Nurse Clinics

lady_nurse_taking_bp Our nurses are Registered General nurses (RGN's) and take it in turns to cover most of the surgery hours. You can make an appointment by phoning reception. The nurses routinely carry out the following procedures and it is not necessary to see your doctor for these:

All immunisations for children (see the recommended schedule over the next page)
All travel injections and associated travel advice
Dressings, blood pressure screening, diabetic and asthma management (special clinics)
40-74 years health checks and CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) clinic with the Health Care Assistant and your GP.
Cervical smears, contraception and hormone replacement therapy checkups
Ear syringing (after oiling)
For the provision of maternity services, we have an attached midwife Fiona, who will see you in the surgery at the anti natal clinic

Health Visitor

If you have had a baby your health visitor will visit you on your 10th postnatal day and will give you advice particularly with regard to baby care.

District nurses

The team will see you at home if you have a nursing problem. They liaise closely with your doctor. Should you need there services please phone the reception.

Family Planning

We provide a wide range of female contraceptive services including emergency contraception (the morning after pill), and counselling and advice for you and your partner if you are considering sterilisation or vasectomy. At the moment, we are not offering insertion of RUD (coils) but this may change in the future and we still carry out coil checks. Patients requiring coil insertions may approach one of the local family planning clinics. There is a list at reception.

Over 75's

If you are over 75 you may be offered a medical by our practice nurse and you will be referred to your doctor in the event of an abnormality being discovered that requires special advice. If you cannot get to the centre you may be visited by the district nurse and on occasions by your doctor.

Childrens Immunisations

We are very keen to ensure all children are immunised and there are very few reasons why children should not have this vital protection. You will be notified at appropriate times but if you should not here from us please contact reception. Please try to keep the appointment as it is risky to delay immunisation and only cancel if your child is unwell; don't worry about simple colds.

Child Health Surveillance

Examinations are carried out by the doctors in the practice, at 6-8 weeks for which you will be sent an appointment. (Checks at 7-9 months are carried out by the health visitors at Hornchurch Clinic).

Additional Services

We now have the following professionals located at the surgery and at Raphael's House available to book an appointment with our reception team.

Physiotherapists

Social Prescriber

Podiatrist

Pharmacist

Mental Health Practitioner

Dietician

Non-NHS/Private Services

non_nhs_services1 The doctors carry out various medicals that are outside the remit of the NHS. These include pre-employ ment medicals, insurance medicals, elderly drivers medicals, PSV medicals and sports medicals - particularly sub-aqua medicals.

Please make an appointment through the reception but please explain clearly the nature of the medical so that adequate time can be given to you. Please note that all non-NHS work attracts a charge.

Travel Vaccinations

Prior to travelling please allow as much time as possible to arrange your appointment for the Travel Clinic (preferably at least 6 weeks or more), which will be with the Practice Nurse. The Nurse will require to know which countries, and areas within countries, that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.

Vaccines

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.

Please note only the undernoted vaccines are available on NHS Prescriptions:-

Hepatitis A
Typhoid
Diphtheria
Tetanus
Polio

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

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 on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

Sickness Certificates If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

Should you feel that you have not been entirely happy with your visit to the surgery please do not hesitate to let us know! You may choose to contact the surgery by telephone, e-mail or in person, not forgetting the Patient Participation Group (PPG Chair Mrs Helena Cowin) who are always happy to help.

Please see our Complaints Policy or fill up our Complaints Form and hand over to the reception who will pass it over to the Practice Manager.

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