If you have a long-term condition like Diabetes, Kidney problems or High Blood Pressure, it is essential that we see you annually to review your condition, we will normally send you an invitation in the month of your birthday.
We aim to review all long-term conditions every 12months, with Diabetic patients being invited for an additional 6 monthly monitoring blood test. When it is time for your review, the practice team will be in touch about making an appointment.
At this appointment you will be asked questions about your general health by a nurse or HCA, they will check your blood pressure, height and weight and a blood test will be performed (if required). Diabetic patients require an annual check of the pulses in their feet, which can be done at the same time as this check-up.
If you only have respiratory conditions like Asthma or COPD and are not on regular tablet medication for other problems, you may only be required to complete an online questionnaire to check how well your condition is managed. A Clinician will review your answers and respond letting you know if you need to speak with our specially trained Practice Nurse, Rachel or one of the Pharmacists.
The aim is to make sure your condition is being controlled as well as possible and to identify any areas where we can make changes to help you. This might include changes to the type or dosage of medication and check any equipment you might use, like inhalers, are working effectively.
A few weeks after this appointment, once all the results are back and have been reviewed by a clinician, you might be asked to speak with a Clinical Pharmacist, a medicine specialist, who will help make sure you are getting the best outcomes from your medication. Sometimes this medication check is done without the pharmacist having to see you, as long as you are not having any issues.
Our admin and reception teams spend a lot of time repeatedly inviting patients in for their annual reviews and reminding patients about overdue monitoring. We frequently need to send multiple reminders, these are not generated automatically so a member of the team must individually identify and contact these patients, normally by text or letter.
When you receive your invitation please bear this in mind, as appointments can be booked up to 6 weeks in advance so responding to the first invitation would be greatly appreciated.
For more information about your condition including pre-diabetes, Type1 and Type 2 please visit https://www.diabetes.co.uk/