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Extra GP Healthcare Services at your Surgery!

Did you know you can get a lot more than a routine medical appointment at your GP Practice?

City and Hackney’s 39 GP practices work under something called General Medical Services – this is how doctors and healthcare professionals provide medical services to local people – it is set out in a national GP contract with the Government.

But in addition, our GPs have been willing to take on a wide range of extra work, so that they can provide you with more services from their practices. Many of these services are not available elsewhere in the country.

We are very proud of this range of extra services, because we can measure that they are helping local people to stay healthier. For example, we are best in the country for controlling blood pressure – through the focus that local GPs put on this. That in turn means fewer strokes and heart attacks.

These extra services fall under a number of headings:

Our specialist team can go with you on the journey to quitting – they help hundreds of smokers every year to quit smoking. You can sign up by calling 0800 046 9946 / emailing smokefreehackney@nhs.net, or your GP practice can refer you;

This means that we can offer blood tests at the practices or very close to home to save time and trouble of hospital appointments;

You can have your wound dressing changed and stitches removed at a practice on any day of the week, including weekends, rather than having to go to hospital;

If you have an urgent medical need, you can call your practice and ask to speak to the Duty Doctor.  They should call you back within a 2 hour period. In addition, healthcare professionals, e.g. hospital doctors, who want to discuss a patient with the GP urgently, will be called back within a 30 minute period by the practice’s Duty Doctor;

Additional childhood immunisation catch up clinics are available in North East Hackney. This service targets children who may have fallen behind with their immunisations. This will help to protect all City & Hackney children by ensuring that high rates of immunisation are achieved;

Your practice offers additional support to all pregnant women and those who have recently had a baby.  The practice also supports women with a long term condition who are planning to become pregnant. In addition, the GP and health visitor work together to help plan care for children who may be vulnerable;

This is aimed at patients who may be at end of life allowing the GP to spend more time with them to help put in place a personalised and Coordinated Care Plan (CMC) that supports and respects the patient’s needs and wants;

If you are housebound, very frail or have multiple, complex health needs, your practice GP or nurse can spend more time with you, either in your home, or at the practice, to put in place a personalised and Coordinated Care Plan (CMC) that helps support you to maintain good health and wellbeing;

There are 16 GP practices who provide specialist warfarin monitoring to patients who are stable on their medication so that these patients do not need to go to hospital to be monitored;

Your GP practice can book you in for an appointment outside of ‘normal’ hours on weekdays from 6:30pm to 8pm, and at weekends from 9am to 5pm;

This covers all sort of conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems such as COPD and asthma or chronic kidney disease.  The practice is able to spend time more frequently with you to check your condition and give you more time to talk about your condition;

This is a 5 yearly health check available to patients age 40 – 74 who do not have any other long term conditions.  The health check covers blood pressure, weight, diet, exercise, alcohol consumption and smoking status to assess your future risk of heart disease or stroke so you can make any necessary lifestyle changes;

You can get free contraception including Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) coil and implant fittings, and screening for sexually-transmitted diseases at a practice rather than having to go to a hospital or sexual health clinic.

If your practice does not offer LARC you can ask to be referred to one of the inter-practice LARC HUBS: 

 

 

  • Spring Hill HUB: accepting referrals from Springfield Park PCN (Stamford Hill, Cranwich Road) and Hackney Downs PCN (Gadhvi, Elm, Healy, Riverside, Rosewood, Clapton). Referrals emailed to: CAHCCG.springhillpractice@nhs.net 

 

  • Lawson HUB: accepting referrals from Shoreditch Park & City PCN (Shoreditch Park, De Beauvoir, Neaman). Referrals emailed to: lawson.practice@nhs.net 

 

  • Kingsmead HUB: accepting referrals from Hackney Marshes PCN (Athena, Latimer, Lea) and Well Street Common PCN (Elsdale, Greenhouse, Trowbridge). Referrals emailed to: nelondonicb.Kingsmead@nhs.net 

 

You can order a sexually-transmitted disease test kit to be delivered to your home via the online Sexual Health London service. Follow the link here. 

Your GP can send a photo of certain skin conditions directly to a hospital specialist to enable fast diagnosis and treatment where needed.  This helps your GP to manage more skin conditions within the practice rather than referring you to the hospital;

Patients identified as being at risk of latent TB are offered a blood test to assess if they have been infected with the TB bacteria so they can be treated;

If you are experiencing mental health challenges and are on medication, you can see a GP or nurse to have an overall check up to discuss your mental and physical health and what further support you feel might help;

If you have been discharged from hospital with stable prostate cancer, you will be monitored and supported at your practice, this includes having a regular blood test;