Essential Services Registration - What Happened To Us During A Pandemic?

Those of you who have read these blogs (or know us), will be aware that our move into our new home was rather rushed. The move coincided with the outbreak of COVID 19 in the UK and had to be urgently moved forward, as the lockdown was imminent. I’m glad to say that we managed to get here safely just days before this happened.

However, this left us in something of a quandary. We had moved 40 miles from our previous address and were therefore not registered for the ‘essential’ services, which might be required in normal times (let alone a pandemic). So, in the midst of the confusion and general chaos which was taking place in the UK towards the end of March 2020. We set about doing this. In this blog, I want to recount our experiences of this process. There were a number of steps to this and I’ll go through them in no particular chronological order. We began by having our:-

1. Home Registration Meeting - this was with our Development Manager. At the time it seemed strange to be going through this process, as we don’t anticipate requiring the Call System etc for hopefully quite some time. But, Margaret had a similar role to the Development Manager, prior to moving here and retirement, so we appreciated its necessity. The meeting required us to share ‘essential’ information, such as ‘next of kin’, our ‘contact details’ and we were given other necessary information - ‘fire information’ etc. It was quite straightforward and reassuring to know that this information was centrally held in case of an emergency.

2. Regular Updates - we have 5-day access to our Development Manager who keeps us informed verbally or by her own written correspondence on any new developments. During these ‘special times’, we have also received a regular newsletter from FirstPort who manage the property. These we have found very helpful as they have emphasised the Government Guidelines during these times and interpreted how they work in a communal setting like this. FirstPort has also circulated ‘Activity Packs’ for tenants to use during these ‘brain-numbing’ lockdown days. This has been both helpful and informative.

3. GP Registration - In any situation having a Doctor is important, but during a Pandemic, I’d suggest it’s essential. As I wrote earlier, we had moved 40 miles away from our previous residence and therefore could no longer be served by our previous GP, so we needed to register in our new area. Initially, we were a little concerned about doing this at such a time. But, we knew it had to be done, so we contacted one of the local surgeries. They confirmed that they were taking new patients and talked us through the process in these ‘exceptional times’. I needed to drop into the surgery to collect some paperwork, to be completed at home and then returned (via the surgery post box) to the surgery. We would then get a phone call from the surgery to further talk us through the process. After this, we’d receive a phone call from a Nurse Practitioner who would get more ‘medical’ information from us (this would normally be done as a face to face meeting, but this wasn’t possible due to COVID 19). So, the process was set in motion and within a week it had all been done and we were registered at our new surgery. It proved to be straight forward, despite the strains the system was under at this time. We were very impressed and grateful to all concerned.

4. Chemist Registration - after a Doctor comes the necessity for a local Chemist. In our telephone conversation wit the Surgery, we’d been asked which Chemist we’d use. So we opted for one on the same street as our GP and just 15 minutes walk from home. The Chemist and Surgery and GP have a close link, meaning that ordering and receiving prescriptions is relatively straightforward - either via email to the surgery or telephone call to the Chemist. This needs to be done 7 days before you require the medicine and it will then be delivered to your home address. It is proving to be an excellent service. The system was soon to be tested as Margaret had a minor medical emergency, so we arranged an:-

5. Emergency Appointment - again this proved relatively straightforward. A phone call was made to the surgery early in the morning. The receptionist answered, took basic information and explained that a Doctor would phone for a telephone conversation shortly. Within 10 minutes we received a call. The Doctor asked the necessary questions and said he would prescribe the necessary medication, which would be available at the Chemist later that day. I walked to the Chemist at 2 pm, collected the prescription and Margaret was able to start her medication immediately. All highly impressive.

6. Pet Emergency - we have an elderly dog who has suffered from ear problems for years. Of course, this also ‘flared up’ around this time. His ears become irritated and presumably very uncomfortable for him. This irritation in his ears means he ‘flicks’ them, which sometimes means they swell up with oedema. This requires drawing off and anti-inflammatory drug treatment. Over the course of one of the lockdown weekends, this of course happened. We have a vet across the road from where we live. So, early on Monday morning I contacted them for an emergency appointment. As we were new to the area, I had to register Jerry with the vet, explain his condition, give details of his previous vet and then make an appointment for later that day. The COVID 19 procedure for dropping him off was explained. This was to take him to the back of the surgery where there was a cage. I was to put him in the cage, retreat to a safe distance and ring the surgery to tell them he was there. The vet would then come to collect him and have a conversation with me across the car park to gain more information. She would then take him into the surgery to examine him (I could return home), they would then call me when he was ready for collection. This happened, the vet called to say what she’d done and the medications he’d require and I returned to the back of the surgery for collection. I did this, rang them to ay I’d arrived and he was handed back to me with the usual ‘social distancing’ precautions happening. The vet again spoke to me across the car park about what she’d done, what I needed to do, the need to make a follow-up appointment and my invoice which would be paid when I made the follow-up appointment. Jerry’s treatment continues, but I’m pleased to say he is much better and happier now. We are grateful to the surgery for its prompt and efficient service.

There are therefore, just 2 of these kind of services which we may need to use. The first of these is:-

1. The Dentist - at the time of writing Dental Surgeries remain closed. When it is possible to make regular dental appointments, we will register locally and make regular appointments as we have done previously.

2. Hospital Appointments - at the present time, thankfully, neither Margaret nor I require either ‘Out-Patient’ or ‘In-Patient’ appointments/treatment. Should the need arise, we are confident that this will happen in the usual way.

Despite moving in the throes of an International Pandemic, which hit the UK particularly hard. I’m pleased to report that we found that the services stood up well. We have had a good experience in accessing them all as and when we required - in some ways, we have found them more accessible at this time. As already stated on a number of occasions, we have been extremely grateful and impressed by the way they have ‘held up’ and have remained available when required. Thank You to them all.

Our experience of this has been a good one in lockdown. But I’m aware that this might not have been how it’s been for everyone. I’m also aware that generally, our needs have not been serious or COVID 19 related. But it would be good to learn about your experience? Has it been similar to ours, or different?

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you have enjoyed reading this blog and thank you for taking some Stephen time.