"Diminishing services"

Dear Patient,

Thank you for review.

Please can I ask that you contact the surgery immediately and ask to speak to me direct (I would contact you direct but you have left this anonymously).

Our services are under huge pressures right now but I can assure you we have not stopped offering cervical smears to our patients and have never stopped even during lockdown. The only service that has been scaled back was under the direction of NHSE around chronic disease reviews and again these have never been stopped but are being led by clinical priorities.

Our practice like others are extremely busy in the co-ordination of a mass vaccination site in the city delivering COVID vaccinations.

Every patient that contacts the surgery is offered an appointment as part of our triage system and any patients who require a face to face appointment is provided with one on clinical grounds.

We are even busier than before and our staff are at full capacity working beyond the call of duty I can assure you.

The reason behind the hospital bloods is simply we were never commissioned for this service which is why funding is provided to Hove Polyclinic and other clinics around the city. If we were to continue to provide this service it would jeopardize the care of other patients.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs C Marks

Practice Manager