Attached Services
District Nurses
The District Nursing Team provides nursing assessments and care for housebound patients with a physical healthcare need. They see patients at home and in residential care settings. The service supports and encourages people with disabilities and long-term conditions to recover their health, cope with health problems and achieve the best possible quality of independent life.
Health Visitors
The health visiting team provide advice and support in a number of areas including:
- Antenatal groups
- New birth visits, including advice on feeding, safe sleep, parental emotional wellbeing and child health
- Maternal and infant feeding contacts at 6-8 weeks
- Child health and developmental reviews (9 months – 1 year and 2 years – 2.5 years)
- General parenting support
- Advice on family health and minor illnesses
- Specific support on subjects such as postnatal depression
- Advice on immunisations and national screening programmes
- Support children and families during the transition to school
They also run a targeted health visiting service for children and families who require extra support. This service assesses each child and family and introduces them into appropriate services, such as speech and language therapy.
Physiotherapy
A physiotherapy service is provided at the practice by a physiotherapist from St George’s Hospital on a Monday and Friday. If you feel you may benefit from physiotherapy, please make an appointment to discuss your symptoms with your doctor. They can then advise you on how to access the service. You will either be seen at the surgery or at St George’s Hospital if there is a significant waiting list at the surgery.
We also have an in-house First Contact Practitioner (FCP) who is an experienced physiotherapist with advanced skills necessary to assess, diagnose and manage musculoskeletal (MSK) problems such as lower back pain, ankle sprains or frozen shoulder, for example. An FCP service allows patients who would normally present to their GP with an MSK issue, to self-refer to a professional with expertise in that field. You don’t need to see your GP for back pain, neck pain, osteoarthritis or general joint pains, you can now see a FCP.
Psychology
There are several options for psychology therapies including one-to-one therapy, group therapy and guided self-help.
Please make an appointment with a GP to discuss your symptoms and they will advise on how to access the “Psychological Therapies in Primary Care” service.
Baby Clinic
GPs carry out baby checks at 8 weeks and the practice nurses will do the childhood immunisations straight afterwards.
If you have any queries about childhood immunisations or are worried that your child’s immunisations may not be up to date, please make an appointment with a practice nurse.
When you book your baby for their 8-week check, the receptionist will book them with a GP as a double appointment followed by a double appointment with one of our practice nurses for their 1st set of immunisations on the same day and as close to the GP appointment as possible.
Non-urgent advice: Patient Notice
Remember to bring your child’s red book to all appointments.
Cervical Smears
All women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64 will be invited by letter for a smear test every 3 to 5 years. The nurses will perform smear tests (normally by appointment). The practice also run smear clinics on Saturdays between 9.00am and 12.00pm. Remember, you can bring your child to the appointment with you if you don’t have any childcare. Call your Surgery to book an appointment with one of the nurses.
Chronic Disease Management
If you have one of the following conditions, we would like to see you on an annual basis to review your condition:
- Asthma / Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Coronary Heart Disease, Atrial Fibrillation, Heart Failure and High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
- Diabetes
- Non-Diabetic Hyperglycaemia
- Dementia
- Learning Disabilities
- Mental Health
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs)
An Annual Review may include blood tests and is required for all patients with a chronic disease. The purpose of an annual review is to ensure patients are taking the right medication and receiving the best possible care for their condition(s).
Our aim is to see our patients in the month of their birthday. Our annual review service includes a reminder for our patients when their annual review is due, although we do encourage patients to take an active role in helping to manage their own conditions, so if your birthday has passed and you have not received a letter, please do contact us to book yourself in.
The majority of our annual reviews are carried out by our nursing team. You may need an appointment: with a Healthcare Assistant and one with the Practice Nurse. Contact our reception team on 020 8673 1720. The reception team will advise accordingly and book your appointment(s) with the most appropriate clinician(s).
Our invite system for annual reviews is based on your month of birth. You will be contacted 3 times each year. If you have not had an annual review since the 1st of April each year, you will receive your first invite within a month of your birth month. If you do not book an appointment for your annual review, you will receive a second invite roughly 1-2 months after the initial invite and a third invite a few months later.
Helpful Links
It is important to attend your review appointment so we can ensure your condition is properly controlled and managed. If you run out of your repeat medication and have not had a review, we may not be able to re-authorise your repeat medication.
Family Planning
All doctors are able to offer family planning advice during their normal surgery. Please make an appointment with a practice nurse (or a GP).
- Coils: Fitted at the Sexual Health Clinic, please call 0333 300 2100.
- Contraceptive implants: Fitted at the Sexual Health Clinic, please call 0333 300 2100.
- Contraceptive injections: Are administered by the practice nurses.
- Emergency Contraception: Please contact a practice nurse (or a GP) as soon as possible.
Health Checks
Newly registered patients can book a health check appointment at the surgery. The consultation is usually conducted by a Health Care Assistant and may include measurements of blood pressure, height, weight and urinalysis. Diet and alcohol consumption, exercise, smoking status and allergies may also be discussed.
An NHS Health Check will be offered to patients aged 40 to 74. It’s designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia. As we get older, we have a higher risk of developing one of these conditions. An NHS Health Check helps find ways to lower this risk.
For further information, please contact the practice.
Home Visits
We will happily provide home visits where they are clinically justified, e.g. to housebound patients and the terminally ill.
If you wish to request a home visit, please contact the surgery as soon as possible so that doctors can plan their visits.
Please try to get to the surgery if at all possible – the doctor can see 4 or 5 patients in the time it takes to do one home visit. We are unable to do home visits simply for patient convenience – there must be a genuine health reason.
Except in exceptional circumstances we will always ask for small children to be brought to the surgery, where we believe we can offer the best care and undertake a more thorough assessment.
If you are registered as an “Out of Area” patient, the practice will not be able to provide a home visit. You will need to call 111, who will put you in touch with a local service.
Joint Injections
We provide injections free of charge for a wide variety of joints for a range of conditions including:
- Osteoarthritis
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Capsulitis of the shoulder
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Subacromial Bursitis
A GP will make an assessment whether an injection is appropriate for your condition and agree the most appropriate course of action with you.
Phlebotomy / Blood Test
Non-urgent advice: Patient Notice
You will need an appointment to have a blood test. We also see patients from other practices in Wandsworth, please contact your surgery and they will be able to book an appointment.
Blood tests are undertaken by our Phlebotomists on a week-day before 12.30pm and Saturday mornings so that the samples could be transported to the laboratory on the same day.
It is the patients’ responsibility to contact the doctor for the result.
To make it easier for patients, we have a results checking system so that you do not need to make an appointment with the doctor just to get your test results – the doctor will leave sufficient instructions with the receptionists to enable patients to make sense of the results without the inconvenience of attending the surgery.
Waiting Times
Waiting times vary depending on the time of day, the number of samples taken and other complications as a result of the blood collection. Every effort is made to see patients as quickly as possible and it normally takes about 5 minutes per patient and sometimes longer depending on possible complications.
Our busiest times are between 8.30am and 10.30am.
Procedure
The Phlebotomist will call you into the room and ask you to sit in a chair and uncover your arm. After confirming your identity, the phlebotomist puts a tourniquet around the arm just above the elbow, cleans the area if dirty, and gently inserts a small needle into a vein on the inner arm.
The phlebotomist quickly withdraws just enough blood needed for all the tests and then gently removes the needle. Pressure will be applied to a piece of cotton wool / gauze over the site to stop the bleeding and a small plaster tape is applied – please let the phlebotomist know if you are allergic to sticking plaster.
The blood is then placed into one or more tubes and is sent to the laboratory for testing.
Risks
Phlebotomy is safe when done by a health professional. You may develop a small bruise at the puncture site.
The most common causes of bruising after a blood test are the lack of pressure on the site of the jab or damage to the vein when the needle is inserted.
Although bruises can be painful, they are usually harmless, but if you frequently get bruises from blood tests you should tell your GP. During or after a blood test you may feel faint; tell the Phlebotomist if you feel weak or dizzy so that they can help you feel more comfortable.
Results
It is important that you follow up and find out the results of your blood tests.
You may have been asked to make a follow-up appointment to discuss your blood tests; results can take about 1 to 2 weeks to be reported from the lab. (your GP will inform you if the test will take longer to come back).
To view your test results, please logon to your NHS App before trying to call the surgery..
Test Results: The GPs review all the results and will contact you if there is anything that needs to be discussed urgently. If not, they may contact you by phone / letter or wait for you to phone in. Ideally you should speak with the GP who requested the results.
Stop Smoking
If you need help to stop smoking don’t go it alone, call the Wandsworth NHS Stop Smoking Service today on freephone 0800 389 7921 and get details of the best clinic for you.
You can also visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/stopsmoking or Healthy Wandsworth
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 here.
| Travel Vaccinations (costs are per dose) | |
|---|---|
| Meningitis A&C or ACWY (for the Hajj & Umrah) | £50.00 |
| Rabies (course of 3 doses needed – cost per dose) | £50.00 |
| Malaria (prescription) | £15.00 |
Health Questionnaire
To help us offer the appropriate advice, please fill out the online form and return it to the practice before coming to see the nurse.
Non-urgent advice: Patient Notice
It is important to make this initial appointment as early as possible – at least 6 weeks before you travel. Travel vaccinations are mostly free, but you may have to pay for some.
Wandsworth Self-Referral App GetUBetter
Please click on the link below and select which condition you would like access to e.g. lower back, back and leg or neck pain. We will send you an email with all the information on how to get started.
The App is provided free as part of your care in Wandsworth
It will provide you with:
- Easily accessible, targeted and personalised self-management information to help you day by day, and step by step
- Exercises based on your stage of recovery
- Direct booking of local treatments such as physiotherapy and well-being services within Wandsworth
- Reassurance and support to self-manage”