Welcome to Atrium Health Centre

With patients' needs at the heart of everything we do, our website has been designed to make it easy for you to gain instant access to the information you need. As well as specific practice details such as opening hours and how to register, you’ll find a wealth of useful pages covering a wide range of health issues along with links to other relevant medical organisations.

Easter Opening;

Please note that we are now open on both Good Friday (10 April) and Easter Monday (13 April) for telephone calls and eConsults.

Coronavirus Advice to Patients (Updated 7th April 2020)

As a practice we are still open, however any previously booked routine appointments with our GP’s or Clinical Pharmacist will now be conducted over the telephone to prevent the spread of the virus as much as we can.  If you have a Nurse or HCA appointment booked you will be telephone the day before to check if you have any symptoms; if you do not then you will be given the choice to attend surgery or delay your appointment.

We will however still be offering emergency on the day telephone appointments for those with an immediate and necessary need to speak to a GP or healthcare professional. 

If you have a routine query that you would like dealt with please use our e-Consult service (see link below) and a GP will get back to you. 

We are receiving updates from NHS England, Public Health England, Dorset CCG and the Government on a daily basis about the spread of the pandemic and as a practice have put many steps in place to protect both you as patients and our staff at the practice.

Thank you all for your patience and help during this time.

To read current information and advice from the Government regarding the Coronavirus, please click here. 

If you need evidence of absence for your employer please click here.

If you have a new continuous cough and a high temperature stay at home and avoid close contact with people for 7 days; members of your household should self isolate with you for 14 days.  Please do not go to a GP surgery, community pharmacy or hospital.

If you get any worse during this time call 111

If you are over the age of 70, have an underlying health condition or are pregnant the government are advising that you put in place social distancing measures.  Please see the following page on gov.uk for full details; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults

For advice on how to help others safely please click here.

Please follow Public Health England advice to:

• Always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze. Then bin the tissue, and wash your hands, or use a sanitiser gel.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using public transport. Use a sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

Five things you can do to protect yourself and your community.

Further information is available on www.nhs.uk  or www.gov.uk

For local support contact details during the pandemic, please click here.

Resources for young children are linked below:

Coronavirus explained for Kids

Coronavirus information for young children

Dave the dog book

PLEASE NOTE: The response time for e-consults is 2 working days.

We politely ask that you do not contact the surgery to chase a response before this time.

Visit us on Facebook

We are now live on Facebook; so please follow us as we will use Facebook to update you of all relevant NHS information and anything we need to urgently tell you about the practice (e.g. surgery closures, sickness, etc).

The Dorset Self-Management Service

Managing life with a health condition isn’t always easy. We know that understanding and keeping track of medications, treatments, tests and appointments with healthcare professionals are important, but also that a health condition affects our emotions, how we feel about ourselves, our social life, hobbies and day to day routines at home. Feeling confident managing all of that can be a challenge.

At Atrium Health Centre, we have a coach and link worker as part of our team. Clinical healthcare professionals like doctors and nurses can be really important to help us manage the medical aspects of our health, and self-management coaches and link workers can help us manage the emotional and practical impact in our day to day life.

The Self-Management Coaches are there to support people with health conditions to feel more confident, and have lots of experience talking about a whole range of subjects: 

• Managing pain and fatigue
• Preparing for appointments
• Accessing information to understand conditions and treatments
• Feeling more confident getting out and about
• Building a network of support around you
• Accepting and coming to terms with having a health condition

The Link Workers are there to focus on connecting people with long term health conditions to groups and activities available to them in their community, they will focus on;

• Improving your social support network and feelings of isolation
• Information sourcing and gaining confidence to attend groups
• Identifying any other non-clinical support options that may be of benefit

Our Coach, Hilary Knowles, is based at Atrium Health Centre on Tuesdays.

Our Link Worker, Ellis Ford, is based at Atrium Health Centre on Thursdays.

They are part of our team here to support you. Lots of patients and their carers say how hard it is when healthcare professionals only have ten minutes, but self-management coaches have up to 45 mins for each session to listen to you and support you. Your GP practice nurse or any member of the reception team can refer you to see the coach, so if you are interested in this, please mention it to one of the team at Atrium Health Centre.

In the case where our staff are not co-located, referrals can be made using our online referral form:

www.helpandcare.org.uk/services/health-coaching/to-self-refer-yourself/

or by phoning our Single Point of Access on 0303 303 0153.

We are currently working toward a more integrated referral process and will keep you informed of further developments.

10 Things I Bet You Didn’t Know About Your GP!

To read insider knowledge of exactly how your surgery really works, please click here.

Electronic Medical Record System at the Atrium Health Centre!

On 14th May 2018 we moved to a new medical record system.  By doing this it means that we are able to share your medical records with other services treating you and therefore have better details about the care you receive from other NHS services in Dorset (and possibly further afield).  Full details can be seen in our leaflet “Sharing your medical information”.

Have you visited the NHS website?

Leave your rating and review for the Atrium Health Centre by clicking here.

nhs.uk is the official health website for the National Health Service in England. It contains thousands of articles, tools and videos, helping you to make the best health and lifestyle choices.

- Access to a range of different services, including a Pharmacy Finder

- Practical health information

- Information regarding management of long-term health conditions

Patient Online Service: Viewing your online medical record (including medications, allergies, vaccinations and test results), ordering prescriptions and booking your appointments

Patients registered with our Surgery can now book appointments and request repeat prescriptions using their computer, tablet or smart phone, at a convenient time to them using this online service. All patient information is kept securely.

This benefits patients, saving them a telephone call or journey to the Surgery and the service can also be used when the Surgery is closed. For patients with long term health conditions, they can be more involved with their healthcare by being able to access test results and track their treatment.

This service operates alongside traditional ways of accessing services and does not replace them. Allowing patients who want to use this service to book appointments and order prescriptions should help others to find it easier to get through on the telephone during busy times of the day.

Please visit the Surgery and speak to one of the receptionists to register for this online service.

You will need to bring with you 2 items of identification; one of photographic ID in date (e.g. a passport or driving license) and proof of your current address (e.g. utility bill, bank statement, or council tax bill - must be dated within the last 3 months).

You will be provided with a letter containing your PIN number, enabling you to register.

Once you have registered, click on the following link to log in: Patient Online Service

Access to online services - patient information leaflet