Services

Month of Birth Recall & Review of Medical Conditions

During the month prior to your birthday, you will receive an invitation by post asking you to make an appointment for the yearly review of your medical condition(s) including a review of the medication you are taking. This enables you to choose a day and time most convenient to you.

Chartered Physiotherapist

The Physiotherapist, works with all age groups giving advice and treatment for back and neck problems, strains and sprains. Treatments are also given for chest and neurological problems.

Community Nurses

The Community Nurses provide a comprehensive nursing care service to patients of all ages within their own homes, often this is undertaken in collaboration with other agencies.

If you wish to speak to a member of the team, please phone either Wallingbrook or Okement between 9.00am – 9.30am, at other times during the day a message can be left with the receptionist. An on-call evening emergency service is available until 11.00pm by contacting the Doctors out of hours service.

Health Visitor

Our Health Visitors provide a support to the Practice Nurse by taking blood samples; perform new patient checks, ECG’s, blood pressure and urine checks.

The Health Visitor is also available for all children and their families to promote, enhance and preserve the health of individuals of all ages within the practice.

To speak to the Health Visitor, telephone Wallingbrook Health Centre.

Midwife

The Midwife, provides the full range of midwifery care, including preconception advice, antenatal (pregnancy) clinics and classes; hospitals and home births and mother & baby care at home.

Minor Injuries Service

Minor Injury Service at your GP Surgery

We provide a quick, efficient service for cuts, falls, minor head injuries, burns, scalds and foreign bodies if they’ve occurred in the last 48 hours.

We aim to beat the local A&E waiting times and there’s no need to travel to Barnstaple or Exeter.

This service is available at Chulmleigh & North Tawton GP Surgeries. Okement Surgery patients can use the Minor Injuries Unit situated at Okehampton Hospital.

Minor Surgery

The Doctors perform a wide range of minor surgery procedures. A Doctor or Receptionist can advise you of the necessary arrangements.

Nurse Practitioner

Often confused with a Practice Nurse, the Nurse Practitioner can see patients for many minor illnesses and injuries.  Our Nurse Practitioner may also prescribe in these areas when necessary.  

Examples of problems with which the Nurse Practitioner can help: coughs colds and chest infections; skin and wound infections; stomach pain; some female problems (it is recommended that you speak with the Nurse Practitioner beforehand for assessment). 

She may also be able to give advice in certain circumstances over the telephone for: 

• eye infections
• head injury
• diarrhoea and vomiting
• simple cough and cold advice
• sore throat
• women’s health e.g. thrush, delaying of period and female urine infections. 

If the presenting condition is something she is unable to attend to the Nurse Practitioner will refer the patient back to their usual GP or Duty Doctor, depending on the severity.

Practice Nurses

Our Practice Nurses are available by appointment. The Nurses undertake wound care and dressings, removal of stitches, routine immunizations, also contraceptive advice, cervical smears, blood pressure and urine checks, advice on healthy eating, smoking advice and menopausal problems.

They also perform well-person checks and run special clinics such as asthma advice and education, Cardio Vascular Disease, Diabetes and Teenage Clinic.

Health Care Assistants (HCA's)

Provide support to the Practice Nurses by taking blood samples; perform new patient checks; ECG’s, blood pressure and urine checks as well as simple dressings and suture removal.  They also provide some health support sessions such as weight loss.

Sickness Certificates

You do not normally need a sickness certificate for the first seven days of illness.

The Statutory Sick Pay Regulations state that employers are required to accept self-certification notes (filled in by you) for the first seven days of illness. All employers must comply with these regulations.

You only need a doctor's certificate during the first seven days of illness if you wish to claim benefits other than Statutory Sick Pay: For example, benefits under the private insurance scheme, or to take your pre-booked holiday as sick leave instead. In these circumstances we make a charge of £10.00 for a private sickness certificate.

To continue to claim Statutory Sick Pay after the first week of illness you will need a doctor's certificate, which will be provided free of charge. To claim other benefits, such as those under private insurance scheme, you will need to bring the appropriate form for us to fill in.

Sick Notes or Medical Certificates Information Questions and Answers

Q. Do you need a doctor's certificate in the first seven days of an illness?

No, illness that last less than one week are usually minor and self-limiting and you may not require a visit to a doctor. It can be difficult for your doctor to judge whether or not you are incapable of reporting for work in this situation and all the certificate really indicates is that you attended the surgery on a specific date complaining that you had a minor illness.

In general, The Department of Health and Social Security, employers, doctors and patients do not recommend that you attend your doctor for certification alone. Your GP is required to issue a certificate only if your absence from work through sickness lasts more than seven days.

Q. What do you need?

For the first four days of any illness you do not require any form of certification. (It is for you to decide if you are fit for work).

For the next three days (including Saturdays and Sundays) you must fill in a self-certificate form, (SC2 which is available from your employer).

After the first seven days you will need a doctor's certificate and will have to attend the doctor to get a Department of Social Security sick note either a 'Med 3' or 'Med 5'.

Q. What are private sick notes and do you need one?

Some employers or insurance schemes will ask you to provide a private sick note. The doctors will charge you a fee to provide you with a 'sick note'. Sick notes are usually not necessay for the first week of any illness.

Test Results

Doctors, Nurses or Midwives ordering blood tests or other investigations will discuss with you how to get the results. If you need to telephone for results, please do so between 2.00pm and 5.00pm.

• Most blood tests results are available within 7-14 days.
• Urine and pregnancy tests within a week.
• Smear tests take up to 2 months.

Before leaving the surgery you should expect to have a clear understanding of when and how test results will be made known to you. We would attempt to contact you about seriously abnormal results, but you should always check with us on the result of a test.

Please note we are only able to give test results to the patient themselves (over the age of 16) unless we have written consent giving permission to pass the information to another named person. Forms are available at Reception.

Travelling Abroad?

We are no longer able to offer a travel vaccination service to patients travelling abroad. The complexity of travel health has increased over the years and in order to offer a comprehensive service we feel we cannot meet the requirements which includes ongoing education for our Practice Nurses. The only vaccinations we are able to provided are Hepatitis A, Tetanus and Typhoid. Please collect a travel advice pack from reception.

For other travel vaccinations and anti-malarial medication there are private specialist travel health clinics available in the area.

Your nearest clinics are:

Travel Health Consultancy Exeter
22 Southernway West
Exeter
EX1 1PR
Tel:  01392 430590
www.travelhealthconsultancy.co.uk

Opening Times
Monday – Friday : 8.30am – 6.00
Saturday: 9.00am – 5.00pm

CityDoc – Exeter
Superdrug Exeter
Unit 11 Guildhall Shopping Centre
Exeter
EX4 3HJ
Tel: 0845 0260830

Opening Times
Monday – Friday: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Saturday: 10.00am – 3.00pm (by appointment only)

MASTA – Plymouth
Lisson Grove Medical Centre
3 – 5 Lisson Grove
Plymouth
PL4 7DL
Tel: 0330 1004288

Useful website for all travel needs/destinations –

Fit For Travel

Insurance Fees 2012

We have a range of services that require a fee for processing, such as forms, vaccinations and medical records.

Please see our Insurance Fees List 2012 for further information.

These charges will take effect from 1st December 2012.

Flu Information

Flu is a highly infectious and very common viral illness that is spread by coughs and sneezes.

It's not the same as the common cold. Flu is caused by a different group of viruses and symptoms tend to be more severe and last for longer.

You can catch flu - short for influenza - all year round, but it is especially common in winter, which is why it is also known as 'seasonal flu'.

Flu causes a sudden high temperature, headache and general aches and pains, tiredness and sore throat.

You can also lose your appetite, feel nauseous and have a cough.

Flu symptoms can make you feel so exhausted and unwell that you have to stay in bed and rest until you feel better.

Read more about the symptoms of flu.

When to see a doctor

If you are otherwise fit and healthy, there is usually no need to see a doctor if you have flu-like symptoms.

The best remedy is to rest at home, keep warm and drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

You can take paracetamol or ibuprofen,  to lower a high temperature and relieve aches.

You should see a doctor if you have flu-like symptoms and you:

• are 65 or over
• are pregnant
• have a long-term medical condition such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, kidney or neurological disease
• have a weakened immune system

This is because flu can be more serious for you, and your doctor may want to prescribe antiviral medication.

Antiviral medicine can lessen the symptoms of flu and shorten its duration, but treatment needs to start soon after flu symptoms have begun in order to be effective.

Antibiotics are of no use in the treatment of flu because it is caused by a virus and not bacteria.

How long does flu last?

If you have flu, you generally start to feel ill within a few days of being infected.

Symptoms peak after two to three days and you should begin to feel much better after a week or so, although you may feel tired for much longer.

You are usually infectious – that is able to pass on flu to others – a day before your symptoms start, and for a further five or six days.

Children and people with weaker immune systems, such as cancer patients, may remain infectious for longer.

Elderly people and anyone with certain long-term medical conditions are more likely to have a bad case of flu, and are also more likely to develop a serious complication such as a chest infection.