Our Clinics & Services 

In addition to general medical consultations we are pleased to be able to provide a range of clinics and services, including:

• Urgent Care Team

• Blood Testing

• Well Woman Clinic
  - including cervical smears and family planning.

• Smoking Cessation Clinic
• Travel Clinic- we are a Yellow Fever vaccination clinic

• Child Immunisations 

• COVID-19 Clinic
• Flu Clinic

Chronic Disease Clinics

We also provide the following clinics to support our patients with chronic long term diseases:

• Diabetic Clinic
• Chronic Heart Disease Clinic
• Respiratory: Asthma & COPD Clinics
• Hypertension Clinic

Non-NHS Services/Private Fees

Some services provided for registered patients fall outside the scope of the NHS and therefore attract charges.  Examples include:

• Insurance Claim forms

• Vaccination certificates

• Medicals for pre-employment, sports & driving requirements (HGV, PSV etc)

• Prescriptions for taking medication abroad

  Our reception staff will be happy to advise you about appointment availability and applicable charges.

Urgent Care Team

At the practice we try and allow you to see your own registered doctor wherever possible to encourage continuity of care. However, for urgent on the day problems you will usually be directed to our Urgent Care Team. This consists of a duty GP and one or two advanced nurse practitioners. To help the Urgent Care Team, our receptionists will ask you a number of questions to make sure your problem is dealt with by the right person. This information will then be reviewed by the Urgent Care Team clinicians who will either call you back directly or instruct the reception team to arrange an alternative appointment, for example with your own GP or one of the nursing team. Getting the balance between ease of access and continuity of care can be difficult and is the challenge we are striving to manage.

Minor Illness Clinic

Our Minor Illness Clinic runs daily and is run by a GP, Nurse prescriber or pharmacist, with the Duty Doctor providing backup and is designed to provide a quicker response for patients for the following:

The Minor Illness clinic is not designed for ongoing problems that you have already discussed with a GP, but for minor complaints to be dealt with by the most appropriate person.

Please call Reception on 01271 329004 to book an appointment for this clinic.

Rapid Access Clinic

Our Rapid Access Clinic runs daily for medical problems that have come on suddenly and require immediate medical attention.

Please note that if the problem is of a chronic or ongoing nature it may be better to make a routine appointment to see your GP.

Please see the table below to see if your medical problem is suitable for the Rapid Access Clinic. The clinic is run by the duty doctor and a practise nurse.

Telephone 01271 329004 to make an appointment.

What can be treated at the Rapid Access Clinic?

If you are unsure whether you should be seen in this clinic, please ask a receptionist who can help and advise you.

Blood Testing

Blood test clinics are run every morning by our Healthcare Assistants, who also help with minor operations and ECGs (heart recordings). When a doctor, practice Sister or the North Devon District Hospital requests a blood test, a form is produced to tell the Health Care Assistant which samples are required.

We have blood clinics from 07.30-17.00 most days and also offer anti-coagulant appointments throughout the day. Appointments for these need to be booked through Sister’s receptionist on 01271 314236, the main surgery line on 01271 329004 or you can book online for your blood tests using the Appointments Online system.

If you take warfarin you will need to have regular blood tests to ensure that you are receiving the correct dose.  We offer regular clinics where we can calculate the new dose of warfarin immediately after your blood test.

Please remember to check in for your blood test on arrival at the surgery, as you would for any other appointment.

What are blood tests for?

A blood test is when a sample of blood is taken for testing in a laboratory. Blood tests have a wide range of uses and are one of the most common types of medical test. For example, a blood test can be used to:

• assess your general state of health
• confirm the presence of a bacterial or viral infection
• see how well certain organs, such as the liver and kidneys, are functioning

A blood test usually involves the phlebotomist taking a blood sample from a blood vessel in your arm. and the usual place for a sample is the inside of the elbow or wrist, where the veins are relatively close to the surface. Blood samples from children are most commonly taken from the back of the hand. The child's hand will be anaesthetised (numbed) with a special cream before the sample is taken.

Well Woman Clinic

We have four nurses who are trained in the taking of cervical smears and three trained in family planning.

Desri Dyer and Sandy Norman hold the Marie Curie breast and cervical cytology certificate, ENB 321 fertility and fertility control, ENB232 family planning in practice. All four nurses attend cytology update courses every three years.

The clinic is supported by Dr Suzanne Smit, Dr Louise Bond and Dr Jacqueline Tolhurst who have a specialist interest in Woman's Health.

The clinic nurses are able to give confidential advice on a range of Woman's health issues such as methods of family planning, hormone replacement therapy, breast examination and cervical cytology.

Patients may book for cervical screening, repeat prescriptions for the oral contraceptive pill or HRT (alternating with the patient's GP) intra - uterine contraceptive device checking, changing of ring pessaries, emergency contraception, testing for infections (STI's) or general advice.

A service for fitting inter uterine contraceptive devices, hormonal implants and fitting of ring pessaries is provided.

Opening Times

The Well Woman Clinic opening times are as follows:

Smoking Cessation Clinic

Our Health Care Assistants run the Smoking Cessation Clinic.  Please note this service is by appointment only.

You'll have regular reviews and support to help you reach your quit date goal.

Book your appointment now on 01271 314236.

Useful Resources

http://www.takeabreathandquit.co.uk/

Smokefree
The NHS have produced "Smokefree", a dedicated service to inform everyone of the dangers of smoking, the benefits to giving up and how they can help you kick the habit http://www.smokefreesouthwest.org.uk/

QUIT
QUIT is the independent charity whose aim is to save lives by helping smokers to stop. Smokers wanting to QUIT should call 0800 00 22 00 or email stopsmoking@quit.org.uk for free, individual, same-day advice from trained counsellors.

Stop Smoking Widget
This tool gives you daily messages, and keeps track of how much you're saving and how many days it's been since your last cigarette. Great motivators for staying smokefree.

Stoptober

Stoptober is an annual public health campaign which runs through the month of October. Stop smoking for 28 days and you're 5 times more likely to stop for good. Join the thousands quitting with Stoptober.

If you require any vaccinations before travelling overseas, you need to make an appointment with the practice nurse to discuss your travel arrangements. This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.

It is important to contact Sister's Receptionist on 01271 314236 as soon as possible - or at least 6 weeks before you travel, this is to ensure that you receive the correct vaccines prior to travel. Some vaccines and Malaria prescriptions may incur a charge.  Our Travel Clinic is open every Monday afternoon by appointment only, between 14:00 and 17:30.

There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on the links below

Europe & Russia	North America
Central America	South America
Caribbean	Africa
Middle East	Central Asia
East Asia	Australasia and Pacific

Useful Resources

'fitfortravel' is a public access website provided by the NHS (Scotland). It gives travel health information for people travelling abroad from the UK. Remember that you should always discuss your particular needs with your own doctor or nurse.

NHS Fit for Travel

COVID-19 CLINIC

Following extensive trials, the COVID-19 vaccine has been approved in the UK and is now available to priority groups.

Vaccinations are being delivered according to priority groups identified by the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The vaccinations may not take place at your GP practice, but rather a local vaccination service (led by GPs, practice nurses and community pharmacists) who are responsible for delivering the vaccine to people in your community.

When it is the right time for you to receive your vaccination, you will receive an invitation to come forward. This may be via the phone, or through a letter either from your GP or the national booking system.

We know lots of people will be eager to get protected but we are asking people not to contact us to get an appointment as you will not be able to get one until you are contacted.

Phases of the COVID Vaccination Programme

This is the official NHS information on the phased approach to the COVID Vaccination Programme.

Phase 1 - direct prevention of mortality and supporting the NHS and social care system. JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age. The order of priority for each group in the population corresponds with data on the number of individuals who would need to be vaccinated to prevent one death, estimated from UK data obtained from March to June 2020.

It is estimated that taken together, these groups represent around 99% of preventable mortality from COVID-19.

This is what we are following at Brannam Medical Centre along with all practices in North Devon. Each category has thousands of patients in and we are on cohorts 1-9 at the moment.

We will contact patients directly to invite you or you may now receive a text message (please see below for more information on text message invites), these appointments will be held at North Devon Leisure Centre.

Please remember that even after having your vaccination everyone still needs to socially distance, wear face masks and wash your hands regularly.

COVID-19 Vaccine Update

We have worked through the 9 Cohorts and are now working on the second vaccinations. We will be contacting you when you are due. Where possible, we will be using text messages that provide a link for booking, so please ensure your contact details are up to date with us. For any patient that does not have a mobile number listed on their record, we will either telephone you or send you a letter.

Cohorts

1. residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2. all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. all those 75 years of age and over
4. all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5. all those 65 years of age and over
6. all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
7. all those 60 years of age and over
8. all those 55 years of age and over
9. all those 50 years of age and over

Please ONLY contact the surgery if you are over 50 and wish to have a vaccination on 01271 329004 or if you are 10 weeks since having your 1st vaccination and have not heard from us.

Frontline Workers

Frontline workers are eligible for the vaccine. For all of the roles listed below, photo ID and evidence of employment will be required. These are the 3 distinct groups;

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust Staff

• NDHT employed staff
• NDHT volunteers/bank/agency/locums
• Sodexo staff working at NDHT sites
• Devon Partnership Trust staff for Northern Locality
• SWAST staff for Northern Locality
• Staff from other Acute Hospital Trusts

If you are one of the above you need to contact NDHT on ndht.queriescovidvaccinationteam@nhs.net 

Other Healthcare staff working in the Northern Locality NOT in the above group

This includes dentists, opticians, chiropodists or anyone in a healthcare role. Ideally through your manager, you need to contact d-ccg.covid-staffmassvaccinationbookingsystem@nhs.net 

Other Social Care staff working in the Northern Locality NOT in the above groups

For anyone in a social care role. Ideally through your manager, you need to contact MassVac-CareProvision@devon.gov.uk

FLU CLINIC

People who should have a flu vaccine

The injected flu vaccine is offered free of charge on the NHS to people who are at risk. This is to help protect them against catching flu and developing serious complications.

You should have the flu vaccine if you: 

• are 65 years of age or over   
• are pregnant 
• have certain medical conditions 
• are living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility 
• receive a carer's allowance, or you are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if you fall ill
• live with someone who's at high risk of coronavirus (on the NHS shielded patient list) or you expect to be with them on most days over winter.

Frontline health and social care workers are also eligible to receive the flu vaccine. It's your employer's responsibility to arrange and pay for this vaccine.

For more information on the free NHS vaccination please visit www.nhs.uk

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? This question raises a great deal of discussion. To find out what a group of international scientists and experts of the immune system have to say about it, take a look at this short and informative animated video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRyDSqlnaBY

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