Friday 2 / Saturday 3 March

Back in the Good Old Days next to no-one commuted to work. In the long winter of 1947 your GP would be consulting out of their own house. The District Nurse had a bike. No one had invented the Advanced Nurse Practitioner. The only treatment options were a tonic or a potato. Fast forward to the winter of 2018 and we have a problem. The GP is just one cog in a complex Primary Health Care Team working out of a central GP surgery. Everyone commutes to work – our staff live up to 30 miles away. A bit of snow and a lot of drifting creates a serious problem in a rural community.

Friday 2 March sees a third day of Spilsby Surgery operating essential services only with a skeleton staff who live close by. We’ve received no drugs deliveries, or hospital courier for letters and pathology specimens. Practice Manager Jason Longstaff  braved the Fenland tundra in a 4WD with medicines deliveries. He is cold and knackered. This was made possible by the Farmers, Landowners and digger drivers keeping the drifts at bay – a big thank you to you all. Many staff have tried hard but failed to get safely into work. Those who have made it have worked 11-hour days back to back despite the heating packing up on them. They thank you for your thoughtfulness, and we thank them for their dedication.

The safety of both our staff and patients are paramount. Routine appointments are being cancelled – please phone us if we haven’t already rung you. We’ll attempt to deal with urgent problems with the resources available, but please phone us before setting off to the Surgery as the road conditions and our capacity to respond may change from hour to hour. In an emergency please phone 999. If you’re not sure who is best placed to help you, please phone NHS 111 for advice.

We hope to offer a more normal service from Monday 5 March, but anticipate a backlog of appointments and tasks to be fulfilled for most of the week.