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Welcome to Thorndike Medical Centre
The Thorndike Medical Centre serves part of Rochester as well as its surrounding areas. The Thorndike surgery team includes eight GPs, two advanced clinical practitioners, two experienced nurses, two associate practitioners, one healthcare assistants, two secretaries, a practice manager and reception/administrative staff.
We offer full general practice services and run specialist clinics for asthmatics, diabetics, family planning (including coils & implants) and we offer minor surgery.
We aim to treat all our patients promptly, courteously and in complete confidence. We feel it is important you know who you are speaking to, so our practice staff wear a name badge and identify themselves on the telephone.
We are involved in training medical students and doctors and it is possible that you might be offered an appointment to see one of them at the surgery. The registrars are fully qualified doctors who want to become general practitioners. As a training practice if we need to use your medical records for external assessments we ask for your consent.
The Partners and Managers of the Thorndike Medical Centre are keen to consult and listen to patients as they seek ways to improve the services that it offers. One way they do this is by supporting the 'Patients Participation Group' (PPG). The PPG is a group of patients who work with the surgery to offer input and views from a patient perspective. Further information on the PPG can be found by clicking on the menu button on the top left hand side of the home page and selecting Thorndike Medical Centre Patient Participation Group PPG.
COVID-19 INFORMATION
How to get a booster dose of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine
There are 3 types of booster for the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine:
• A booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is available for everyone aged 16 and over, and some children aged 12 to 15, who have had a 2nd dose of the vaccine at least 3 months ago.
• A booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is available for anyone who had a severely weakened immune system when they had their first 2 doses and who had an additional primary dose (3rd dose) of the vaccine at least 3 months ago.
• A spring booster of the COVID-19 vaccine is available to people aged 75 and over, people who live in a care home for older people, or people aged 12 and over who have a weakened immune system.
If you have not had a booster dose yet, you're still eligible and can book anytime.
Information:If you've had a positive COVID-19 test, you need to wait before getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
People aged 18 and over, and eligible children aged 12 to 15, need to wait 4 weeks.
Most young people aged 16 and 17 need to wait 12 weeks.
If you or your child have symptoms of COVID-19, but have not had a test, you should wait until your symptoms are better before you get the vaccine. You can talk to a healthcare professional at the vaccination site about this.
You can book on line through the national booking system or call 119. Details of the local and national Covid 19 sites are below.
For more information about the Covid-19 vaccination programme in Kent and Medway please visit www.kentandmedwayccg.nhs.uk/covid19vaccine
For national information about the vaccine visit:
More InfoFree testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) from the NHS has ended for most people in England. Free testing services have closed at:
• pharmacies
• test sites
• community collection points such as libraries
• schools, nurseries and universities
How to order a prescription and How to make an appointment (Signposting)
HOW TO ORDER A PRESCRIPTION
1.You can order your prescriptions by e-mail – mccg.thorndike.prescriptions@nhs.net these will be ready to collect after (5 working days), if they are routine, if your medications need to be reviewed by a doctor this may take a little longer.2.You can order prescriptions via Patient Access, link found below on home page, however, you must contact reception to obtain your registration papers.
3.Your repeat medication can also be requested from your usual pharmacy. Your authorised repeat prescription will be available for you to collect within 1 week .
4.You can post your request to the practice with a stamped addressed envelope.
5. If you take a medication on a long-term basis you can request a prescription by completing a repeat prescription request form at reception.
HOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT (SIGNPOSTING)
Your receptionist will need to ask for a brief outline of your problem when you ring to book an appointment.
This is because we are introducing something called signposting. It means we are training receptionists and clerical staff to help them assist patients by identifying the most appropriate place for their care.
Through this specialist training, our practice team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate health clinician for your needs in the first instance.
Receptionists will never offer clinical advice or triage; this new way of working is about offering you the choice to see more appropriate professionals in the practice team or even somewhere else. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker and means you may not need to see the GP at all.
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 08:00 - 18:30 (excluding Bank Holidays)Telephone lines open at 8am for ‘on the day’ appointment booking - We deal with emergencies from 8:00 on the telephone.
>> What do I do when the surgery is closed?
Contact your doctors online
Fill out a simple online form to get advice and treatment within 1 working day.
COVID SWABS
RESEARCH STUDYWe are participating in a Covid research study and we need to find 5 patients with any of the 5 Key Covid symptoms.
We are able to offer them a code and give them the website address to redeem the code and obtain a test.
Each single-use voucher can be redeemed via the internet at https://www.takeatestuk.com. Patients should simply enter their code into the box found on the site's homepage, and then click 'Go'. Patients will receive a confirmation email upon successful submission of a request. Requests received before 2pm will be dispatched on the same day. Requests dispatched after 2pm or over the weekend will usually be shipped on the next working day.
Contact Details
Telephone:
Tel: 01634 817217
Address:
Thorndike Medical Centre
Longley Road
Rochester
ME1 2TH
Patient Access
Access your local GP services online
Register Now!Book new appointments without having to phone. Order repeat prescriptions so they are ready to pick up. View your medical record securely online.
Friends & Family Test
Click Here to print and fill out our Friends and Family test.CQC Report
Privacy Notice
Your Information, Your Rights
Being transparent and providing accessible information to patients about how we will use your personal information is a key element of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The following notice reminds you of your rights in respect of the above legislation and how your GP Practice will use your information for lawful purposes in order to deliver your care and the effective management of the local NHS system. This notice reflects how we use information for: • The management of patient records;• Communication concerning your clinical, social and supported care;
• Ensuring the quality of your care and the best clinical outcomes are achieved through clinical audit and retrospective review;
• Participation in health and social care research; and
• The management and clinical planning of services to ensure that appropriate care is in place for our patients today and in the future.
Data Controller
As your registered GP practice, we are the data controller for any personal data that we hold about you.
Please see our privacy notice.
Please see the NHS England privacy notice.
Zero Tolerance
We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our staff or patients. If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be warned to stop their behaviour. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action to have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients.Blood Tests
We now have a dedicated phone line for booking blood tests to have here at The Thorndike Surgery. Please call 01634 810814 to book your appointment direct with our surgery. The line is open between 8am and 5pm. (Please note we can only book appointments to have your blood test at this surgery we are unable to book for any other blood test centres)This number is only to be used for booking blood test appointments and you will be unable to book any other type of appointment on this line.