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| Well Person Checks | ||||||||||||
| Make an appointment with our nurse for a routine check-up. Depending on your needs this may simply involve giving general lifestyle advice, or might require examination and assessment of weight, blood pressure, lung function or cholesterol measurement etc. Patients may come to see either the nurse or the doctor for well man review (general health issues, smoking cessation, testicular examination etc) or well woman advice (breast examination, cervical smears, hormone replacement therapy etc). If further advice is needed after seeing the nurse she may recommend that you make a follow up appointment to see one of the doctors. | ||||||||||||
| Tests and results | ||||||||||||
| Blood
tests, ECGs X-Rays are nearly always done either at Charing Cross or Chelsea
and Westminster Hospitals. When you see the doctor or nurse at the original
appointment they will give you a request form for the required test and
instructions. Routine blood tests: Take the request form to the hospital reception desk between 08:30 and 16:00 on week days and they will direct you to the phlebotomy laboratory. The earlier you arrive, the shorter the wait and patients arriving at 08.30 often leave by 08:40. Cholesterol tests are usually done fasted and you should have nothing to eat or drink for the 12-14 hours before the blood test. You do not need to book an appointment for blood tests. Anticoagulation blood tests: We are now offering on-site blood testing for our patients who take Warfarin tablets to thin the blood. The process of starting on antnicoagulation will still be arranged by the hospital or specialist, but the ongoing maintenance and routine blood testing can now be done at the surgery. You will need to book a routine appointment to see the nurse to get this done. X-rays: Take the request form to the hospital reception desk between 09:30 and 16:00 on week days and they will direct you to the X-ray department. For plain X-rays you will usually not need to book an appointment although if the department is busy they may ask you to come back at a mutually convenient time. Special X-rays (Barium studies and ultrasound scans) do need to be booked, but you should still take the request form to the department so that they can advise you about preparation needed for the procedure and arrange a suitable time for the test to be carried out. ECGs: Take the request form to the hospital reception desk between 09:00 and 16:00 on week days and they will direct you to the cardiology department. You do not need to book an appointment for ECGs. Results: The results of blood tests and X-rays are usually sent to us within 7-10 days from the time of the test (and often sooner). The doctor or nurse who initially made the request will explain how to get the investigation done and how and when to get the result. If you ring the surgery at 2-3 pm after an appropriate interval the receptionists will give you the result. As our receptionists are not medically qualified, they will only be able to inform you if the result is normal. If you need clinical advice they will put you through to a nurse or doctor. In practice this system works well and we make every effort to ensure that the process is trouble free. However, there are times (if the doctors and nurses are busy) when you may be asked to call back and we do ask for your patience and consideration if this is the case. |
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| Cervical Smear Tests | ||||||||||||
| Our trained female nurses do the majority of the cervical smears although a doctor is always at hand if needed. We make every effort to contact you in the event of an abnormal smear but we do ask for you to telephone the surgery routinely 8 weeks after the test as the result can take this time to be returned. The Health Authority runs a recall system and you may receive a written invitation from them to come to the surgery for your smear. Our two full time GPs are both male. Whilst we may occasionally employ other doctors we cannot guarantee that you will see a female doctor at this surgery. It is our intention to take on a part time female doctor in the future, depending on the rate at which our list size continues to increase. | ||||||||||||
| Contraception | ||||||||||||
| Our doctors and nurses offer a full range of contraceptive services, including general advice and provision of contraceptive pills, caps and fitting of coils. We also provide the "morning after pill" and other forms of emergency contraception. You can obtain contraceptive services from us either exclusively or in conjunction with a local family planning clinic. Dr Slater is qualified to insert IUCDs (coils) but before this is done for the first time you will need to attend to discuss the options available and also to have a swab sent to exclude infection. In line with the nationwide target of reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies please expect to be asked about your contraception during routine consultations. | ||||||||||||
| Maternity Care | ||||||||||||
| If you are thinking of starting a family and need advice, we offer a pre-conception counselling service. If and when you become pregnant we will refer you to one of our local hospital obstetric units and will follow up your pregnancy and ante-natal care at the surgery (often in conjunction with hospital care) through to your delivery. If you prefer, you can book to have full care at the hospital, or arrange to be looked after by the local midwifery team who will try to ensure that you are seen by the same midwife in your antenatal sessions and if possible at your delivery. We will manage your post natal care in conjunction with the midwives and follow this up with a full complement of child healthcare facilities. We rarely support requests for home births, but the doctors are happy to discuss the pros and cons of any given situation. We do like to be actively involved with the care of our pregnant mothers but do not have the expertise to deal with intra-partum obstetric emergencies. | ||||||||||||
| Child Health Surveillance | ||||||||||||
| We work together with our health visitors in assessing child development. The doctors do the first six week baby checks and the subsequent eight-week and later checks are done by the health visitor/s. We have a baby clinic on Thursday afternoons which is run by the health visitors, but the developmental checks with the doctors tend to be done opportunistically (please ask the receptionist to book an appointment at your convenience). The Health Visitors offer practical support where needed for families with children up to five years old. | ||||||||||||
| Baby Clinic | ||||||||||||
| Our health visitor offers a baby clinic every Thursday morning. Do come in if you would like your baby weighed and compared to expected figures by charting on growth centiles. Or if you wish to discuss any other child health issues such as feeding, nappy rash, teething etc. The appointment should be booked through reception. Outside of the clinic times you can contact the health visitor via Milson Rd on 0208 846 6274. If you are worried about your child, the doctors will always offer you prompt advice and see them the same day. | ||||||||||||
| Immunisations | ||||||||||||
| Routine children's immunisations are done by Sister Julia O'Conor in an immunisation clinic on Thursday morning. These are done at 2, 3 and 4 months of age and you will usually be notified in writing to come to the surgery. The MMR vaccinations are done at at 13 months and you should also receive written notice of when to make an appointment. | ||||||||||||
| Holiday Vaccinations | ||||||||||||
| We offer a full range of travel vaccinations (except yellow fever). If you are unsure of your requirements ask the receptionist who will give you a form to complete. We will need to know, when and where you are going, the duration of your stay and also when you had your last vaccinations. We can then advise you what measure you need to take. Please speak to a nurse at least four weeks before setting off, as you may need a series of injections over a period of time. You can CLICK HERE to get the form. Give the completed form to reception and one of the nursing sisters will leave advice as to what vaccinations you require and how to get them. | ||||||||||||
| Chronic Disease Monitoring | ||||||||||||
| We recognise the importance of treating chronic illnesses like Diabetes and Hypertension as a means of preventing complications such as heart disease. For this reason we encourage regular review of patients with these conditions. They are usually seen opportunistically in routine surgeries with a nurse or a doctor who will offer lifestyle advice and monitor weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and kidney function. We have a protocol for managing their care in conjunction with the local hospital specialists and operate a recall system if they are not seen at least annually. We also have similar protocols for review of our asthmatic patients and those with chronic lung disease as well as other chronic (long standing) condition to ensure that they are taking the appropriate medication and that their condition remains well controlled. | ||||||||||||
| Minor Surgery | ||||||||||||
| Both doctors perform minor surgical procedures on the practice premises. These usually take the form of removing undiagnosed or possibly suspicious skin lesions under local anaesthetic. We are not able to remove skin lumps for purely cosmetic reasons under the National Health Service. Patients will need to be assessed by the doctor beforehand so that the various alternative options can be discussed and if a procedure is agreed, the nature and the potential complications can be explained. The operation is done in the clinical room with one of the practice nurses and usually the procedure will take no longer than 20 minutes. All specimens taken are sent routinely to the hospital for cytological examination. Removal of stitches is done by one of our nurses 7-10 days later. Both doctors also perform joint injections for the relief of inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, or tendonitis (tennis elbow etc). | ||||||||||||
| Counselling | ||||||||||||
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We use a community counselling service provided by the Primary Care Trust and the doctors are able to refer patients for with a variety of psychological problems including depression, anxiety, bereavement and phobias. After a preliminary assessment a plan will be drawn up detailing the expected number of sessions and the type of treatment (counselling or “Cognitive Behavioural Therapy”. If appropriate patients may also be referred to outside agencies for further care. If you have booked an appointment but are not able to attend please do let counsellor know beforehand so that this session can be used for another patient. |
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| Private Consultations | ||||||||||||
| We offer private consultations for patients requesting this service and can usually arrange a same day consultation. You can be seen during working hours at mutually convenient times, or if you prefer we can see you before 8.30am or after 6pm. We have access to a full range of private specialist facilities via the Cromwell, Lister and Stamford Brook Hospitals and can arrange a full compliment of investigations and screening health checks. Patients visiting from overseas whose conditions are not urgent may be ineligible for NHS care and can choose to be seen privately. | ||||||||||||