Who should I see?
We try to keep our GP appointments for patients with more serious health problems and a lot of the time patients can be treated by other members of the Practice Team.
Our GP Partners have asked our receptionists to ask you to give them a brief description of your problem and they will ensure you are signposted to the appropriate clinician within our team.
Our team now includes a variety of a different roles:
- Advanced Nurse Practitioner: is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, prescribe medications and formulate treatment plans.
- Physicians Associates: (PAs) are healthcare professionals with a generalist healthcare education who work alongside doctors providing medical care as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team. PAs work under the supervision of a named senior doctor
- Practice Nurses: work in GP surgeries where they plan, provide care, treatment and health education to patients of all ages.
- Health Care Assistants: support the practice nursing team in the delivery of nursing services, working as part of the practice multidisciplinary team, delivering care within their scope of practice. The healthcare assistant will deliver and assist clinical staff in the provision of treatment, preventative care, health promotion and patient education.
- Phlebotomists: a medical professional that is trained to take blood from adults.
- Paramedic: will see patients with both routine and urgent care needs. They respond to requests to assess, diagnose, and treat as required. They triage patients and can support the needs of the practice by seeing patients within the surgery but also in the patient’s home.
- Practice Pharmacist: work in general practice as part of a multidisciplinary team in a patient-facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas.
- Practice Pharmacy Technician: work within a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, based within a GP practice, and support the delivery of safe, effective and efficient systems for medicines optimisation, repeat prescribing, reducing medicine waste and maximising patient outcomes.
- Diabetic Specialist Nurse: work within the multidisciplinary team providing expert knowledge and advice to patients regarding their diabetes management.
- Mental Health Support Worker: a qualified mental health professional who works with adults aged 18 and over. They provide support, triage, signposting and brief interventions to patients experiencing mental health challenges.
Social Prescribing referral
Social prescribing is a means of connecting patients to a range of non-clinical services in the community to improve their health and well-being. We have a great Social Prescribing community team, patients can self-refer here or call the practice and we can refer.
Self care
If you have a cough, cold, headache or other minor ailment try treating yourself at home first.
Please remember that self-care for common conditions can help free up our GPs’ time, making it easier to get an appointment when you have a more serious condition.
Self-referral
There are many local and free NHS services that you can refer yourself to. Learn about all the different types of support available to help you take control of your wellbeing.
What is Self-Referral? | Bexley Wellbeing Partnership
Your community pharmacy can help too
Pharmacists are highly trained health professionals and can give you confidential health advice for a range of common illnesses and complaints.
Don’t wait for a GP appointment for coughs, colds, aches and pains. Just call your local pharmacy a call or drop in – there’s no need to make an appointment.
Your pharmacists can also help you decide if you need to see a doctor or nurse.
More information about how pharmacies can help you here.
NHS 111
111 is the free NHS non-emergency number.
You should use the NHS 111 service if you urgently need medical help or advice but it’s not a life-threatening situation.
Call 111 if:
you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency
you think you need to go to A&E or need another NHS urgent care service
you don’t know who to call or you don’t have a GP to call
you need health information or reassurance about what to do next
More information about how NHS 111 can help you here.
A&E
A&E is for life-threatening accidents and emergencies only. Before you go there, ask yourself, “Is it a real emergency?”
If not, please consider using other local health services before you visit A&E.