ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS GOES ONLINE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
Alcoholics Anonymous members are coping with the Covid-19 pandemic by taking their meetings online.
The Fellowship of around 40,000 members in Great Britain & Continental European Region have had to adapt to be able to continue their recovery.
The AA Fellowship normally holds 5,000 face to face meetings a week across AA GB but with the Government social distancing policy things have had to change.
The majority of groups have turned to Zoom, Skype and other online platforms to hold their weekly meetings.
Tom Fox, a non-alcoholic trustee elect on the AA GB General Service Board, said: "The Fellowship of AA has been resourceful and two weeks into the lockdown online meetings have become a lifeline for many recovering alcoholics.
"They are able to share their experience, strength and hope with each other and use the 12 Steps and the tools of recovery to help them through very uncertain times.
IN EDINBURGH & MIDLOTHIAN THERE ARE CURRENTLY 45 ONLINE AA MEETINGS. THESE CAN BE ACCESSED VIA OUR LOCAL WEBSITE AT:
https://aa-edinburgh.org.uk/online-meetings/
Where any meeting is shown as CLOSED only AA members and newcomers with a desire to stop drinking can join. Where a meeting is shown as OPEN Anyone with a genuine interest in AA and how it works can join. These would typically be health professionals, those supporting problem drinkers in the community and family members affected by someone's drinking.
"Our phone lines and online response service has seen a rise in the amount of calls since the Covid-19 pandemic began and as a Fellowship we are grateful that we are able to help people during this time and either direct them to another member to speak to or to an online meeting where they can receive help."
Alcoholics Anonymous runs a national telephone helpline as well as an online 'chat now’ service for the suffering alcoholic to receive help and an email response service.
Since the outbreak calls to the help line have gone up by 22 per cent and calls to the 'chat now' service have risen by 31 per cent. The email response service has seen a rise of 32 per cent boosted by a 300 per cent increase in requests for meeting information by members as meetings go online.
For help contact www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk or call our 24 hour helpline on 0800 9177 650.
Shielding patients
The below video link from Healthcare Improvement Scotland gives information on care planning conversations with your GP.
www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/coronavirus_covid-19/care_planning_conversations.aspx
Wester Hailes Dental Department - 18/05/20
Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre Dental Department clinics are temporarily suspended. For patients registered with a question or query call Duncan Street Dental Centre on 0131 667 7114 between hours of 8:30am-4:30pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30am-4pm on Friday where your call will be taken and triaged. Outside of these hours for dental emergencies and non-registered patients, please call NHS 24 on 111 who will direct you appropriately.
17/04/2020 - Coronavirus high risk/shielding patients
Coronavirus high risk/shielding patients - preparing for your telephone conversation
High risk patients that are advised to shield should have recently received a letter from the Scottish Government about Coronavirus and how to keep themselves safe. Your GP Practice is going to call you soon to talk about this a bit more and answer any questions you might have. We have posted a copy of the above telephone conversation template out to all high-risk patients who were identified by the Scottish Government.
The practice are currently identifying if there are any other patients we feel should shield and if so, we will be in touch with those patients as soon as possible.
Shielding helpline & website information for patients
The above attachment gives information about the shielding helpline and some websites with updated health information for patients.
Coronavirus - Self Care Guidance
Please click the above link for self care information.
CORONAVIRUS - 20/03/20
Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre building will be closed to the public from Monday 23rd March 2020.
We are still open and staff will still be working in the building but patients/visitors will only be able to enter the building if they have a pre-arranged appointment.
Please call our telephone number (0131 453 9250) if you need to speak to someone about your healthcare.
The community reception desk telephone number is 0131 453 9100.
Again, thank you for your help and understanding while we try to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Message from Lloyds Wester Hailes
Lloyds Pharmacy at the Wester Hailes Shopping Centre will be opening at 10am, closing for an hour for lunch and then closing at 5pm.
CORONAVIRUS - 16/03/20
We are experiencing VERY high phone call volume, and as a result our phones are not working as expected.
This means you may hear an engaged tone, or be cut off.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME THAT YOU ONLY CALL US ABOUT IMPORTANT HEALTH RELATED ISSUES
We will see people who are unwell, or arrange hospital review for those who have significant symptoms.
Treatment room is still open, for those requiring wound or skin management (as long as no cough or fever), and by appointment only.
BUT – at this time, we have to reduce the amount of NON HEALTH / NON URGENT work we are doing so we can look after the people who are unwell.
This means things like prescriptions being processed differently, and medical certificates being done at a later date.
As promised, we will try to keep you up to date with information on our web page, Facebook page, and via the Wester Hailes Digital Sentinel.
Thanks for helping us to keep everyone safe and healthy.
CORONAVIRUS - 13/03/20
As you may be aware from the news, because of coronavirus, the NHS is having to change how we deal with patient care and appointments during this time.
If you have specific concerns about coronavirus please call the helpline on 0800 028 2816 – please do not come to the practice if you have not been invited.
From Friday 13th March 2020, our Patient Care Advisers will need to ask everyone who contacts the practice about possible coronavirus symptoms, so that we can keep everyone safe - Thank you for understanding.
We are being asked to pause all non essential services, and see only those who need urgent or immediate medical attention.
Therefore at this time, we are not able to pre-book ANY future routine appointments.
We understand you may be worried or anxious but we will try our best to keep everyone informed and as safe and healthy as possible.
Please check NHS inform (https://www.nhsinform.scot/), our website, Facebook page and the digital sentinel for regular updates.
Thank you.
Wester Hailes Medical Practice
To help patients know if there is anywhere better they could attend or call regarding their health issue e.g. Pharmacy, Optician etc
(Site updated 06/07/2020)