SMS Text Messages
For several years, the practice has used SMS text messages to help with online enquires in order to get a quick response to and from patients.
The cost of text messages has been largely covered by the Integrated Care Boards but from April 2026 these costs will be passed to practices. Having reviewed the cost of this, the practice will be faced with a significant cost which would impact services. This is not something we can sustain so to be able to still offer patients a speedy response to their queries and requests for appointments, we need all of our patients to contact us in different ways.
As with all practices in East Cheshire, from the 1st April 2026 we will contact all of our patients where possible by email. We would therefore recommend that you update us with your current email address as soon as possible to add this information to your medical record held within the practice. Please provide the information in a typed format to avoid confusion with spellings and symbols.
The NHS app is still available and if you have this, we encourage you to switch on notifications. We will still email you, but the message will arrive via the NHS app. The NHS app is free to use and will give patients access to their clinical records, test results and vaccination history. Repeat medication can be ordered via the app and new features will enable you to track where your prescription is – either with the surgery or with the pharmacy and a message will be sent when the item is ready for collection.
The NHS app is being updated from January to make it much easier to use and will remove some of the issues it has had in the past for a quicker response time and a clearer use of information available.
There is more information available on development of the NHS app on the following link: