Clinics & Services

Baby Assessments & Vaccinations

One of the GPs will carry out all 6 week baby checks and you will be contacted to arrange an appointment. Our Practice Nurses, Gill Slater and Lesley Bunting, give all the baby vaccinations which we try to coincide with the 6 week baby check and the Mum's post natal appointment however this is not always possible. An appointment will be sent to you directly from Child Health and not from our nurses, but please feel free to re-arrange with us if this is inconvenient.

NHS Health Checks (well person checks)

The practice nurse will discuss with you your current lifestyle including your family history and will take your blood pressure and possible blood tests if necessary. She will offer you advice regarding a healthy lifestyle. The consultations take 30 minutes.

Immunisations / Foreign Travel

If you are travelling abroad and think you may need vaccinations for the country you are travelling to, then you will need to make an appointment for a telephone consultation with the Practice Nurse in the first instance. The Nurse will ask you some questions and will determine what vaccinations, if any, are needed, and an appointment will be made for you to attend for the vaccinations to be given.

Travel vaccination appointments are 30 minutes per person and it is important to advise the Surgery if you cannot attend for the appointment. Please ensure you leave enough time before you travel for any vaccines to be given - appointments may not readily be available depending on the time of year!

Maternity Care

The midwives are now based at the Oldhams Childrens Centre in Belmont, and ladies can now self-refer rather than seeing a Doctor first. Once you know that you are pregnant, you can call the midwives on 01204 334992 and they will arrange your future appointments for ante-natal care.

You can still see or speak to the Doctor at any time if you have any concerns or issues, this is just to speed up the booking in process and ensure that ladies are given the earliest opportunity to speak with a midwife.

 Family Planning

All family planning methods can be discussed at the surgery with the doctors or nurse practitioner. Any ladies who are wishing to have a removal of the IUD will need to contact the Family Planning Centre at Royal Bolton Hospital on 01204 390771. They can offer appointments both at the hospital and at Lever Chambers.  However, you can still discuss any contraception methods with the nurse or the Doctor.

Cervical Smear Tests

The practice nurses carry out the smear tests within the surgery unless a doctor is specifically requested. The practice follows the National policy of carrying out smear tests every three years unless there is a previous history of abnormal smears. Reminder letters that smear tests are due are sent out centrally and not from this practice. Please do not make an appointment for a routine repeat smear test until you have received the letter as the laboratory will not test smears taken before the 3rd anniversary of your last smear (unless there have been previous abnormal smears).

Blood Tests and X-rays

You will need to be referred for a blood test or X-ray by either a doctor or a nurse. They will discuss this with you and provide the required paperwork for the procedure needed. You will need to speak to the Doctor before attending for a blood test so a form can be completed for the type of test needed for your symptoms.  Please do not make an appointment with the Nurse if you do not know what tests are needed, or if you want a blood test to check for symptoms not discussed with a clinician.

You must be referred by the doctor for an x-ray, and a signed form must be taken to your appointment.  If you do not have the form, or this is not signed by the doctor, then x-ray most likely will not be carried out.  Please ensure you have the right information before you attend so there are no problems when you get to your appointment.

Blood tests are carried out at the surgery by our phlebotomists and Practice Nurses. They are usually carried out in the morning so they can be collected at midday and taken straight to the hospital. However, if you are unable to come at these times, please ask at reception who will advise you further.  Please note, phlebotomists cannot provide any advice on medical conditions or carry out any other tests other than the ones stated on the blood form.  For any other medical issues, please speak to the Practice Nurse or make an appointment with a GP.

If you have recently seen the Doctor or Nurse, they may require you to have a blood test to have further investigations carried out.  We have 2 Practice Nurses and 2 Phlebotomists available for blood tests, but Tuesday and Thursday mornings are when the blood clinics are usually available.  Samples are normally taken in the morning so they will be picked up at lunch time.  Depending on the tests being carried out, these cannot always be kept overnight, and samples cannot be taken on a Friday afternoon.

Please ensure when you call to make your appointment, that you have a blood form from the hospital or one has been done for you before you attend.  It is not always obvious what the test is that you require but this information appears on the test form.  Unfortunately, you cannot just attend for a blood sample without seeing the Doctor to advise what tests are needed.

The Tuesday and Thursday clinics are usually filled for the morning, so it is important you arrive on time for your appointment.  If you arrive late, it may not be possible to see you as planned, and you may be asked to rebook or to wait past your appointment time.  If you know that it is difficult to get a blood sample from your veins, please let us know when making your appointment so we can allocate you a longer appointment to accommodate this and prevent patients after you being kept waiting.  The same applies if you know you are likely to faint, have a needle phobia, or any other issues that may require extra time.

Where possible, please have a drink on the morning of your appointment, as it may help the nurses get a sample easier if you are hydrated.

If you need any other information, please do not hesitate to contact us at Reception.

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.

You will be required to make an initial telephone appointment with the Practice Nurse so they can discuss the latest vaccination requirements determine what vaccinations are required based on your medical history.  Please note, it is each patient's responsibility to check for the most up to date information for the country to where to you are travelling, for any specific requirements. Nurses cannot provide any information regarding paperwork, visas or documents. They are only able to advise on travel information and necessary vaccinations.

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 - ideally 8 weeks before you travel - as a second, face to face, appointment will be required with the practice nurse to actually receive the vaccinations. These vaccines have to be ordered as they are usually not a stock vaccine. Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work, and to ensure there is an appointment available with the practice nurse.  These are not always available at short notice.

Some travel vaccines are only available privately, for a charge, and therefore you may need to attend a private travel clinic to obtain these vaccines - not all vaccines are available free on the NHS. You will need to enquire online for the availability and fees associated with each vaccine required. Some local pharmacies do offer travel clinic services, or they may be able to advise where you can attend.

When the telephone consultation takes place with the Nurse, they will be able to advise if there is any charge involved. Please note that we are not able to take card payments currently, you will need to make any payments either by cash or cheque.

Non-NHS Services

Some services provided are not covered under our contract with the NHS and therefore attract charges. Examples include the following:

• Medicals for pre-employment, sports and driving requirements (HGV, PSV etc.)
• Insurance claim forms
• Prescriptions for taking medication abroad
• Private sick notes
• Vaccination certificates

The fees charged are based on the British Medical Association (BMA) suggested scales and our reception staff will be happy to advise you about them along with appointment availability.

Please note that the Doctors at this Practice are neither trained nor indemnified to verify that a person is fit to fly or fit to participate in any sort of sporting activity.  They can state facts e.g. that a patient has asthma or is pregnant or has had a heart attack, but they cannot definitively state that someone is fit to fly or to take part in a marathon or other such sporting events.
 

Test Results

When you have had tests such as blood tests, urine samples, X-rays or cervical smears and wish to know whether or not the results have been received at the practice, you can contact the surgery, either by telephone or by coming in to the surgery and asking one of the receptionists. The doctor or nurse should tell you how long it is likely to be before we receive the result as this differs according to the type of test.

Please avoid calling first thing in the morning, as this is our busiest time with patients who usually call for emergency appointments.

Please note that the receptionists cannot tell you the actual results of the tests, but can tell you what comment the doctor has made when he or she has read the result. Our receptionists are not medically trained and therefore we would not want the wrong information to be given to patients by accident. You are welcome to collect a print out of your results at any time by calling into the Surgery so you can review these in your own time, or you can view these online if you have signed up for online services and filled in the relevant paperwork and provided identification.

The receptionists would also be happy to arrange a telephone consultation or an appointment for you to discuss the results with the doctor or nurse who requested the tests.  Please note, this will be a routine appointment and will not be dealt with urgently unless it has been specified by the Doctor or Nurse.

Our practice has recently been working with the LGBT Foundation as part of the Pride in Practice training for any of our patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  We have been awarded the Pride In Practice Gold Award.  The LGBT Foundation, which is based in Manchester, can provide a wide range of help and services for people who feel they might need some additional support.  Some of the services they offer include:

• Counselling
• Outreach
• Pop-in support
• Sexual Health Testing
• Support Groups

We have information in the waiting room about the LGBT Foundation, or you can reach them via telephone on 0345 3 30 30 30 or their website, www.lgbt.foundation.

For any further information regarding your rights during the current corona virus pandemic, please click the link below.

LGBT and Corona Virus Rights

For Information regarding screening services please follow this link  LGBT Foundation - Cervical screening

This Practice believes in fairness and equality and above all, values diversity.  Our staff have ongoing equality and diversity training and will not discriminate with regards to:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Race (which includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins)
• Sexual orientation
• Sex
• Religion or belief

Our practice policies are reviewed annually.

Should any patient feel they have been unfairly discriminated against, please contact the Practice Manager in the first instance.

People in England who have satisfied vaccine requirements against COVID-19 or can prove their prior infection (recovery) status can use the NHS COVID Pass to demonstrate their COVID-19 status.

If you’re aged 12 or over you can get a digital NHS COVID Pass for travel abroad (children aged 5-11 who have received a full primary course of COVID-19 vaccination can also get an NHS COVID Pass letter) but you should follow the entry requirements of the country you are travelling to. See the GOV.UK website for more information about the NHS COVID Pass for children.

For details of vaccination requirements, including vaccinations recognised in the UK, visit the NHS.UK website.

Vaccine status will be available through the NHS COVID Pass service from: 

• the NHS App which you can download from app stores 
• the NHS website 
• 119 - by requesting a paper letter

You will need to register to use the online services, if you have not already. It may take more than a week for your identity to be checked and verified.

If you cannot access the online services, and you have had both doses of the vaccine (or one dose of the Janssen single-dose vaccine), you can request a paper letter from the NHS by calling 119 or requesting a letter at the NHS website. Only call 119 if you are due to travel outside the UK in the near future and have had your second dose (or one dose of Janssen) more than 5 working days ago. It may take up to 7 working days for the letter to arrive.

This practice is not able to provide you with a letter that shows your COVID-19 vaccination status. Please do not contact the practice about your COVID-19 vaccination status unless you have been advised to by the 119 service.

When you're planning your travel, you should check the latest information on demonstrating your COVID-19 status when travelling abroad on the gov.uk website. Make sure there is enough time to get proof of your COVID-19 status before you are due to travel.