News

Cardiovascular Risk prevention Programme

Cardiovascular diseases cause more than a quarter of all deaths in Scotland, the second most common cause of death after cancer. Scotland is predicting a 21% rise in disease burden by 2043 and a major cause of this increase is linked to CVD. Whilst some CVD figures have previously improved with the reduction in smoking, some of these are now rising again with the impact of obesity on our health, closely linked to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Primrose Lane is undertaking a project to monitor cardiovascular disease (CVD) as part of a Scottish Government objective.  Many people do not know they are living with CVD risk factors and the project aims to optimise early intervention and care.  We will start inviting eligible patients for a screening appointment from the start of October 2025.

The screening appointment to determine your risk score includes tests/checks such as:  BP, Type 2 diabetes risk score, BMI, smoking status, family history, blood test to check cholesterol level.

The programme’s mission is to:

·         Reduce CVD in Scotland, leading to improved life expectancy and healthy life expectancy for all - with a specific stretch aim – To reduce avoidable* CVD deaths by 20% in 20 years (*Deaths which are considered either preventable or treatable through public health interventions or timely and effective healthcare, under 75 yrs)

·         Significantly increase the identification and management of those with higher risk of CVD, and by using the approach of proportional universalism, reduce associated health inequalities

·         Improve early identification of key risk factors and work with people to reduce these risks and effectively manage these – either to reverse/lower their risks or by preventing an escalation to more significant disease (via increased citizen awareness/knowledge and via increased Healthcare professional preventative and proactive care)

·         Reduce risks earlier this will prevent conditions escalating to their acute or chronic stages and support sustainability of our health and social care systems.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/cardiovascular-disease/risk-factors-for-cardiovascular-disease

Monday 6th October

We are closed on Monday the 6th of October except for pre-booked appointments. If you require urgent medical attention please call 111 in a life threatening emergency always call 999. If you have a pre-booked appointment please attend as normal. The immunisation team are working in the right hand side of the building.

Information about Liraglutide (Saxenda), Semaglutide (Wegovy) and Tirzepatide (Mounjaro).

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved Liraglutide (Saxenda®), Semaglutide (Wegovy®) and Tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) for restricted use in NHS Scotland for weight management.

 NHS Fife does not yet have a pathway for introducing these medications. Unfortunately, until a pathway has been agreed, we are unable to accept enquires about weight loss medications.

 Certain individuals with Type 2 Diabetes may be eligible for GLP-1 medications for diabetes management; this is always assessed on an individual basis and can be discussed at your annual diabetes review when you are invited.  We do not have capacity to accept informal enquires out with your review.

Under General Medical Council regulations it is the responsibility of any prescribing clinician to assure themselves that their prescribing is safe. This would include taking an adequate history, examining the patient, acting on any appropriate pre-prescribing investigations and ensuring ongoing review.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the patient to provide accurate information to any private prescriber in terms of medical history and current medication regime to allow for the identification of any contraindications which may result in adverse effects from GLP-1’s.

Primrose Lane Medical Centre do not enter into any shared care agreement with outside providers and as such we will not liaise  with any private companies who issue a private prescription to our patients, as such the risk for this action lies solely with the prescriber and the patient.

The Weight Management and type 2 Diabetes Prevention Service provides a specialist service which supports people in Fife to lead a healthy lifestyle, to lose weight and improve their health.  They also offer tailored support for those living with or at risk of type 2 diabetes.

Individuals can self refer by calling: 01383 674086 visiting https://www.nhsfife.org/services/all-services/nutrition-and-clinical-dietetics/weight-management-and-type-2-diabetes-prevention-service/ or by scanning the QR code below.

Changes to the way we review our diabetic patients

Diabetes Monitoring

The way we manage our patients with Type 2 Diabetes is changing.

Over the past couple of years our practice has seen >25% increase in the number of patients we are managing with Type 2 Diabetes and this figure is set to rise. Therefore, we have had to implement changes and adapt to new ways of working to ensure everyone can be reviewed safely and efficiently.

From now on, you will be invited by text message or letter for a routine review once a year; this will usually be in your birth month. At this appointment a health care assistant will obtain your bloods, BP, height and weight, ask you some questions about your lifestyle and may complete your diabetic foot screening if indicated.

The Practice Nurse team will then review this information and if they need to discuss any aspect of your care, someone from the surgery will call you to arrange this.

Within healthcare there is a move towards supported self management. We are promoting the use of the national online patient service ‘My Diabetes, My Way’ (MDMY), registration details can be found in the Fife Diabetes Directory booklet.

MDMY allows you to view your results, as well as comments left by the practice nurse.

You will no longer be required to routinely attend for 6 monthly diabetic monitoring bloods. We will assess everyone individually and advise if you need to attend out with your annual review, if clinically indicated. Someone from the practice will call you if this is required and it will also be recorded in the comments section of MDMY.

Text messaging

We are now sending invites for our chronic disease recall by text message if we have a mobile phone number available for a patient. If you are our patient, have a birth month of January, February or March and are normally called into the surgery for an annual check you should have recieved a text message or a letter in the last 3 months

Trialling text messaging

We are now sending invites for our chronic disease recall by text message if we have a mobile phone number available for a patient. If you are our patient, have a birth month of January, February or March and are normally called into the surgery for an annual check you should have recieved a text message or a letter.

Appointment System from Monday, 15th July, 2024

We have reviewed our appointment system and the following changes will take effect from Monday, 15th July, 2024:

Minor illness triage: Please call the practice between 8.00AM and 12.00PM if you have a minor illness.  Calls received after 12PM will be asked to call back at 8.00AM the follow day or to call 111 after 6PM if it cannot wait until then.

Minor illness includes things like coughs and colds, sore throats and urine infections.  These can often be managed by your community pharmacy and advice is also available from NHS Inform website.

Minor illness calls will be dealt with by one of our Advanced Nurse Practitioners.  

This will allow us to maximise the number of GP appointments available to book each day.

Medical emergencies will be dealt with throughout the day.  If you feel your condition is life threatening you should dial 999.

GP appointments:  you should call from 8AM for an on the day appointment.  We will advertise on our Facebook page each day when we have reached capacity for our GP appointments that day.  

We now have a limited number of GP bookable in advance appointments which will be offered in our extended hours surgeries on a Tuesday morning and Thursday evening.

All other appointment types:  you should call after 10AM to book an appointment in advance for a Practice Nurse, Phlebotomist, Midwife, First Contact Physio etc.

Results:  you should call between 2PM and 5PM.