Clinics

Antenatal Clinic & Parentcraft Classes
The Community Midwife attends the surgery every week and holds an Antenatal Clinic. The Health Visitors are also closely involved in looking after women during pregnancy and they run the Parentcraft Classes. Should you wish your antenatal care to be at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup or Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich your midwife would need to refer you. If you would like Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford you would need to contact them directly on 01322 428 474.

Asthma Clinic
Our Practice Nurses are trained and qualified to supervise the management of patients with asthma and they run a specific clinic for this purpose. Your doctor may well refer you to the Nurse`s Asthma Clinic for long term monitoring upon making a diagnosis of asthma and initiating treatment, or after dealing with an acute exacerbation.

It is very important that you keep your appointments in the Asthma Clinic, where the Nurses will ensure that your medication is working properly, check that you are using your inhalers correctly and measure your lung function (eg Peak Flow rate) etc.

Diabetes Clinic
Our Practice Nurses and HCA are trained and qualified to supervise the management of patients with diabetes also, and most patients with diabetes that does not require Insulin injections are now monitored in the surgery.

The follow-up diabetes assessments are very time consuming and it is important that you keep your appointments in the Diabetes Clinic, where the Nurses will check that you are keeping to an appropriate diet and taking your medication correctly, measure your blood pressure and arrange blood tests etc.

Family Planning Services
We provide all the usual family planning services including prescribing the oral contraceptive pill and "morning after" pill, and fitting diaphragms (caps) and coils. The "morning after" pill only works if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse.

For legal reasons, all patients under the age of 16 should be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult, but we will not refuse to see younger female patients who need contraceptive services such as advice or a prescription for the pill. All our medical records are completely confidential and younger patients can be reassured that absolutely no-one will have access to them without their permission.

Minor Surgery
The Doctors carry out a limited range of surgical procedures in the surgery to save referring patients to hospital. These include the treatment of warts and verrucae by freezing, withdrawing fluid from swollen joints, and injecting Hydrocortisone into inflamed joints and muscle attachments (such as a frozen shoulder and tennis elbow).

For legal reasons, all patients under the age of 16 should be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult.

Services for Women
All women between the ages of 25 and 65 should have regular cervical smears, unless they have undergone hysterectomy and been advised that it is no longer necessary. This simple, quick test can identify various abnormalities that precede the development of cancer of the cervix by many years. Cervical cancer is an extremely dangerous condition.

Usually, such early abnormalities of the cervix are easily treated in a hospital clinic and the patient will then not later suffer with cancer of the cervix.

Women eligible for cervical screening should receive a reminder letter by post; if you think that you may be due a cervical smear but have not been invited then please telephone the surgery and ask to speak with the Practice Nurse.

The national breast cancer screening programme involves an X-ray of the breasts (a mammogram) every five years, and all eligible women eligible should receive a reminder letter by post. The invitations are not sent from the surgery but by the local Health Authority. Ideally, all women should examine their breasts carefully for lumps once a month, and report any worrying findings to the doctor. The Practice Nurses will teach female patients how to conduct proper breast self-examination if required - please do hesitate to make an appointment.

Vaccinations and Immunisations
The Practice Nurses give babies and older children their routine injections, the former in conjunction with Dr Datta and the Health Visitors who run the Child Health Surveillance clinic. The Practice Nurses also give adults their Tetanus boosters, they run a clinic each October for Influenza vaccination and all year round they give advice and any necessary vaccinations for travel abroad, such as Typhoid and Hepatitis.