Stanley Court Surgery

30/11/2025

As we head into winter, when appointments with us in the practice get harder to get due to the demand. Please don’t forget 💊 Pharmacy First – You Can Get Fast, Free Treatment from Your Local Pharmacy

Did you know you can now get free NHS advice and treatment for several common conditions directly from your local pharmacy, without needing a GP appointment? They can prescribe antibiotics and treatments that you need quickly and safely.

Our local pharmacies can help with:

✅ Earache (ages 1–17)
✅ Impetigo (ages 1+)
✅ Shingles (ages 18+)
✅ Sinusitis (ages 12+)
✅ Sore throat (ages 5+)
✅ Infected insect bites (ages 1+)
✅ Urinary tract infections – women aged 16–64

Our brilliant colleagues, in our local pharmacies, are highly trained clinicians, who can assess symptoms, provide advice, and supply NHS medicines where appropriate — all without needing to see a GP.

This helps you get quicker care and keeps GP appointments free for more complex health needs.
Please remember to use these services or we will lose them!

17/11/2025

🌡️ Flu Cases Are Rising Locally – Here’s How to Protect Yourself and Others

In the last couple of weeks we have seen an increase in flu cases in the Burscough. Common symptoms include a high temperature, sore throat, cough, headache, body aches, and feeling very tired. Children commonly get some abdominal pains too and their temperature can be harder to control.

Flu can make anyone feel very unwell, but it can be especially serious for older adults, people with long-term conditions, pregnant women, and very young children. This is mainly due to flu related pneumonias with patients getting a secondary infection due to reduced immunity.

🤧 If you have flu symptoms
Most people can manage at home with:
• Rest and plenty of fluids
• Paracetamol or ibuprofen for fever and aches
• Eating small, regular meals if you can

🚫 Please avoid visiting the surgery if you have flu symptoms
This helps protect vulnerable patients in our waiting room. If you need advice, please use NHS 111 online or call the surgery so we can guide you safely.

💉 Protect yourself and others
• Get your flu vaccine if you’re eligible – it’s the best protection.
• Wash hands regularly and cover coughs/sneezes
• Consider wearing a mask in busy areas if you’re unwell
• Stay home until you feel better and your fever has settled

❤️ Thank you for helping keep our community safe.
If you have concerns about your symptoms—especially if you’re pregnant, have a long-term condition, or are worried about a child—please contact us for advice. If we need to examine you we will arrange to bring you in.

The GP partners

10/11/2025

**************URGENT INFORMATION**************

We want to respond to some of the recent posts on the local forum, as there have been several misunderstandings circulating – including multiple comments made again this morning.

First, all three GP practices in Burscough DO see patients face to face. A few comments suggested that one practice is “not patient-facing”, which is simply not true. All practices see patients in person when it is clinically needed. Some use telephone triage or online systems to help manage demand, but all three still provide face-to-face appointments.

There has also been confusion about whether we are accepting new patients. All three practices **are** accepting new patients and NO the ICB hasn't been in touch as suggested in the posts. However, all of our lists are already FULL and have been for several years. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OFFICIALLY CLOSE OUR LISTS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE FULL, because every resident must be able to register with a GP. This is why we are suggesting patients go through allocation for a fair distribution of patients.

The problem is that the number of doctors is not increasing, while the number of patients is growing very quickly due to ongoing housebuilding in Burscough and families moving into the area
Even if we were lucky enough to recruit more GPs, the current building simply has no space to accommodate them.

This is why the movement between practices causes problems. When multiple patients decide to switch from one practice to another, it makes the lists unstable. This then pushes more patients into triage systems, or delays access, as registrations are redistributed and processed, which puts all three practices under extra pressure.

For this reason, we are asking patients to avoid “practice-hopping”. We completely respect that patients have the right to choose their GP, but constant switching, and an ever increasing list size, causes real strain and affects the quality of service for everyone.

If Stanley Court becomes overwhelmed with additional registrations, we will be forced to move to an online triage-first system that a number of practices are already doing in West Lancs. This would naturally reduce the number of face-to-face appointments available, simply because demand would exceed what we can safely provide.

We appreciate your understanding and support as we work to keep services safe, accessible, and effective for everyone in Burscough.

The Stanley Court Partners.

10/10/2025

So this isn’t a whinging post but it just puts things in context.
We really need politicians and civil service to take this into account and fund it properly. There are less GPs to go round as numbers of GPs hasn’t increased with the population. Hospital care and treatments cost more. GPs dealing with more complexity due to patients being discharged to the community teams to ease bed pressures, when previously patients would have been inpatients having regular check’s and ward rounds.

Why does the NHS keep costing more?
1950 life expectancy was 69yrs it’s now 83yrs

14 more years of experience, living, grandchildren
14yrs of more costs £3600/person/year

5.6million people over 70yrs £20bn/pa

It costs to keep people alive with prevention, treatments, medicine

04/10/2025

😷😷Flu clinic today😷😷

We are gearing up for the clinic today, it will be a busy one!!
With the storms today please don’t come too early for your appointment as it will be chilly 🥶 if waiting outside.

01/10/2025

‼️IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT‼️

🩺To our patients at Stanley Court Surgery🩺

You may have seen recent news about national changes to how GP surgeries are expected to operate. 👩‍⚕️👩‍⚕️These changes will affect Stanley Court Surgery too — but perhaps not as dramatically as the headlines suggest!!!😱

We’ve already been encouraging patients to contact us through our website 👩‍💻🧑‍💻for non-urgent matters — whether you're booking a routine appointment📆, requesting a vaccination💉chasing up a sick note, or arranging your annual review🩸.
Using the website, or the NHS app, means you can avoid the phone queue, and it's available outside of our opening hours — early in the morning or later in the evening.

From October 1st, the government is asking all GP surgeries to respond to every patient request on the same day — even if all 6,000 of you happen to message us at 6:29pm, one minute before we close!
As you can imagine, we can’t realistically deal with that many messages in one go!! Our clinicians already stay beyond 7pm and come in before 8am, in addition to logging in to action bloods and prescriptions at the weekends for the week ahead. They are considered to be ‘part time’ in the government’s eyes despite doing more than 40 hours a week.

Unfortunately, while the expectations on GP practices are increasing, there hasn’t been a matching increase in funding or staffing. We simply need the government to fund more GPs

So here’s how you can help us help you:
For urgent issues, please continue to call us — especially if you or someone you care for doesn’t have internet access.

If you’re using the website, please give us as much info as you can, including which days and times you’re available. That really helps us offer appointments that suit you.

Calling earlier in the day gives us the best chance to plan your care before all the appointment slots are filled.

Please know — we’re doing everything we can to support you with the resources we have.

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

Stanley Court Surgery

18/09/2025

September is month. Gynae cancer refers to different cancers that affect the female reproductive system. These include: Womb, Ovarian, Cervical, Vaginal and Vulval.

Here are the symptoms of . It’s important to know that these symptoms can be caused by other conditions, but if you experience any, you should get them checked by a GP.

17/09/2025

Remembering a very special lady today! Happy heavenly birthday Lesley Price. She was a fixture here for as long as any of us can remember. Her plaque has arrived today and will be put up so we can all see it every day. Our thoughts and prayers are with her gorgeous family.

10/09/2025

💉 Flu Vaccinations at Your GP Practice 💉

👉 Please note: Flu appointments are now available for all over 65s and those under 65 with qualifying health conditions eg diabetes/asthma etc. please contact the surgery if you are unsure if you qualify.

The available dates are 4th, 16th, 23rd of October and 3rd November.
These can be booked on line or by calling the practice.

Thank you for supporting us and helping us keep our community safe this winter.

11/08/2025

🩺🩺🩺🩺Important message 🩺🩺🩺🩺

We are working with reduced doctors/clinical staff today due to staff sickness, annual leave and unavailability of locum cover. We are hoping to get extra cover during the rest of the week.

Our staff are having to prioritise appointments, to the most urgent on our instruction, so please be kind. It is not their fault.
Use our local pharmacy first service for minor conditions, ask our staff if you are not sure what the pharmacy can see you about.

Thanks for your understanding
Gp partners

29/07/2025

📢 Why the NHS Is Reducing the Use of Opioids and Gabapentinoids

If you’re living with long-term pain, you might be using medications like codeine, morphine, pain patches, gabapentin, or pregabalin. Although these were started in the past with the thought that they would help chronic pain, the NHS is now moving away from using them long-term — and here’s why:

🔹 They often don’t help long-term pain.
While useful for short-term or nerve pain, research shows these medicines rarely improve chronic pain over time.

🔹 They come with serious risks.
Long-term use can cause confusion, drowsiness, memory issues, falls, breathing problems — especially when used together. If you are a driver you will need to inform the DVLA as they can impair driving.

🔹 They can be addictive.
Some people develop a dependence, needing more to feel the same effect, which can lead to withdrawal symptoms when stopping.

So what’s changing?
The NHS is now:
✅ Reviewing these medicines more often
✅ Avoiding starting them for chronic pain
✅ Helping people reduce or stop them safely

This isn’t about taking away support — it’s about offering safer, more effective alternatives.

What else can help with pain?
💪 Physiotherapy & movement
🧠 Talking therapies for pain
🧘 Mindfulness & relaxation techniques
💊 Other, safer medications

You won’t be left to manage alone — you’ll be supported to find what works best for you.

Already taking these meds?
Please don’t stop suddenly. Instead:
📞 Talk to your GP or pharmacist
🤝 Make a safe plan if needed
❓ Ask about your options

You're not alone in this.
This change is about putting your safety and long-term wellbeing first. Help and support are still available — just in healthier, more sustainable ways. 💙

28/07/2025

1 year on from the tragedy where 3 innocent lives were lost in Southport. Please join us wherever you may be in a moment of remembrance. At 3pm on Tuesday 29th July, a three-minute silence will be held across the Liverpool City Region. We will be honouring their memory at the surgery so please respect staff as they remember these little girls.