the practice and are subject to availability.

Brighton & Hove Federation (brightonandhovefed.co.uk)

Primary Care for our local community.

Brighton and Hove Federation includes all 32 GP practices in Brighton and Hove.  The website is new and will be constantly developed and updated. Please bookmark it to keep up to date.

Important message for patients and visitors to St Peter’s Health Centre

Albion Street Surgery will be closed on Fridays for the foreseeable future from the 28th April 2023.

Albion St will also be closed on the following dates:

Wednesday 22nd November 

Monday 27th November 

Tuesday 28th November

Wednesday 29th November

Monday 11th December

Thursday 14th December from 1pm

Monday 18th December

We will be operating as normal but from our Oxford Street site. 

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

What is our Vision? (why are we here?)

To help our patients become happier and healthier

What is our Mission? (what do we do?)

The St Peter's team supports the delivery of the best possible healthcare in partnership with our patients

What are our Values? (our ethos)

Supportive:

     We value teamwork and good morale

     We are inclusive and non-judgemental

     We treat people with respect and kindness

     We encourage patients to help themselves

Sustainable

     We are financially secure

     We manage business risks

     We strive for sustainable work-life balance and job roles

     We limit our environmental impact

 Accountable

     We acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them

     We provide the best care we can within our resources

     We hold patient safety paramount

     We value the trust patients put in us

Aspirational

     We are optimistic

     We invest in developing our service and people

     We train the workforce of tomorrow

     We embrace improvement & innovation

As well as a source of information about our practice, we hope our website will also serve as a useful resource for health-related information. Please take a tour and send us any feedback you may have, as we are dedicated to providing you with the best possible experience - both in our surgery and online. 

Healthwatch Report