Health visitors

Health Visitors are all trained nurses who have extra training and qualifications in child health. They are a fantastic source of information about child development and health, parenting strategies, breastfeeding, nutrition and community support. They also offer help with social, emotional and environmental issues that affect families.

Health visitor service website

Child health checks

Appointments are sent out automatically for routine child health checks.

The first will be with a GP at the surgery when your baby is around 6 weeks old.You will be sent information about this and asked to make an appointment at the practice.

You will also be offered routine health reviews for your child, with your health visitor, at 6-8 weeks, 8-12 months and 2-2½ years old.

Child Immunisations

Immunisations are given by our Practice Nurses in accordance with the NHS vaccine schedule.

Further information on the schedule and vaccines in general can be found on NHS choices vaccinations.

Immunisation Schedule

There are a number of services that can help you when it comes to looking after yourself if you have diabetes.

Routine care

The majority of people with diabetes are looked after by the Practice diabetes team.

We like to see all people with diabetes twice a year, once during their annual health check and again 6 months later.

You will receive an invite for both the annual health check and the 6 month review. Both of the appointments will be a nurse and you will need to have a blood test before each appointment.

There are times when you will need to be seen more often than twice a year, for example after you are first diagnosed or if problems are detected during one of the routine reviews. We arrange these additional reviews as needed and may be a nurse or one of the Doctors.

Specialist care

If there is a particular problem identified with your diabetes care that we cannot help you within the practice, then we will refer you to a specialist service.

For the majority of specialist problems we use Leeds Community Healthcare diabetes service, though for some people we also refer to Wharfedale General Hospital or St. James’s.

Self help and support groups

There are 8,760 hours in a year and over a year you will only spend 2 to 3 hours receiving support and advice about your diabetes from professionals. The vast majority of care comes from ‘self care’.

We suggest that all people who develop diabetes should attend the self-management education programme, which is 6 hours of extra education offered to those with a new diagnosis of diabetes (your nurse will mention it).

There is also a local PEP Diabetes support group as we recognise people live with diabetes for years and so need on-going support and advice.

What is flu?

Flu occurs every year, usually in the winter, which is why it is sometimes called seasonal flu. It is a very infectious disease that can come on very quickly. The most common symptoms of flu are fever, chills, cough, headache, pains in your joints and muscles and extreme tiredness. Healthy people usually recover within 3 to 4 weeks, but some people can develop serious life-threatening complications and need to be admitted to hospital.

Colds are much less serious and usually start with a stuffy or a runny nose, sore throat and cough.

How do we prevent the spread of flu?

Flu is unpredictable and there can be different strains of the virus. However, over the last ten years, the flu vaccine has generally been very good at targeting the circulating strains.
The flu vaccine is available every year on the NHS to help protect adults and children who are most at risk of flu and its complications.

Can I have a free flu vaccination on the NHS?

Flu can affect anyone but if you have a long-term health condition flu can make it worse, even if the condition is well managed and you normally feel well.

We provide flu vaccines if you are:

• Aged 65 or over,
• Pregnant,
• Aged 2, 3 or 4 (by nasal spray),
• Over six months of age and have one of the following conditions:
  • Chronic respiratory disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis and cystic fibrosis. Also, people with severe asthma who need to continuously or repeatedly use their inhaler, take steroid medication, or who have been admitted to hospital because of their asthma
  • Chronic heart disease, including heart failure, congenital heart disease, and heart disease caused by high blood pressure
  • Chronic kidney disease, such as kidney failure and people who have had a kidney transplant,
  • Chronic liver disease, such as cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis,
  • Chronic neurological diseases, such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease or multiple sclerosis,
  • Diabetes
  • A suppressed immune system, due to disease or treatment. This includes people who have a damaged or no spleen, those people with HIV, people having chemotherapy or other immunosuppressant treatment, and those on high doses of steroid medication.
• Very overweight with a BMI over 40.
• Living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility (not including prisons, young offender institutions or university halls of residence),
• Receive carer’s allowance or you are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if you fall ill,

For more information please see the Department of Health Website.

Flu Clinic

Every autumn, around September, we start our flu clinics. We aim to vaccinate as many of those at risk, as indicated above.

You can book online if you are registered for online services, or call reception to make an appointment.

We are holding Flu Vaccination Clinics on Saturday 21st September 2019 (over 65s only), and Saturday 26th October 2019 (over 65s only) between 9am and 12.30pm.  Both clinics are by appointment only.

There will also be a Flu Vaccination Session at New Farnley Community Centre on Thursday 17th October 2019, from 9.30am – 12 noon (over 65s only).

Information on flu vaccination clinics for patients under 65 years of age will be added to the website shortly.

Private Medical Services

You may have to pay a fee for certain services that are not covered by the NHS. These fees reflect the time it takes for the doctor to look at your medical records and some admin time.

Services include things like private health certificates, insurance claim forms, HGV/taxi medicals and some travel vaccinations.

This is our current list of Non NHS fees.

More information about why we charge can be found on the BMA website.

Private Medical Forms

There are also times when we are asked for information about a patient’s health, such as when you are applying for a mortgage or life insurance. We only do this with your permission and you have the right to see the report before it is sent. To avoid any delays, please make sure you sign the consent form that the company gives you.

Online

For general advice about bereavement you might find the NHS choices article on bereavementuseful.

If you are looking for advice about dealing with the practical aspects (such as legal issues) of someone dying then try the Bereavement Advice Centre.

The Leeds Bereavement Forum collates allot of information on the services available in Leeds.

In person

There are also several organisations and charities that provide specialist advice and support to those that have been bereaved:

• Cruse (bereavement care in Leeds area)
• Sands (stillbirth and neonatal death charity)
• The Compassionate Friends
• Leeds Suicide Bereavement Service
• Child Bereavement UK
• Winston’s Wish (for bereaved children)

Advocacy means helping another person to communicate their views and wishes.

GPs often act as advocates for patients when dealing with issues in the hospital or by making sure that their patients’ and/or families’ voices are heard when a decision is needed about their care.

Advocacy involves looking at choices together and helping patients to make decisions. It may be writing a letter of support or communicating on behalf of the patient.

When advocates who are not part of social services or the NHS are needed, they can be found in Leeds at:

• Advonet
• Articulate Advocacy CIC
• Leeds Independent Health Complaints Advocacy

If you have one of the following conditions then you will be invited for an annual health check.

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Kidney disease
• Heart disease
• Asthma
• Chronic bronchitis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Learning disabilities
• Dementia
• Severe mental health problems

We invite all people for their annual health check in the same month as their birthday. You may need a blood test before the appointment, in which case the invite will say this.

The appointment will be 20 minutes long, however if you have more than one problem it will be longer.

Do I need help?

Take the alcohol test is an excellent online tool which helps you work out if you’re at risk of alcohol-related problems and some simple things you can do to reduce the risk.

Or alternatively, if you’d prefer it in paper format:

Alcohol brief intervention ()

Getting help

Forward Leeds

Forward Leeds has a wide range of services that support young people, adults and families in Leeds with alcohol and/or drug use.

It is the service that our Doctors will refer you to if you need help, you can also self-refer to the service.

Here is the list of Forward Leeds services.

Or call them on 0113 8872477

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is a national network of free self-help groups aimed at helping people recover from alcoholism.

Some people find them very useful and our Doctors often recommend them.

The best way of finding out about them and your closest group is at Alcoholics Anonymous.