Silloth Group Medical Practice

13/11/2025

⚠️🌧️ Stay safe out there - After a night of heavy rain across - there are instances of flooding and surface water on many roads out there.

As advised by Cumbria Police if you are traveling today, please do so with caution and listen to travel updates. Do not drive through flood water if coming across flooding – take an alternative route. Stay tuned to your local channels for updates.

🌧️ If it is not safe for you to travel to health or care appointments today, please contact your provider to let them know so they can advise accordingly — your safety comes first.

🌧️ With the adverse weather conditions, some practices may also experience staff travel difficulties today. You may wish to keep an eye on your local practice’s channels for any updates on their services, related to staff and appointments.

For updates on road closures visit 👀:
Cumberland Council / Westmorland and Furness Council

Find out more about the multi-agency response at:
https://www.news.cumbria.police.uk/news/multi-agency-response-continues-to-deal-with-effects-of-surface-water-flooding-in-cumbria

If you are experiencing any weather related issues please see a list of agency contacts at: https://www.cumbria.police.uk/police-forces/cumbria-constabulary/areas/campaigns/campaigns/weather-safety/

& Check for flood warnings and alerts at:
https://www.gov.uk/check-flooding
https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/alerts-and-warnings

💙💚🌧️

12/11/2025

Due to staff training the surgery will be closed from 1pm today and will re-open again at 8am tomorrow morning.

If you need urgent medical help during this time please contact NHS111 by calling ‘111’ or you can also visit: www.111.nhs.uk. This is available 24/7 to seek support for your symptoms. Always call 999 in an emergency if someone is seriously ill or injured, and their life is at risk.

We appreciate your patience and co-operation. This protected learning time (PLT) is very important to the surgery as it allows our staff time for training, education, further development and allows practitioners to keep up to date with best practice to help continuously improve our patient care and services.

10/11/2025

Are you a parent to be or have a baby or toddler?

BABY WEEK - 14th-20th November

Learn more about the groups and support available to you during Baby Week. From taster sessions of baby massage, introduction to first aid for babies, to a Baby Shower for expectant parents, there is loads going on all for free or low cost.

05/11/2025

OCTOBER NO SHOWS – A Shared Concern

We understand that life gets busy and plans can change. However, we were deeply concerned to see that 49 patients did not attend their appointments last month without letting us know.

At a time when we are already facing significant pressure—currently operating with one fewer GP—every missed appointment has a real impact. These unused slots could have been offered to other patients in need of care, helping us reduce waiting times and ease the strain on our team.

If you no longer need your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. You can cancel by:
- Calling the practice
- Using the NHS App
- Replying to the reminder text (if you receive one)

Your support makes a genuine difference. By keeping us informed, you help us care for more people and keep the practice running smoothly for everyone.

Download the NHS App, or open the NHS website in a web browser, to set up and log in to your NHS account. Owned and run by the NHS, your NHS account is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services online.

05/11/2025

There are many many things that frustrate us and potentially make us angry...

- Bad weather and politics.
- Waiting and delays.
- Being behind someone driving slower than you want to drive.
- Being in front of someone who’s practically on your bumper when you are driving the speed limit.
- Endless advert breaks on online videos now (“Skip ad”), including everyone promoting things within the videos themselves too... “today’s video is brought to you by Dr Drake Ramoray.”
- & perceived patronising posts on social media that talk about what makes us frustrated and angry. 🤔

Anyway, the point we’re making is that sometimes all this can understandably build up - and occasionally, that frustration ends up being taken out on the people who are just trying to help.

It really saddens us that in recent weeks, some GP practices have reported incidents where members of staff - particularly reception teams - have experienced abuse and threatening behaviour from patients. This behaviour is unacceptable, and practices will respond accordingly to protect their teams. In serious cases, practices have the right to remove patients from their list if they are violent or abusive.

We completely understand that everyone can feel anger or frustration at times - healthcare can be especially stressful for both patients and staff. But at the end of the day, we’re all human.

And yes, this should absolutely work both ways. Healthcare staff should treat patients fairly, kindly, and respectfully too. If you have concerns about your care, there are formal complaints routes to raise them safely and effectively - abusive behaviour is never the right route.

This message doesn’t just apply to GP practices - it includes all wider healthcare teams: dentists, opticians, pharmacists, hospital staff, community services, and everyone working hard to support patients across our area.

Maybe technology and outside factors have changed our patience, concentration, and expectations, but unfortunately not everything can be instant. Healthcare teams are working hard to provide the best care possible in a system under huge pressure.

So, in a world where so many things seem to be sadly increasing in cost, remember - kindness is still free to share. 💚💙

04/11/2025

A Kind Request to Help Us Help You

We kindly ask that you only call the surgery if you need an urgent appointment. Our phone lines are currently very busy, and this is placing additional pressure on our already full appointment system which is struggling due to one of our GP’s being on long-term sickness.

For non-urgent matters—such as administrative requests, fit notes, or general queries—please use the Online Consult service available on our website or by using the NHS App. This service is easy to use and allows us up to 48 hours to respond. Please note this is for “non-urgent" requests only. By using the on-line consult this helps to keep our phone lines open for those who need urgent care.

We’re working hard to improve access and will soon be welcoming locum clinicians to support our team. In the meantime, we truly appreciate your patience and understanding.

Our reception team are doing their very best to assist everyone, and your support makes a real difference.

Thank you for helping us provide the best care possible.

04/11/2025

We are aware there is water sitting outside the entrance to the surgery, you can access the door by walking around the clinic and entering from that side.

30/10/2025

Some GP Practices are looking to understand more about what physical activity their patients currently do — and what they’d like to do in the future. 🏃‍♀️🚴‍♂️

So, if you’re registered with any of the following GP Practices, this survey is for you:

- Silloth Group Medical Practice
- Aspatria Medical Group
- Caldbeck Surgery
- Castlehead Medical Centre
- Dalston Medical Group
- The Croft Surgery
- Wigton Group Medical Practice
- Maryport Health Services
- Castlegate and Derwent Surgery

In collaboration with Cumberland Council they’re exploring ways to support their communities in reducing inactivity and improving wellbeing. 💙💚

Every voice counts — your feedback could help shape new local services and opportunities!

We'll add the direct link to the comments as well if you're not a 'QR Code Zapper' (yes I've just made up that technical term).

29/10/2025

Our phones are now working as normal, thank you for your patience and understanding 😊

29/10/2025

PHONE UPDATE

We are still having problems with our phones but have managed to get a divert it place, this means you won’t hear the usual welcome message and are unable to leave a prescription request. Can we politely ask that you dont ring the phone line to order a prescription unless its urgent as we only have one line in place. You can order your repeat prescription over the NHS app and hopefully our voicemail service will be back in operation soon. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

29/10/2025

We are still having problems with our phones but have managed to get a divert it place, this means you won’t hear the usual welcome message. Please bear with us as there is only one line in operation. Thank you for your patience.

Updated 1:45pm – 29/10/25:
We’re pleased to report that the technical issue with the phones across some of the GP Practices has now been resolved by providers. Thank you very much for your patience during this time. 💚💙

Updated 8am - 29/10/25 - this is still the case this morning for some practices with providers still working to fix the issues as soon as possible. We will keep you updated.

4:00pm - 28/10/25
We're receiving reports from some GP Practices that they are having some issues with their phone lines currently, which is resulting in limited lines/an intermittent service. This is again a wider issue with telephony providers.

💡 In the meantime, if your GP practice offers alternative ways to request appointments (such as online services or apps), we recommend using these options, wherever possible, while the phone lines are experiencing technical difficulties.

📱 you can check your local GP practice's social media or website for updates specific to your area.

Practices apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding. 🙏 We hope this is resolved soon.

Please help spread the word to friends and family—especially those who may not be online or using social media to make them aware.
Thank you 💚💙

28/10/2025

Unfortunately it is a nationwide problem with our phone system which they are currently trying to resolve.

In the case of an emergency please call 999 and for any non urgent problems you can call 111 or use 111 online service for guidance. You can also send an on-line consultation via our website www.sillothgroupmedicalpractice.nhs.uk

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.