School pupils give Portchester GP surgery a colourful new look

Westlands Medical Centre in Portchester had to make changes due to Covid-19 restrictions – but went one step further.

Its waiting room is now more accessible with space for social distancing measures.

And a refurb has helped celebrate the practice’s 25th anniversary.

Portchester Community School was commissioned to design a mural and students have spent the last few weeks decorating the space.

Business manager Jackie Dalby added: ‘We had plans for the waiting room and with lockdown we decided to make a few changes including making the reception desk smaller and spaces wider to keep to social distancing and we also wanted to celebrate 25 years of the surgery and pay tribute to the NHS.

‘We think it looks amazing and really brightens up the surgery.’

The practice is one of thousands of GP surgeries up and down the country that had to adapt how their team worked when Covid-19 hit.

Staff needed to reduce visits to their premises, and change their surgery to meet social distancing and Covid-19 safety measures.

In March the team decided keeping access open to all patients was the most important thing, even if it was in a different way.

Some of the measures brought in include a video doorbell, stripping out carpets, video consultations and the waiting room reconfiguration.

Dr Paul Bennett said: ‘We have stayed open throughout the whole of the pandemic because we didn’t want to focus on just Covid patients and miss any cancers or heart problems so we had to make changes.

‘We put a video doorbell on the outside of the building, we made different entrances for potential Covid patients, we got a new computer system so patients could contact us online 24 hours, seven days a week and we had companies come in at the very beginning and strip out the carpets and put medical grade laminate down and take out internal doors which could be high touch points.

‘For our potential Covid patients we had two consultation rooms with a video monitor in each and the doctor would be in one and the patient in another.

‘It meant we could chat to them and get them to do blood pressure without being with them and then put on the PPE for the examination and then chat to them via video after therefore reducing contact time and the chance they could get it from us and we could get it from them.

‘For us it has been about keeping staff and patients safe and for patients to know we are open.’

Telephone and video consultations have become the norm for staff nationally in a bid to reduce the number of patients coming through the doors.

In Portsmouth, there were 70,331 patient appointments in June and 48 per cent of sessions were completed over the phone in June, an increase from 19 per cent a year ago.

NHS Digital data shows across Fareham and Gosport, 55,127 appointments were booked and 34 per cent of over the phone – up from just 10 per cent in June last year.

Across south eastern Hampshire 50 per cent of 74,015 appointments were completed over the phone, compared to 21 per cent a year ago.

Appointments at Westlands have followed the trend and Dr Chris Castle said the changes are the future.

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He told The News: ‘We have face-to-face appointments for those who need it because online doesn’t work with everyone but we have had really positive feedback from those who have used it.

‘About six months ago there was apprehension around virtual consultations from staff and patients but through necessity it has come in and people have responded really well.’

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