Clinics and Services

 

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

 

We are a GP practice located in the Waldron Health Centre in New Cross. We are in Suite 5 on the first floor. We provide doctor and nurse consultations for people who are unwell or who require advice about a health problem. In addition we provide the following services:

 

New patient health checks

These are not provided by the practice but if you have a pre diagnosed condition that you need any ongoing medication for, please the practice to book an appointment.

 

Lifestyle changes and heart health

The practice nurses and doctors provide advice and support on lifestyle changes to help reduce cardiovascular risk (e.g. heart attacks and strokes.) This includes blood pressure and weight checks, cholesterol tests where appropriate, exercise and diet advice, smoking cessation support and referral to exercise on prescription or enrolment in our healthy walks programme.  If you would like advice on reducing your cardiovascular risk please book an appointment with a practice nurse.

new patient checks

 

asthma and copd

Asthma & COPD (chronic obstructive airways disease)

Our practice nurses provide high quality care for people with respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD. We manage most patients with these problems within the practice but refer more complex cases to one of the local hospitals if necessary.

Our practice nurses perform spirometry which is a breathing test which helps in the diagnosis and monitoring of COPD. They will monitor your condition, teach you how to manage your condition yourself including how to deal with exacerbations, and modify your treatment as necessary with the aim of improving symptoms, improving physical functioning and well being and as far as possible preventing the need for A+E attendance or hospital admission.

Please state that you are booking an appointment for asthma or COPD review as these are usually double appointments.

 

Men's Health 

We provide advice on all aspects of men’s health including concerns about prostate and urinary tract problems, testicular problems, sexual health and cardiovascular risk.

 

Women's Health

We provide advice about contraception including emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, pre-conception advice, antenatal and postnatal care, breast problems, the menopause including hormone replacement therapy, osteoporosis prevention and treatment, diagnosis and treatment of common gynaecological problems and sexual health advice. Cervical smears are done by the practice nurses who can also take cervical and vaginal swabs to test for infection.

 

Contraception and family planning

To get help with contraception, we would like you to contact Sexual Health London at https://www.shl.uk and register. SHL offers regular and emergency contraception to people over the age of 16 who live in Lewisham. If a BMI or Blood pressure is needed the service will arrange for the patient to be seen in a pharmacy. The service is free and there is no need to contact a nurse or a GP at the practice. For more information please visit: https://www.shl.uk/contraception/how-shluk-contraception-works. 

If you require contraceptive injection please contact us to arrange an appointment at the practice. 

Emergency Contraception

 

Cervical Smears

The practice nurses offer cervical smears. This is a test to prevent cancer of the cervix by picking up early changes at a treatable stage. You can book this through the practice reception. All women who have ever been sexually active are advise to have a cervical smear test every three years from age 24-50 and every 5 years from 50-65.

For more info please visit our dedicated page for Cervical Screening.

contraception and family planning

 

Sexual Health

There is a sexual Health Clinic (SHC) in the Waldron Health Centre and in local hospitals. We can advise on sexual health problems and test for sexually transmitted diseases including chlamydia and HIV testing in the practice. 

 

Pre-conception Care

If you are planning to have a baby then we advise you book to see one of the doctors for health advice before becoming pregnant. This ensures you are in the best possible health and have received advice with regards to health issues in pregnancy such as folic acid supplements, screening for disorders such as sickle cell, diet, exercise and general health. For women with health problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure it is very important to optimise control of the condition before becoming pregnant.

 

antenatal care

Antenatal Care

Antenatal care is provided by community midwives and by your GP as “shared care” That means that some antenatal appointments are with the midwife and some with the GP. The usual practice is to self refer for Lewisham Hospital on the Lewisham hospital website. If you would like to be seen at St Thomas' see your GP. Having made your choice you are referred to the appropriate provider and will be sent a midwife appointment. The midwives from Lewisham Hospital and St Thomas’s Hospital offer antenatal care in the Waldron Health centre.  

Your first antenatal scan should takes place at around 10-12 weeks. For serious problems in early pregnancy your GP can refer you to the emergency pregnancy assessment unit at one of the local hospitals. The St Thomas’s unit is open 24 hours and you can self refer there.

Pregnancy Care Planner

 

Post natal care

Your GP will offer you a mother’s postnatal health check on the same date as your baby’s 6 week health check. The mother’s postnatal check is an opportunity to discuss any health issues that have arisen since the baby was born. It can be a difficult time for new mothers and it’s important to pick up problems like post natal depression so that timely help can be offered. Advice on breast feeding, contraception and wound care is also provided as appropriate.

 

Child Health

The doctors and nurses are always available to provide advice about child health and development. When a baby is born at home one of the doctors will visit to perform a new birth health check within 3 days of birth. We also provide a health check for all babies at 6 weeks of age. The baby’s 6 week check looks at physical health and development and is an opportunity to discuss with your doctor topics such as immunisation, feeding or other child health concerns you may have.
We also do the mother’s postnatal check at the same time. It is important to inform the receptionist that you are booking for the 6 week mother and baby checks as they require longer appointment times.

We offer all baby and child immunisations in the practice, apart from BCG. The first baby immunisations are done at 8 weeks of age. You can book with the practice nurses for these immunisations at any convenient time. There is a useful website with information about immunisation here. If you would like your baby to have the anti TB BCG immunisation you can be referred by your health visitor.

Immunisation Schedule

child health

 

Vaccinations

Our practice nurses provide all the baby and child immunisations, travel immunisations, adult booster immunisations and pre-conception rubella immunisation for women who are not immune to rubella. There is a useful website with information about immunisation at www.immunisation.nhs.uk. If you are unsure if your vaccinations are up to date, or need to catch up on vaccines missed please make an appointment to discuss this with a nurse. We ONLY provide catch up HPV vaccines for those 18 years of age and under. We offer flu vaccinations to those eligible from October onwards. 

 

diabetes

Diabetic Clinic

Our practice nurses and doctors provide high quality care for people with diabetes including people who are using insulin. We can look after most people with type 2 diabetes within the practice without the need for them to attend hospital appointments. You can book an appointment for diabetes care with the nurses and this is usually a double appointment. In addition there is a community diabetic clinic and dietician in the Waldron Health Centre to whom we can refer you. We refer patients who may need to start using insulin to the community diabetic clinic. There are also patient education classes for diabetes that we can refer you to. More complex diabetic cases including people with type 1 diabetes are referred to a local hospital diabetic clinic of their choice.

 

High blood pressure, heart disease and stroke care

Our aim is to prevent heart disease and stroke by advice and support for lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking and early detection and treatment of risk factors such as high blood pressure. For people who have already suffered from heart attacks or strokes we aim to ensure they have all the appropriate advice about how to improve their health and reduce the likelihood of further episodes. This includes regular monitoring and advice on lifestyle changes and medication to reduce risk factors such as high cholesterol, blood sugar or blood pressure.

 

Minor injuries, wounds, minor burns and stitch removal

The practice nurses can deal with some minor injuries such minor burns or wounds, and remove stitches. The nurse will assess the problem and if she feels that medical advice or more specialised treatment (e.g. for burns) is required will refer as appropriate.

 

Elderly and housebound:

We work alongside district nurses, community matrons and other services in caring for elderly people with long term illnesses, especially those who are unable to leave the house due to infirmity. Local pharmacies can deliver medication to patients homes if this is arranged between the patient and the pharmacy. We will visit people at home who are unable to attend the surgery. If you think a home visit may be required please phone as early as possible so the visit can be allocated to the doctors who usually do home visits in the first half of the afternoon.

 

End of life care

We work alongside district nurses, community matrons and specialist palliative care nurses to provide care for people with terminal illnesses who require care and support in their homes. We also provide support for their carers.

 

Exercise on referral

We can refer eligible people to the local sports centre at Wavelengths for exercise classes to support weight loss and reduction of cardiovascular risk.

 

Drug and alcohol problems

We work with other agencies such as, Lewisham Community Drug and Alcohol Service and Alcohol recovery Project to provide help and support for people with drug and alcohol problems including weekly or fortnightly prescription of methadone or buprenorphine for those who are attending an approved drug support agency.

We are only able to support up to 20 people on such programmes at any one time due to the high workload involved.

drug and alcohol problems

 

Homeless People

We work with other agencies such as St Mungo’s Hostel in Pagnell Street, Deptford Churches Centre and 999 club to provide health care for homeless people. For people who have no home address they can give the address of one of the local homeless agencies when registering.

 

Refugees and asylum seekers

We provide health care for refugees and asylum seekers.

 

Interpreting/Advocacy Service

For patients who don’t speak English, we can arrange for a telephone interpreter at the consultation. We can also book British Sign Language interpreters. Please ask at reception. There is a social work student attached to the practice who can provide an advocacy service for patients. That means she can discuss with you ways of helping you access the kind of health, social or community services you need.