General Medical Services

Routine consultations
Well person checks
Chronic disease management
Child Health Surveillance
Immunisations and vaccinations
Cervical smears
Maternity services
Family planning services, including intrauterine contraceptive device
Special drug monitoring blood tests
Minor surgery
Minor injuries service

Services in addition to routine consultations

We offer appointments for warfarin monitoring, blood tests for other special drug monitoring, minor surgery and minor injury when appropriate, cervical smears, acupuncture, well person, antenatal and postnatal examinations and family planning.

We also have appointments with either the doctor or the nurse as appropriate for chronic disease monitoring for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease and diabetes.

Cervical Smears, Mammography & Well Person Screening

If appropriate you will be sent an invitation to attend for a cervical smear. The Mammography Screening service will invite you for a mammogram (usually once every 3 years for women in the appropriate age groups). The result of each of these screening investigations will be sent to you direct. From time to time we may also invite you for a well person check of blood pressure, cholesterol etc. But please do ask if you wish to be included.

Family Planning

All the doctors are trained in family planning. The nurses can deal with the renewal of contraceptive pills or depo-provera injections. Drs Chappelow and Foljambe are able to provide a full contraceptive coil and implant service. Please make an appointment to discuss your needs with them.

Non-NHS Services

Certain medicals, e.g. heavy goods licence application medicals, pre-employment and sports medicals, and some certificates, e.g. private sickness certificates and holiday cancellation insurance certificates, are not part of the National Health Service. We are able to provide these services as appropriate but will usually charge a fee. Please see the notice in the Surgery for the scale of charges.

THE PRE-NATAL & POST-NATAL CARE TEAM

Doctors

The doctors provide antenatal care. It is possible for mothers-to-be to receive their care from the doctors alone, midwife alone, or shared care. The doctors are available for regular antenatal appointments and for any acute medical problems that may occur.

Midwife

The Community Midwife also works closely alongside us. She holds an antenatal clinic (by appointment) in the Surgery on Tuesday mornings. Antenatal patients may opt for midwife only or shared care. She can also provide care and advice in between appointments through the telephone number on your antenatal care book. They also arrange your scans and any screening tests that may be needed.

Health Visitor

Health visitors are experts in care of and health promotion for young children. Normally the health visitor will visit in the week after your child’s birth. They are also involved with the antenatal classes that are organised together with the midwives in the last 2-3 months of your pregnancy.

Hospital Appointments

These normally take place at the Women’s Health Unit at the Friarage Hospital. All pregnant women are normally seen in a Consultant-led clinic once in their pregnancy. This is also where the ultrasound scan is performed. If the pregnancy is complicated for any reason then more of your care will be provided at the hospital.

Travel Vaccinations

If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to make an appointment with the practice nurse to discuss your travel arrangements. This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required. There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on the links below

Europe & Russia	North America
Central America	South America
Caribbean	Africa
Middle East	Central Asia
East Asia	Australasia and Pacific

It is important to make this initial appointment as early as possible - at least 6 weeks before you travel - as a second appointment will be required with the practice nurse to actually receive the vaccinations. These vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine. Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work.

Some travel vaccines are ordered on a private prescription and these incur a charge over and above the normal prescription charge. This is because not all travel vaccinations are included in the services provided by the NHS.

Travel Health Questionnaire

To help us offer the appropriate advice, please print out and complete the travel health questionnaire below and return it to the surgery as soon as possible.

clock2 Travel Questionnaire

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or at our reception or on the HMRC website.

For any illness lasting longer than seven days you will need to see the doctor for him/her to issue a sickness certificate and for any subsequent renewal of the certificate. If your employer insists on a sickness certificate for 7 days or less a charge will be levied.

If you have a disability or a need for someone to help look after you please let us know. There are often extra facilities available to you. Similarly if you are a carer, or help look after someone else, even if he or she is not a patient of this practice, please let us know. We are keen to honour our statutory obligation to give you extra consideration.