Measles isn’t trivial. It’s a very infectious, nasty illness which, in rare cases, can be fatal.
About one in five children with measles experiences complications such as ear infections, diarrhoea and vomiting, pneumonia, meningitis and eye disorders. One in 10 children with measles ends up in hospital.
There is no treatment for measles. Vaccination is the only way of preventing it.
It’s never too late for your children (or yourself) to ‘catch up’ with MMR vaccination if they/you missed it earlier. Children up to the age of 18 and adults without immunity should have a catch-up MMR vaccination
If you are unsure whether your children have been vaccinated against measles before, then go ahead and arrange to have them vaccinated again. It won’t hurt them to have the MMR vaccination a second or third time.
Adults who are unsure whether they’ve had measles or been vaccinated, particularly if they’re carers or work with children, can have the MMR vaccine on the NHS. Bear in mind that most adults born before 1970 are likely to be immune because they have probably been exposed to measles already.
Our Phlebotomists carry out most of the blood tests here at Wake Green Surgery. Blood tests can be booked at reception if they have been requested by a doctor.
Blood tests may be required for the monitoring of your long term condition, as part of a health check or may have been requested by the doctor.
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.
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
- screen for certain genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis
What happens during a blood test?
Most blood tests are carried out at the surgery but some may have to be done at hospital under the supervision of a nurse, or in some cases, a doctor.
A test usually involves placing a needle attached to a syringe into one of the blood vessels in the inside of your elbow or wrist. You will feel a sharp stabbing sensation as the needle goes in but this isn’t particularly painful. A sample of blood is then taken and the needle is removed.
You will be given a cotton-wool pad to put pressure on the site of the injection, which stops any bleeding and should prevent bruising.
Most blood tests only take a few minutes to complete.
Recovery
Only a small amount of blood is taken during the test so you shouldn’t feel any significant after-effects. However, some people do feel dizzy and faint during and after the test. If this happens to you, tell the person carrying out the test so they can help you feel more comfortable.
After a blood test, you may have a small bruised area on your skin where the needle went in. Occasionally, a larger area of bruising may appear. This can be because there was a lack of pressure at the site of the jab or the blood vessel was damaged by the needle.
Bruises can be painful but are usually harmless. However, tell our team if you frequently get bruises after having a blood test.
It’s recommended that, for the time being, all pregnant women should get vaccinated against whooping cough (pertussis) when they are 16-32 weeks pregnant. This is a new recommendation, as there has been a sharp rise in the number of whooping cough cases in the UK.
Getting vaccinated while you’re pregnant may help to protect your baby from developing whooping cough in his or her first few weeks of life. The immunity you get from the vaccine will pass to your baby through the placenta. Babies are not vaccinated against whooping cough until they are two months old.
- Your midwife should have informed you about the vaccination and arranged for this to be done at one of your routine antenatal visits. If you have not received the vaccine and are over 28 weeks pregnant please discuss this with your midwife.
We offer a full range of contraception services.
Emergency contraception
Emergency contraception is available from the surgery. It can be used up to 5 days after sex, but it’s more effective the sooner you take it.
There are two different pills that are available or you may be able to be fitted with an emergency intrauterine device (IUD) though this service is not always available in surgery.
If you require emergency contraception please speak to a receptionist who will usually arrange for you to speak to a doctor on the telephone.
If you are unable to get to the surgery or if we are not open you can also get the emergency contraception from local pharmacies (though this is only the emergency contraceptive pill which is effective up to 3 days after sex), NHS Walk in Centres (City Centre or Selly Oak) or from a Brook Centre (for up to 25s).
Routine contraception
Condoms are available at reception.
Hormonal methods – please make an appointment to see a Nurse for guidance on the contraceptive pill (combined and progesterone only) contraceptive patches, contraceptive implants (eg.Implanon/Nexplanon), contraceptive injections and hormone containing intrauterine system (IUS eg Mirena).
Intrauterine contraceptive devices – IUCDs (coils) – Please discuss these with our Practice Nurse.
If you have been diagnosed with a long term condition/illness it is important that you continue to be monitored to ensure that you are getting the most up to date treatment and getting the most out of you medication.
Such monitoring will take place at the surgery, at hospital out patients or a combination of the two. If you are being seen at hospital we will do our best to avoid duplicating reviews as we are very aware that this can take up your valuable time. However, we are aware that many patients who are seen in hospitals also benefit from review in General Practice as these can address other issues and may clarify matters. We will not exclude you from reviews with the surgery just because you have been seen in an outpatient clinic.
Medication Review
We normally request that all patients on regular/long term medications are reviewed on an annual basis. There may be some variations to this with your specific condition and you should be guided by the nurse or doctor.
We understand that with busy lives such things may be overlooked. Your review date is on the ‘repeats side’ of your prescriptions and should be aligned with your birthday.
There are various ways in which we will contact you for recall regarding long term conditions. Please ensure that we have the correct phone number to contact you on.
Contact via email:
There may be times where we contact you via email, if you would like us to contact you in this way please contact reception to let us know. We will not pass your email address on to any third party and will treat it with the same level of confidentiality as we do all your other personal details. The same levels of confidentiality and security apply if we use any mailing/survey services.
A lot of the monitoring of long term conditions is now undertaken by nurses both in hospital and in general practice. At Wake Green Surgery the Doctors and nursing teams work closely together and any queries/concerns will be shared across the teams. Often plans regarding treatment will have been made and discussed prior you coming for review especially if you have had preliminary blood tests.
- Certain doctors within the practice have specific areas of expertise regarding the various long term conditions and on occasion you may be asked to see one of these for a review.
Free NHS Health Checks are a National Scheme to try to help prevent the onset of various cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, ischaemic heart disease, kidney disease, stroke and diabetes.
The target group for these checks is the 40-74 age group who are not already known to suffer from cardiovascular disease.
Patients are being invited to make appointments for these checks. If you are in the target group you will receive an invitation by post which will include a pre-check questionnaire (please complete this before attending). This is a large group – please be patient awaiting your invite.
The first appointment will include various measurements and a blood test. When all the results are available you will have a follow up appointment when you will receive personalised advice regarding your health. Any treatments and necessary follow ups will be arranged at this time.
There are a variety of tests available to check your health/check for certain conditions; several of which are detailed below:
Spirometry
There are a number of chest conditions, which may cause breathing difficulties. Sometimes it is helpful to see how well you breathe out to help diagnose any condition or to see if the treatment you are having is working well. This may involve you blowing into a machine – a spirometer – which measures how well you can breathe out.
There are some requirements necessary before you have the test done, such as withholding use of your usual inhalers for a few hours, or usual tablets relating to any chest condition for 24 hours and avoiding vigorous exercise prior to the test.
Spirometry with reversibility
Sometimes you will be asked to undertake a spirometry test with reversibility. This means you will be asked to blow into the machine without using your inhalers first and then again after you have used your inhalers.
Doppler studies
A Doppler test managed by is undertaken to help measure the flow of blood through the arteries in your arms and legs using sound waves to make a noise when blood flow is detected. The Doppler is used in place of the stethoscope normally used when taking blood pressures. The test is to detect if there are any abnormalities in the flow of blood in your vessels.
A Doppler assessment is a painless procedure and often undertaken as part of any overall assessment of whether provision of support or compression hosiery (full length or knee high stockings or socks) may be helpful to you.
Helicobacter Breath Test
Helicobacter pylori is a germ which can infect the lining of the stomach and can cause a range of stomach problems for some people. Once identified, it can be easily treated with a course of antibiotics and acid suppressing medicines.
Infection with helicobacter pylori can be confirmed with a breath test performed by the nurse at the surgery. A sample of your breath is analysed after you have taken a special drink given to you.
There are some requirements necessary before you take the test such as withholding any regularly taken antibiotics or stomach medications for a few weeks.
Hearing Tests (Audiometry)
Damage to any part of the ear can cause a hearing loss. Problems may occur in the ear canal or the middle ear and hearing loss can be temporary or permanent. A hearing test checks whether there is a problem with any of the different mechanisms that allow a person to hear.
The test involves the use of a special machine called an audiometer, which plays a series of tones through headphones, which you will be asked to wear. The tones vary in pitch and loudness and the nurse conducting the hearing test will control the volume and tone of the sounds relayed through the machine. You will be asked to respond to each sound you hear even if very faint.
The results of a hearing test will form a graph called an audiogram. This will show if there is any pattern to the hearing loss you may be experiencing and help your doctor assess the most appropriate management.
Blood Pressure Check
Blood pressure is the pressure created when blood is forced out of the heart and comes into contact with the walls of the arteries which transport blood around the body. The pressure of blood flowing in the arteries changes according to the different phases of the heartbeat cycle. The pressure in the arteries will be at its highest when the heart is ‘contracting’ and pumping blood out, and at its lowest as the heart relaxes before it pumps again.
Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers: the systolic pressure (as the heart beats) and the diastolic (as the heart relaxes between beats). The numbers are written one above or before the other, the systolic number on top and the diastolic on the bottom.
Your target blood pressure should be less than 150/90 unless you have been told otherwise. If you have any coronary heart disease such as angina or have had a heart attack or stroke, or have diabetes or kidney disease, it is better for your target blood pressure to be less than 130/80.
High blood pressure – hypertension – means that your blood pressure is constantly higher than the recommended target blood pressure. Over time if this is not treated, you become more at risk of heart disease or having a stroke.
You may be asked to come to see a nurse for a blood pressure check and if it is found to be above the recommended target, you may also be asked to have a number of tests – blood tests, an electrocardiogram (ECG), a painless procedure which records the electrical activity of the heart, ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) which records your blood pressure over a 12 hour period during the day – to help your doctor decide if treatment is necessary.
Home Blood Pressure Monitoring
Practice blood pressure measurements do not always give a true picture of what your blood pressure is doing over your normal day. Some people are found to have a higher blood pressure when at the surgery or when they are not relaxed.
It is now recommended that a better way to check your blood pressure is to measure it yourself twice each morning and evening when you are at home, relaxed and comfortable. This will then give us an idea as to what your blood pressure really is, and whether the measurements we take in the surgery are similar to those you record at home.
If you have your own blood pressure monitor, you may be asked to record a series of readings over a week to be averaged and recorded in your notes.
We work closely with our Health Visitor team to ensure the ongoing health of children.
Appointments are sent out automatically by the local health authority for routine child health checks. The first will be with a GP at the Surgery when your baby is around 6 weeks old. You will be sent information about this and asked to make an appointment at your local Clinic or Practice.
New babies will be seen by the Health Visitors and an appointment for a eight week baby check with on of the GPs will automatically be made and sent to you. Should you have concerns regarding your baby the Health Visitors are often a very good source of information and guidance.
- You will also be offered routine health reviews for your child, with your Health Visitor, at 6-8 weeks, 8-12 months and 2-2½ years old.
Baby drop in clinics run at Poplar Road Surgery in Kings Heath. There is no need to make an appointment for these clinics.
Health Visitors
You can normally see the Health Visitors at their drop-in clinic; for further information please contact the Practice. Health Visitors are all trained Nurses who have extra training and qualifications in child health.
They are a fantastic source of information about child development and health, parenting strategies, breastfeeding, nutrition and community support. They also offer help with social, emotional and environmental issues that affect families.
The Health Visitors can also issue
‘Healthy Start’ vitamins for both mum and baby.
Child Immunisations
Immunisations are given by our Practice Nurses or other Healthcare Professionals in accordance with the NHS vaccine schedule.
Different vaccines are given at different ages to protect you and your child. Find out when these vaccinations are offered, and when and where they’ll be given: NHS vaccinations and when to have them – NHS
- All appropriate childhood immunisations are coordinated and carried out by the nursing team at the practice. Full details of these can be found in your baby’s ‘Red Book’. If you think that any immunisations have been missed please contact the surgery and we will be able to check this for you.
Telling your GP and/or Midwife promptly will help to make sure you receive maternity healthcare that takes into account all your health needs and preferences.
You can book an appointment with your GP or directly with your Midwife as soon as you know that you’re pregnant. There are community midwife appointments based locally that we can book you into.
It’s best to see them as early as possible to obtain the information you need to have a healthy pregnancy, and because some tests, such as screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia should be done before you’re 10 weeks’ pregnant.
Midwife
Midwives give care to women having a baby, both before birth and for ten days after the baby is delivered. A Midwife is a qualified nurse who has undertaken further training to provide and promote normal midwifery.
They help you to prepare for motherhood and promote good health for yourself and your baby by advising on the effects of drinking, smoking and good diet whilst you are pregnant. The Midwife guides you through your pregnancy and endeavours to detect any problems and make relevant referrals if necessary.
Social prescribing, sometimes referred to as community referral, is a means of enabling GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services.
Recognising that people’s health is determined primarily by a range of social, economic and environmental factors, social prescribing seeks to address people’s needs in a holistic way. It also aims to support individuals to take greater control of their own health.
Social prescribing schemes can involve a variety of activities which are typically provided by voluntary and community sector organisations. Examples include:
- volunteering
- arts activities
- group learning
- gardening
- befriending
- cookery
- healthy eating advice
- a range of sports
There are many different models for social prescribing, but most involve a link worker or navigator who works with people to access local sources of support.
Social prescribing is designed to support people with a wide range of social, emotional or practical needs, and many schemes are focused on improving mental health and physical well-being. Those who could benefit from social prescribing schemes include people with mild or long-term mental health problems, vulnerable groups, people who are socially isolated, and those who frequently attend either primary or secondary health care.