Welcome to our Spring Newsletter and another edition packed full of useful information and Practice news.

In welcoming you to our Spring Newsletter we are delighted to share with you news of our very first Community Health Fair which, based on reports from participants, was an amazing, fun and very worthwhile event. It also included a visit from Tom Rutland, our local MP. So, a big thank you to everyone who helped and visited us at the Shoreham Centre – we are already thinking about next year’s event!

At the same time as we share some really positive news, please read the article about the cancellation of appointments. We know this is a difficult matter, and through this newsletter we want to assure you that our number one priority is the health and well-being of our patients.

Community Health Fair

On 8 March 2025 Adur Health Partnership and the Patient Engagement Group (PEG) held a Community Health Fair at the Shoreham Centre.

Twenty one local and national health related service providers including Mind, Child and Young Adult Social Prescribers, Beehive Dementia, Citizens Advice, 4Sight, Breast Screening Team, Going Local Social Prescribing, Adur and Worthing Wellbeing, Carers Support West Sussex and many more were taking part.

We, Adur Health Partnership together with the PEG welcomed visitors at our stalls, which were staffed by the members of the Patient Engagement Group, members of the Collaborative Practice (Social Well-being Activities), volunteers and members of the Practice including GP Partners, Salaried GPs, Nurses and Administration teams.

Blood pressure, height and weight checks were offered to the adults, the ‘Bring your Teddy for a check-up’ was popular with children and adults alike and the CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) demonstration meant that the visitors could learn about and administer potentially life-saving chest compressions in a simulated interactive situation.

There were exercise class taster sessions (Pilates, ballet, chair yoga, dance, Tai Chi) for everyone to try throughout the day, as well as Health talks held by Health Care Professionals in the afternoon.

We welcomed around 650 people at the Community Health Fair. The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive. The visitors saw the biggest value of the Community Health Fair in bringing the health and wellbeing service providers together with the opportunity to speak to their representatives in person; meeting and giving feedback to the members of the Practice and Patient Engagement Group; and understanding how the Practice and the community can work in partnership to encourage healthy lifestyles and support people to better manage their health conditions.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to our next Community Health Fair in 2026.

Last Minute Appointment Cancellations

Firstly, an apology! Adur Health Partnership has received a number of complaints when appointments are cancelled at very short notice - we really do understand that this can cause real distress and we are truly sorry for the inconvenience.

Cancellations happen almost always when one of our Clinical team cannot come to work at very short notice. Not one of these decisions is taken without a great deal of thought but every member of our team is very conscious that for example their sickness could, in turn, easily cause harm to our patients.

The harsh truth is that, when even one member of the team is unwell, there is a far reaching impact on appointments and other aspects of running the practice. Whether it is one of our triage doctors, an urgent care doctor, a routine appointment, minor surgery or a doctor in charge of the eConsult, every single affected appointment will need to be cancelled and rescheduled. This in turn creates extra work for our already hard pressed Reception team and can lead to longer waiting times for appointments and limiting the eConsult capacity.

Patient Engagement Group

This group aims to improve local health and social care by:

• Influencing and improving surgery services
• Collaborating with Adur Health Partnership for better patient outcomes.
• Involving patients in service development through meetings, events and information sharing.
• Representing patient views on surgery services.
• Enhancing communication between patients and staff.
• Sharing best practices with other patient groups.

Would you like to join the Patient Engagement Group?

We meet at the Shoreham Centre between 6.15pm and 7.15pm on the fourth Wednesday of every month.

Please come along to share ideas and learn more about how your local surgeries work. For further details please contact us or visit the AHP website for more information.