Vaccination Programme:

We are pleased to confirm the arrangements for our patients to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Please see below.

see latest and read FAQ from Sussex Care and Health Partnership

COVID 19 Vaccination programme - LATEST NEWS

Martins Oak is part of a wider network of Rother GP practices teamed up with the Sussex Community Foundation Trust (SCFT) to administer the COVID 19 vaccinations locally. The Trust are coordinating the complex logistical arrangements and staffing for the vaccination centre. Patients will be invited as per the government's priority list starting with the over 80's, care home residents and front line workers. Please do not contact the surgery as we cannot book appointments for you as this will ultimately come from the site itself. We realise this is very frustrating for patients, as it is for us. We hope to announce the start date very soon.

Dr John Rivett retirement

Martins Oak Surgery loses a stalwart and great clinician after three decades of devotion. Dr John Rivett leaves a long legacy that has brought quality and innovation to more than just our surgery. His exacting standards have increased the reputation of this surgery to where it is today and over the years; he has given great service to not only Martins Oak but also the wider healthcare community.

His IT skills and knowledge of clinical systems has meant he has provided great help to the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and its predecessor the Primary Care Trust in templates and protocols to ensure surgeries all worked to the same standards. His innovative local information portal known as HARMLESS has still not been bettered and brought primary and secondary care information, pathways and guidelines to the whole of Hastings and Rother surgery network.

He has championed diabetic care for the whole of Hastings and Rother and been a strong voice for the Sussex cardiac Collaborative ensuring Heart Failure Nurses came to the community.

Modern General Practice brings with it a huge number of policies and procedures and his enthusiasm drive and attention to detail have been a tremendous advantage to us.

John is hugely talented and has a passion for languages so he will not be sitting still when he leaves us but moving to a new challenge studying modern languages at a London university in the autumn.

It is one thing to retire but in the middle of a pandemic it means we are not able to celebrate his achievements as we should. He will be greatly missed and we all wish him the very best for the future.

For Information

Contrary to some press and internet stories, most GP Surgeries have never stopped seeing patients.  From day 1 we continued to see patients in the surgery for assessment, review and treatments if face to face appointment was indicated.  We have transformed the way we work to enable more patients than ever to be helped by rapidly replacing carpets with vinyl to allow more rooms to be opened to face to face appointment.  We offer telephone, video, email consultations and yes we still do home visits.  Front door triage ensures all patients having to attend are a safe and distanced as possible and leave by other doors to the front to avoid crossing paths.  We clean down after EVERY patient.   At no time since the start of this pandemic has anyone been away from surgery duty unless annual leave, or shielding and this is a testament to the dedication of amazing team from Patient Administration dealing with over a thousand calls a week; our Nursing Team working tirelessly seeing their regular patients for dressings, injections, blood tests and urgent patching up;  to Doctors who have had to adapt overnight to using technology to continue to see patients in a different way and using their skills and knowledge to try to best help those in clinical need.  With the measures we have had to put in place we have managed to avoid bringing Covid-19 into the surgery and been able to maintain and expand our services to our patients.   Whilst Covid-19 is still a threat we will continue to telephone triage ALL patient facing appointments.  Therefore on entry to the surgery we will go through the questionnaire about symptoms, temperature, recent travel, cough or loss of sense of taste or smell & ask that you wear a face covering because we already know that most people attending the surgery are already ill or at risk and we will try to do everything to ensure you are protected whilst in our care.

ALL patients attending the Surgery for their pre-booked appointment will be asked to wear a face covering or mask in line with the latest advice.  On arrival, you will be met at the door and asked a few covid questions and have your temperature checked.