EMERGENCY
MEDICAL HELP WHEN THE MEDICAL CENTRE IS CLOSED
If you require emergency medical help when the Medical Centre is closed, you should telephone 01925 650999 to contact the Emergency Primary Care Centre.
At the Emergency Primary Care Centre,
an experienced Nurse will deal with your call and provide medical advice or an
appointment at the Centre, as appropriate.
Only on grounds of MEDICAL NEED
, following a discussion with the Doctor, will a home visit be arranged. For
your information the visiting guidelines are detailed below.
As an alternative you could call NHS Direct 0845 4647. This nurse-led service
provides advice and health information.
1. GP Visit Recommended
GP home visiting makes clinical sense and is the best way of giving a medical
opinion in cases involving:
- The terminally ill/housebound patients.
- Those truly bedbound patients for
whom travel to premises by car would cause a deterioration in their medical condition
or unacceptable discomfort.
2. GP Visit May Be Useful
After initial assessment over the telephone, a seriously ill patient may be helped
by a GP's attendance to prepare them for travel to hospital - that is, where a
GP's other commitments do not prevent them from arriving before the ambulance.
Examples of such situations are:
- Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
- Severe shortage of breath
- Severe haemorrhage
It must be understood that if a GP
is about to embark on a pre-booked surgery session of 25 patients and is told
that one of their patients is suffering from symptoms suggesting a heart attack,
the sensible approach may well be to call an emergency paramedical ambulance rather
than attending.
3. GP Visit Is Not Usual
In most of these cases, to visit
would not be an appropriate use of a GP's time:
- Common symptoms of childhood: fevers,
cold, cough, earache, headache, diarrhoea/vomiting and most cases of abdominal
pain. These patients are usually well enough to travel by car. It is not necessarily
harmful to take a child with a fever/temperature outside. These children may not
be fit to travel by bus or to walk, but car transport is available from friends,
relatives or taxi firms. It is not a Doctor's job to arrange such transport.
- Adults with common problems, such
as cough, sore throat, influenza, back pain and abdominal pain are also readily
transportable by car to a Doctor's premises.
- Common problems in the elderly,
such as poor mobility, joint pain and general malaise would also be treated by
consultation at a Doctor's premises. The exception to this would be the
truly bedbound patient.
Doctors from this Practice, together
with Doctors from other Practices will be on duty at the Centre on a rota basis.
The emergency telephone number should only be used in cases of MEDICAL EMERGENCY.
CARER
TO CONTACT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
If you wish us to have a name
and contact telephone number or numbers on your records, could you kindly let
us know in writing.
ACCESS
TO THE MEDICAL CENTRE
Access is via the footpath adjacent to the Church off London Road. There is wheelchair access and parking facilities for the disabled at the rear of the building accessed by the Shopper's Car Park.
SAMPLES
Any samples should be handed in to the Practice Nurse before 1.00pm Monday to Friday. Please ensure your sample is clearly labelled with your name and date of birth and it is in the appropriate container.
BLOOD
TESTS
These are done by the Phlebotomist
or Health Care Assistant, by appointment, once the doctor or nurse practitioner has seen you and recommended
the appropriate test to be carried out. Please be sure to bring the form given to you by the doctor.
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