Thursday 22nd Jan - HEWORTH GREEN SURGERY IS CLOSED.
The internet is down and it is an issue with CityFibre in the local area. Engineers have been trying to fix this since mid afternoon yesterday and we await an update this morning. We are unable to access patient records so it is unsafe to keep the site open.
Please use Tang Hall Lane, Park View or Victoria Way surgeries if you need to speak to a member of staff on site.
Any patients with pre-booked appointments will be contacted ASAP.
Update - we have internet back and will open as normal on Friday 23rd at 8am. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
GLP-1s or Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists are medicines that help people feel fuller by mimicking a natural hormone released after eating. Some newer medicines, like Mounjaro, also act on a second hormone involved in appetite and blood sugar control. They are licensed to support care of patients with type 2 diabetes or obesity. There are strict criteria for their use in the NHS and many patients seek them privately.
We do not always get informed about private medications and some private clinics are unaware of other medication their patients are taking. This leads to a risk that important medications are not absorbed properly and do not work well. This is particularly important for women taking oral hormonal contraception or oral HRT medicines.
The British Menopause Society recommend that women using GLP-1s move to a non-oral form of progesterone as part of their HRT - i.e patch or IUS coil such as Mirena. If this is not possible/ideal then it is important to increase the dose of progestogen/progesterone at initiation of the GLP-1 for 4 weeks and maintain higher dose for 4 weeks after any dose increase.
The College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare recommend that women using Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and oral hormonal contraception using barrier methods such as condoms to reduce the risk of pregnancy and consider moving to a non-oral form of contraception.
"If you are using tirzepatide you should use a barrier method of contraception (e.g. condoms) in addition to your pill for four weeks after starting the medication, and for four weeks after any increase in dose. This is because tirzepatide works slightly differently to the other GLP-1 agonists. Alternatively, you may wish to consider another (non-oral) method of contraception whilst using tirzepatide. There is currently no evidence that semaglutide, exenatide, liraglutide, dulaglutide or lixisenatide reduce the effectiveness of oral contraception (i.e. the combined pill, or the progestogen only pill/ “mini-pill”)".
Many thanks to all our staff and patients who were flexible and understanding regarding the necessary closure of Heworth Green due to an internet outage. A massive thanks to the N3i engineers that got us up and running today. We will be open as normal across our sites at 8am tomorrow.
Update 12pm: our engineers have found the source of the issue and a fix is in place. We will be able to reopen at 8am tomorrow as normal. Heworth Green will remain closed for the rest of the day. The Internet at Heworth Green remains down so we have closed the site as unable to access patient records. Please use Tang Hall Lane, Park View or Victoria Way surgeries. Patients with booked appointments at Heworth will be contacted ASAP. This remains an issue with City Fibre and a fix is out of our control, sadly. We will update this post as we hear more.
Update 6.35pm - we still have no internet at Heworth Green, we understand it remains an issue with the fibreoptic internet in the local area. The engineers are working on a fix and we hope to be working normally in the morning. It the site needs to close we will update patients first thing in the morning. Update 4.20pm - Heworth Green will close at 4.30pm The internet at Heworth Green surgery and surrounding area is down. It is related to City Fibre and we are working with our internet/computer providers to provide a fix. We have moved clinicians to other sites but Heworth Green remains open (but with limited capabilities). If you need a blood form or help filling in a request form, please use Victoria Way or Tang Hall Lane surgeries.
