Our Diabetic clinics are run by Dr Rowena Hill with Practice Nurses Lesley Marley, Ellie Lee and Alison Thornton.  A Diabetic Nurse Specialist and a Diabetic Dietitian also attend for regular clinics here.

It is important to note that hospital-based diabetic clinics have moved away from full annual checks to a problem-solving approach. Therefore, even if you have been to a hospital clinic for an annual review, they are unlikely to have performed the complete range of tests that are recommended for annual follow-up. We very strongly encourage you to come to the annual check regardless of whether you have been seen in hospital.

Our practice team are always at hand to help you manage your diabetes effectively.

If appropriate, we will send written invitations to patients to attend an annual or six-monthly check-up. If, for any reason, you are unable to attend an appointment we would very much appreciate you contacting the surgery to cancel or re-arrange the appointment. Other patients may benefit from the released appointment.

Regular, planned contraception is the most effective way to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. There is lots of helpful information on the many contraceptive methods available online via the Sexwise website. The linked summary page below explains more about all of the forms of contraception currently available:

https://www.sexwise.org.uk/contraception/which-method-contraception-right-me.

Before discussing suitable potential contraceptive methods with you, our Practice Nurse or Doctor will assess your age, medical history, sexual lifestyle and personal views and preferences. No contraceptive method is 100% reliable but in all cases contraceptive methods are more effective if used properly.  It is worth remembering that  male or female condoms are the only forms of contraception that also protect you from sexually transmitted diseases.

We provide ALL available forms of contraception at Riverbank, from pills to coils and implants, also referral for vasectomy and in some cases female sterilisation. Please book an appointment to speak to your GP or the nurse.  For coil or implant procedures we are happy for you to directly book in to clinics via the secretaries. However if you would like to discuss first please book an appointment for discussion first as above.

We strongly recommend that your child is vaccinated in line with the NHS immunisation schedule. Serious childhood illness for example diphtheria, polio, tetanus, meningitis, epiglottitis, measles, and rubella in the past caused death and disability. These illnesses are thankfully now rare in the UK due to the longstanding immunisation programme, but they are still present in the world and in some areas are actually increasing.  Serious adverse reactions to the immunisations are rare.

Vaccinations of  newborns start at 8 weeks. We will contact you to arrange this but please let us know if you have not received an appointment.

Please check the following points before bringing your child to their immunisation appointment.

• Are they suffering from any feverish illness?  Do not worry about a runny nose without a high temperature.
• Are they taking any steroids by mouth?  Asthma inhalers are not a problem.
• Do they suffer from any disease affecting the immune system?
• Do they suffer from a severe allergic reaction to eggs?
• Have they suffered from a reaction to any previous immunisation or medication?

If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the above questions then please discuss it with the practice nurse at your appointment.

What is a vaccine?

Vaccines may consist of a preparation of any of the following:

• a killed virus or bacterium
• detoxified toxins from a virus or bacterium
• a weakened form of a live virus or bacterium

They all work by stimulating the immune system in the same way as the actual infection would, but without causing the full-blown disease. Your immune system is designed to “remember” so once exposed to a particular bacterium or virus, it retains immunity against it for years, decades or even a lifetime.

We provide the standard regime of childhood vaccinations for all of our young patients. For further information on childhood immunisations see the NHS immunisation schedule.

Cervical screening or ‘smear tests’ are recommended every 5 years for all women aged 25 to 49 years if they test negative for HPV, and every 5 years for women aged 50 to 64 years. Smears are generally performed by one of our Practice Nurses.

The purpose of a smear test is to take cells from the surface of the cervix. The sample is then tested for the presence of the virus HPV and if positive, the sample is then examined under a microscope to detect early changes to the cells. In this way, any abnormal cells can be removed to prevent development of cervical cancer.

We strongly encourage all women who are aged 25 or over  to get their first smear done when they are 25 and then to re-attend for future routine smears as determined by their last smear results.

Written invitations are sent directly to patients when appropriate. If, for any reason, you are unable to attend an appointment we would very much appreciate you contacting the surgery to cancel or re-arrange the appointment. Other patients may benefit from the released appointment.

Generally you will receive the results of your smear in 4-6 weeks.

Our Respiratory Clinics are held by Practice Nurses who are specialists in Asthma and COPD and monitor patients who have asthma, COPD or episodes of recurring wheeze. The aim is to provide the most appropriate treatment to relieve and prevent symptoms. We recommend that patients with asthma and COPD are seen at least once a year at the clinic, regardless of whether they attend the Chest Clinic at St Richards.

If appropriate, we will send written invitations to patients to attend an annual checkup. If, for any reason, you are unable to attend an appointment we would very much appreciate you contacting the surgery to cancel or re-arrange the appointment. Other patients may benefit from the released appointment.

An excellent website for asthma sufferers is www.asthma.org.uk.

Waiting Room Blood Pressure Machine

You are welcome to come and use our new BP machine in the waiting area if you are asked to get a BP reading. The machine has full instructions on the wall and gives you a print out. We would be grateful if you could add your name and date of birth to the print out and give it to reception.

---

ABPM Machines

If you have a single raised blood pressure, you may be asked to have an ambulatory set of readings done. We will book you an appointment to have this fitted and removed. The results will go to the GP to analyse then we will contact you. This gives us an average of many readings and is useful in the diagnosis of hypertension.

---

Home BP Monitoring

In order to monitor your BP, or sometimes as pat of diagnosis, we may ask you to take readings at home to monitor your BP, either a one off, or more usefully twice daily BP for 4-7 days so we can average the result. You can buy your own machine or we do have machines to lend out if needed. We usually will contact you if we want you to do this as part of your care.

We run regular Travel Clinics.  Please tell the receptionist that you require this service when you book and they will give you an appropriate appointment.

The Nurse will provide you with all the advice and guidance you need to ensure a healthy, trouble free holiday.

Please remember that most immunisations take up to 14 days to be effective.  Some need to be ordered by prescription beforehand and some require a course of injections over several weeks.  Please take this into consideration when deciding when to make your appointment

Some vaccinations are not available on the NHS and there will be a charge for these.

If, for any reason, you are unable to attend an appointment we would very much appreciate you contacting the surgery to cancel or re-arrange the appointment.  Other patients may benefit from the released appointment.