Antenatal & Postnatal
Child Health
Teenagers
Diabetes
Coronary Heart
Disease
Smoking Cessation
Asthma
Contraception
Cervical Smears
Travel Clinic
Enhanced Services
Health Checks
Antenatal & Postnatal
On Monday
afternoons from 1:30 to 3:30, Sister Beverley Quinn, our Community Midwife, sees
pregnant women. Drs Mogan, Rivett, Clarke and Kasztura also have Antenatal
clinics between 2:00 and 2:50 pm on Mondays, and work closely with Beverley. Most
of our patients are cared for under "shared-care" agreements with the Obstetric
team at the Conquest Hospital. Midwife-only home-confinements are sometimes
possible after agreement with Beverley, but the GPs do not attend home
deliveries. If you have just found out that you are pregnant, please book an
appointment with your GP as soon as possible.
The GPs like to see all 6 week-old children and their mothers for a routine
check in the Antenatal & Postnatal clinic.
Child Health
PLEASE NOTE: With effect from 1st April
2006, the baby
immunisation clinic at the Surgery will now take place on Fridays
by appointment only. Appointments are sent out
for immunisations. We no
longer operate a "just turn up" system
as this led to long waits. If you cannot come at this time, please ring up to
make an appointment with Sister Donald or Sister Young in one of their other
clinics. We send out appointments for "preschool" immunisations in routine
clinics done by Sisters Donald and Young.
The Health Visitor, is available to see pre-school children from 1:00 to
3:00 pm on Mondays at the Battle Health Centre, Station Road, Battle. She also
carries out routine hearing test at age 8-9 months, which she organises with
parents. She also does any developmental checks needed at 8 months, 18 months
and 3 years, although increasingly we are not offering routine checks at these
ages (which have not been shown to be of great value) and are concentrating on
children whose parents have specific concerns.
Teenagers
Patients aged
15 are invited for a health check and 15 year old immunisation performed by Sister
Dewar.
Diabetes
Sister Hale & Dr Rivett have both undergone additional
training and gained diplomas in Diabetes Management, and run an Annual Review
Clinic at the Surgery on Monday evenings. All patients with Diabetes who are not
on Insulin, and who do not attend the hospital Diabetes clinics are invited up for a full
yearly check of all aspects of their Diabetes. They then give recommendations
for management by the patient and their usual GP over the coming year. This is
part of a quality controlled scheme across the Hastings & Rother Primary Care
Trust. Sister Hale contacts suitable patients directly.
We also are lucky to have expert advice on hand from Abigail Turner, a
specialist Diabetes Podiatrist, who works with us on
Monday evenings, twice a month.
Coronary Heart
Disease
Sister Donald &
Dr Clarke run an Annual Review Clinic for patients with Angina, previous Heart
Attacks, Coronary Bypass Surgery or Angioplasty, who are not been seen at the
Hospital. This takes place on Thursday evenings, and is part of BARCS,
the Bexhill & Rother Cardiac scheme, developed closely with our local
Cardiologists, who are happy for many of their patients to be "followed-up" by
us. The clinic gives a full check-up of the current sate of patients' heart
symptoms, medication and lifestyle, providing patients (and their usual GPs)
with a personalised plan of action for the next year.
Smoking Cessation
Sister Donald
sees patients in her Thursday and Friday afternoon and evening clinics to help
support and monitor those trying to stop smoking, with or without the help of
Nicotine Replacement Therapy or other medication. Her success rates are
impressive.
Asthma
Sister Hale
sees patients with asthma who need further support and education, and can review
patients medication. She also performs Spirometry (more detailed lung testing)
in those who might have Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease. We have stopped
routinely inviting patients for Nurse asthma checks because so few came! We
now prefer that all asthmatic should have their asthma reviewed at least once
and preferably twice a year by their usual GP.
Contraception
Both Sister
Dewar and Sister Hale have family planning training. Sister Dewar fits
Diaphragms. IUCDs (contraceptive "coils") are fitted by Dr Mogan who also fits the long-acting progesterone system "Implanon". If you wish
to discuss having a coil fitted, or starting the "pill" or any other form of
hormonal contraception, please make an appointment to see your usual GP in the
first instance.
Patients under the age of 16 can be seen without their parents to discuss
contraception, and if they wish the matter to remain confidential, and have
sufficient understanding to be able to take decisions on their own behalf, we
will not disclose the matter to their parents.
The Family Planning Association
have a very useful website for sexual health information.
Cervical Smears
These are done
mainly by the Practice Nurses in their routine clinics. Patients are now all written to by a central
administration system with the results of their smears. The interval between
smears has been amended recently and the new intervals are shown here:
|
Age group (years) |
Frequency
of screening |
|
25 |
First
invitation |
|
25 - 49 |
3 yearly
|
|
50 - 64 |
5 yearly |
|
65+ |
Only screen
those who have not been screened since age 50 or have had recent abnormal
tests |
Travel Clinic
Sister Dawn
Young, Lead Travel Nurse, sees patients requiring travel advice on Tuesdays and
Fridays. Sister Mandy Donald will also see patients in her Thursday and Friday clinics. The first step is to obtain from the travel file in the Surgery waiting
room, or download, a Travel Form for each patient of the surgery who is travelling with you
and complete and return it to us. If you ring reception 4 working days later, they
should be able to tell you what immunisations you might need and any cost
resulting. With the exception of Polio, Hepatitis A and Typhoid, travel vaccines
and medications (including antimalarial medications) are a Private rather than
an NHS service.
If you are
travelling to Europe, don't forget your
European Health Insurance Card.
Enhanced Services
As part of the “New GP contract” we are providing some
“enhanced services” some of which are similar to services we have provided in
the past. They include:
-
Cardiac
Care – our participation in
the Bexhill & Rother Cardiac Scheme annual review system, led by Dr Clarke &
Sister Donald. Sister Caroline Brennan, Community Heart Failure Nurse,
has a regular Heart Failure Clinic once a month, on a Tuesday and
she invites patients to attend.
Health Checks
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