These health checks are available to those people aged between 40 and 74 without a pre-existing medical condition.  They can take place every 5 years and will help you learn about your risk of developing common but preventable health conditions, how your lifestyle can influence your risk and provide support to live a healthier lifestyle.

This service is for the assessment and treatment of patients with minor injuries.  It is available 8.00am-6.00pm Monday to Friday inclusive and can be used by the local community as well as those visiting the area.

Please note that dependent upon the result of the initial assessment, it may be necessary for the patient to be directed for further assistance to the local A&E department, if the treatment required is out of the remit of the Minor Injury Service.

The service covers a range of minor injuries including:

• cuts and grazes
• bruises
• sprains and strains
• minor dislocations of fingers/toes
• splinters
• superficial foreign bodies in the eyes
• minor head injuries
• following recent injury regarding more than simple first aid.

If you require this service please telephone the Practice on 01759 302500.

• Smears
• HGV Medicals
• Insurance Medicals
• Taxi Medicals
• Minor Ops
• Post Natal
• Baby Six Week Checks
• NHS Health Checks

To book your 50-64 flu jab, please visit https://fluvaccs.onk2.com

Flu is a highly infectious illness that spreads rapidly through the coughs and sneezes of people who are carrying the virus.

If you’re at risk of complications from flu, make sure you have your annual flu jab available from September onwards.

Flu symptoms can hit quite suddenly and severely. They usually include fever, chills, headaches and aching muscles. You can often get a cough and sore throat.

Because flu is caused by a virus and not bacteria, antibiotics won’t treat it.

Anyone can get flu, but it can be more serious for certain people, such as:

• people aged 65 or over
• people who have a serious medical condition
• pregnant women

If you are in one of these groups, you’re more vulnerable to the effects of flu (even if you’re fit and healthy) and could develop flu complications, which are more serious illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia, which could result in hospitalisation.

Flu can also make existing medical conditions worse.

Read more about flu.

Should you have the flu jab?

See your GP about the flu jab if you’re 65 or over, or if you have any of the following problems (however old you are):

• a serious heart complaint
• a chest complaint or breathing difficulties, including asthma, bronchitis and emphysema
• serious kidney disease
• diabetes
• lowered immunity due to disease or treatment such as steroid medication or cancer treatment
• if you have a problem with your spleen or you have had your spleen removed
• if you have ever had a stroke

Your GP may advise you to have a flu jab if you have serious liver disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) or some other diseases of the nervous system.

Can I get a flu jab privately?

Yes, you can pay for the flu vaccination privately if you’re unable to have it on the NHS. It is available from some pharmacies and GPs on a private patient basis.

Pregnant women and the flu jab

If you’re pregnant, you should have the flu jab, regardless of the stage of pregnancy you’ve reached. Pregnant women are more prone to complications from flu that can cause serious illness for both mother and baby.

If you are pregnant and catch flu, talk to your GP urgently as you may need treatment with antiviral medicine.

Read more about the flu jab in pregnancy.

Children and the flu jab

You may have read that all children are now able to have the flu jab on the NHS. This isn’t quite true. Although it’s been recommended that all children between the ages of 2 and 17 should have an annual flu vaccination, this won’t be offered to them on the NHS until 2014. For more information read our flu vaccine for children Q&A.

In the meantime, it’s important that children with a long-term health condition receive the flu jab because their illness could get worse if they catch flu. This includes any child over the age of six months with a long-term health problem such as a serious respiratory or neurological condition.

If you have a child with a long-term condition, speak to your GP about whether they should have the flu vaccination.

Carers and the flu jab

If you’re the carer of an elderly or disabled person, make sure they’ve had their flu jab. As a carer, you could be eligible for a flu jab too. Ask your GP for advice, or read our information about Flu jabs for carers.

How to get the flu jab

If you think you need a flu vaccination, check with your GP, practice nurse or your local pharmacist.

The best time of the year to have a flu vaccination is in the autumn from September to early November. Most GP surgeries arrange flu vaccination clinics around this time. It’s free and it’s effective against the latest flu virus strains.

Even if you’ve already had a flu jab in previous years, you need another one this year. The flu jab may only protect you for a year. This is because the viruses that cause flu are always changing.

The pneumo jab

When you see your GP for a flu jab, ask whether you also need the ‘pneumo jab‘ to protect you against some forms of pneumococcal infection. Like the flu jab, it’s available free on the NHS to everyone aged 65 or over, and for younger people with some serious medical conditions.

How effective is the flu jab?

No vaccine is 100% effective, however, people who have had the flu jab are less likely to get flu. If you do get flu despite having the jab, it will probably be milder than if you haven’t been vaccinated.

The flu jab doesn’t cause flu as it doesn’t contain live viruses. However, you may experience side effects after having the jab, such as a temperature and aching muscles for a couple of days afterwards. Your arm may feel sore at the site where you were injected. More severe reactions are rare.

The flu vaccine only protects against flu, but not other illnesses caused by other viruses, such as the common cold.

Who shouldn’t have the flu jab?

You shouldn’t have the flu vaccination if:

• you’ve had a serious reaction to a flu vaccination before
• you have a high temperature (postpone it until you’re better)

Not all flu vaccines are suitable for children, so discuss this with your GP beforehand.

Speak to your GP, practice nurse or pharmacist if you have any further questions.

Read more about the flu jab.

Content provided by NHS Choices.

Want to Stop Smoking?

NHS Choices suggest eight practical, quick and simple steps you can take straight away to quit smoking

 1. Talk to your GP

Many people don’t realise that their GP can help them quit smoking. But your doctor can do a lot, such as enrolling you in a ‘stop smoking’ clinic and prescribing nicotine replacement therapy such as patches and gum, or stop smoking medication such as Champix.

Find out more about how your GP can help you quit.

2. Join an NHS Stop Smoking Service

The NHS has stop smoking services staffed by trained stop smoking advisers all over the country in a range of venues at times to suit you. You can join a group where local smokers meet once a week or have one-to-one support if you prefer. You usually go for a few weeks and work towards a quit date.

Find your nearest NHS Stop Smoking Service from the NHS Smokefree website, or call 0800 022 4332.

3. Get a free ‘Quit Kit’

The kit is packed with practical tools and advice to help you stop smoking, including a ‘tangle’ to keep hands busy, a wallchart to keep track of your progress, stress-busting MP3 downloads, information on medicines that can help you stop smoking and exercises to improve your willpower.

Order your Quit Kit online.

4. Get a ‘cheerleader’ and stop smoking together

Sign up for the NHS Smokefree Together Programme and you’ll receive a supportive phone call, email and text the week before you quit, the day you quit and the following week.

5. Have an emergency phone number

Keep an emergency number, perhaps for your local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Read more about how to cope with cravings.

6. Consider using NRT

Nicotine is addictive, and self-control alone might not be enough. Give yourself a better chance of success by using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). This is available either free or on prescription from your GP, depending on where you live or from your local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Find your nearest NHS Stop Smoking Service from the NHS Smokefree website, or call 0800 022 4332. Or, you can buy nicotine patches, gum and so on over the counter from a pharmacy.

7. Email an expert

Ask an expert for advice through NHS Smokefree’s Ask an expert service.

8. Get online help

Use our stop smoking tool to get daily tips for success.

Read more about the stop smoking treatments available on the NHS.

Content provided by NHS Choices.

One of the most important things that a parent can do for their child is to make sure that they have all their routine childhood vaccinations. It’s the most effective way of keeping them protected against infectious diseases.

Ideally, kids should have their jabs at the right age to protect them as early as possible and minimise the risk of infection.

Vaccination Checklist

Here’s a checklist of the vaccines that are routinely offered to everyone in the UK for free on the NHS, and the age at which you should ideally have them.

2 months:

• Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib, a bacterial infection that can cause severe pneumonia or meningitis in young children) given as a 5-in-1 single jab known as DTaP/IPV/Hib
• Pneumococcal infection

3 months:

• 5-in-1, second dose (DTaP/IPV/Hib)
• Meningitis C

4 months: 

• 5-in-1, third dose (DTaP/IPV/Hib)
• Pneumococcal infection, second dose
• Meningitis C, second dose

Between 12 and 13 months:

• Meningitis C, third dose
• Hib, fourth dose (Hib/MenC given as a single jab)
• MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), given as a single jab
• Pneumococcal infection, third dose

3 years and 4 months, or soon after: 

• MMR second jab
• Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio (DtaP/IPV), given as a 4-in-1 pre-school booster

Around 12-13 years: 

• Cervical cancer (HPV) vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer (girls only): three jabs given within six months

Around 13-18 years: 

• Diphtheria, tetanus and polio booster (Td/IPV), given as a single jab

65 and over: 

• Flu (every year)
• Pneumococcal

Vaccines For Risk Groups

People who fall into certain risk groups may be offered extra vaccines. These include vaccinations against diseases such as hepatitis B, tuberculosis (TB), seasonal flu and chickenpox. See the NHS Choices pages on vaccines for adults to find out whether you should have one.

Read more about vaccines for kids on the NHS Choices website.

Content provided by NHS Choices.