Welcome to Riverport Medical Practice

Orchard Site (St Ives), Parkhall Site (Somersham) and Fenstanton Site.

Message from Dr Tong

It has been my privilege and joy to have cared for you over the past 17 years, however, I will be retiring from the practice at the end of June 2022.

If you are able to, I would love to see you for cake and tea at the Orchard Surgery, Saturday 25th June, 10am - 12noon.

Dispensary 

Whether you use Parkhall or Orchard site, you may order your medication upto 7 days before it is due. Please allow our dispensary team 5 days between ordering and collecting your medication. You will be contacted by our team when your medication is ready. If you collect from Orchard Site, your prescription will be available after 5pm on the day you receive confirmation that it is ready.

Public Consultation: Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment

Cambridgeshire County Council Health and Wellbeing Board are asking for your comments on local pharmacies (chemists) and dispensing doctors in the region. There is a public consultation questionnaire available at www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk/JSNA/PNA.

Helping you access the most appropriate healthcare

We are participating in a new approach to improve access for patients to GP appointments. The aim is to direct patients to the most appropriate healthcare professional, which may be a GP or a pharmacist.

From mid-August if your symptoms could be resolved by a booked consultation with the pharmacist instead of the GP, you will be given a same-day referral to a pharmacy of your choice.

We think this is a good thing. Once you see how great your local pharmacist is – they are highly trained and skilled clinicians experienced in treating minor illnesses – we don’t think you’ll look back.

This will also help us to free up GP appointments for people with more complex health needs and ensure that everyone gets treated at the right time, by the right healthcare professional.

We are keen to hear what you think and will be listening to your comments and feedback about your experience of using this service.

General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR)

For information on GPDPR and opting out, please click here.

Fraud Awareness 

Unfortunately criminals are using the COVID-19 as a way to target the public. Any email from our Practice will always finish in @nhs.net 

Do not respond to emails from similar email addresses ending in hotmail.com, gmail.com or any other provider.

Our Practice email address is riverport.medicalpractice@nhs.net

The NHS will not ask you to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine, or ask you to submit any payment details. If you have been sent text messages suggesting payment is required, please do not respond.

For more information about fraud awareness, please see the letter attached. 

Fraud Awareness Leaflet

Help us help you – busy service 

All NHS services are under severe pressure at the moment, as we look after increasing numbers of patients who are sick with covid-19 in the community, and other deteriorating conditions too.

We are also delivering the huge and vitally important covid-19 vaccination programme. Please do not contact us regarding a vaccine, we will contact you.

So that we can focus on these really important issues, we will understandably be prioritising urgent care.

This means that when you contact us, we may have an initial conversation with you to understand how urgent your health needs are.

If you have an issue that is not urgent, you may to wait longer than usual until your problem or concern can be dealt with. You may be asked to rebook at a later date, or at a safer time (e.g. attending for a non-urgent blood test).

Changes at the Practice

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, how you contact us will be different at the moment. This is to limit face-to-face contact whenever possible and help stop the spread of coronavirus. Please click here for details on booking appointments and accessing our services.

For life threatening medical issues, please dial 999. For medical assistance outside of Practice opening hours, you can visit the NHS111 website, or call NHS 111. Please do not come to the surgery unless you have an appointment.

Appointments are being delivered face-to-face, online and over the telephone. If you are asked to come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment, please remember to wear a face covering. Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection during your visit to the surgery.

For the latest NHS information and advice on coronavirus or to book a test visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ 

For more information on changes to our procedures, please click here.

Please note, our Reception team are currently dealing with a large volume of telephone calls. There may be a delay in your call being answered. If you are experiencing a life threatening medical emergency, please hang up and dial 999. For all other queries please hold the line and we will answer your call as soon as we are able to.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

How to access our services

Please visit our 'How you can access our services' page for information on how to book appointments, how to request repeat prescriptions and how to book blood tests.

Riverport Medical Practice would like to invite you to join DoctorLink.

We have been looking at how we can improve access to Practice services; DoctorLink is our new online service where you can access advice and request appointments online.

Sign-up is simple and you can create an account here Register for DoctorLink

For all urgent appointments, we ask that you undertake a symptom assessment through DoctorLink.

The symptom assessment will ask you a number of questions to help to identify your problem.

The outcome of your assessment will direct you to the right treatment, whether emergency care, your GP, nurse or self-care.

If your outcome indicates that an appointment is required at your GP practice, you simply click on the “request an appointment” button.

Once the request has been submitted, you will then be contacted by the Practice Team, to arrange an appointment within the identified timeframe (as outlined in the outcome of your symptom checker). 

The information you provide will be shared with our clinical team (where appropriate) and will assist in providing robust information of your problem to the required clinical team member prior to your appointment.