Dear Patients,

Some of you may have noticed either through our new website which we launched in September or through correspondence that we have sent to you that we are now calling ourselves Aspiro Healthcare which is Latin for Aspire. Our official name before this was Dr Khalid & Partners.

As an organisation we are continuing to expand and now have practices in Derbyshire and Bedfordshire as well as in Wollaston and Bozeat which are villages to the south of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. In total we look after 52,000 patients across 8 different practice sites. By being part of a larger organisation we have been able to develop teams of people to manage functions such as finance, people management and clerical work which is making us more efficient.

At Woodsend Medical Centre, we have a growing number of patients that want to join us and are continuing to recruit new GPs to join our ever growing team. We have patients coming to see us from all over North Northamptonshire for services such as minor surgery, vasectomy and we offer treatment for men with urinary symptoms. All of these services require a referral from the patient’s GP.

Patients tell us that they enjoy the ‘family feel’ of our practice. GPs and other clinical staff often come to work for us because they also enjoy working in a family orientated environment and therefore we have not been affected by the national shortage of GPs. We are committed to maintaining this as it is as important to us as it is to you.

At the moment we are developing a plan to improve and expand our practice facilities which we have been granted planning permission for. We are hoping that we will be able to bring you some good news in the New Year when we receive final approval for our plans. We are planning on installing some screens in our waiting area so that you will be able to access our website. Our website has a number of functions which includes for example the ability to submit a request for a sick note, undertake an asthma review or access information on services that are available locally. We aim to respond to all queries via our website within 2 working days.

Also within our waiting room is a machine which measures your height, weight and blood pressure, you can use this by asking for a token from our reception team. You don’t have to have an appointment to use the machine. We are currently encouraging all over 40s to check their blood pressure on an annual basis to screen for Hypertension which is also known as high blood pressure.

As we draw closer to the end of 2018, we would like to welcome new patients that have joined us this year and wish both old and new patients a happy and healthy New Year.

The Woodsend Medical Centre Team, November 2018