Surgery clinics

NHS Advice on drinking recommends that men should not regularly drink more than 3 to 4 units of alcohol a day and women should not regularly drink more than 2 to 3 units a day, “regularly” means drinking every day or most days of the week.

If you are concerned about your own or someone elses drinking and are unsure of what help you, or someone you know can get, make an appointment at the surgery or contact our local Recovery Orientated Alcohol & Drugs Service (ROADS)

Website
www.bdp.org.uk

Email
roads@bdp.org.uk

Phone
0117 987 6000

Useful links

• NHS – Alcohol misuse
• NHS – Where to find alcohol support
• Drinkaware

If you have questions about your baby or toddlers weight, feeding, weaning, development or other concerns come along to the health visiting teams drop in clinic

Wellspring Family Centre

Wellspring Settlement
43 Ducie Road
Barton Hill
Bristol
BS5 0AX

Every Thursday, 1pm to 2 pm.

Over the summer holidays there is no breast feeding peer support.

Trinity Centre

Trinity Road
St Judes
BS2 0NW

Fridays, 10am to 11:30 am.

Over the summer holidays, Fridays, 10:30am to 11:30 am.

If your GP or hospital doctors have requested a blood test just make an appointment with the treatment room, we offer blood taking appointments every morning.

Not sure what to do when your child is unwell?

Download the free HANDi Paediatric app for children, developed by the doctors at Bristol Children’s Hospital, and get expert advice for common childhood illnesses such as:

• Diarrhoea and vomiting
• High temperature
• Chesty baby or child
• Abdominal pain
• Common newborn problems

Download it from the app store:

• Download on Google Play
• Download on App Store

We provide counselling and fitting for all types of contraception including coils and implants.

We can also provide emergency contraception, if you require this please contact the surgery as soon as possible and we will get back to you with advice on the day, we can provide emergency contraceptive pills free and can offer emergency fitting of coils within 3 days if requested.

All our GPs can help and advise on contraception however it is preferable for you to book an appointment with any of our female GPs as they have a special interest in this area.

We can also advise you on all aspects of sexual health, including sexually transmitted infections, and problems during sexual intercourse, such as pain or bleeding.

If you think you may be pregnant unexpectedly, we can advise you regarding your options.

Useful links

• Family Planning Association
• British Pregnancy Advisory Service
• Unity Sexual Health – local sexual health clinic

To find out about Covid vaccines and the local vaccination process visit the Healthier Together website.

If you are concerned about your own or someone else’s substance misuse and are unsure of what help you, or someone you know can get, make an appointment at the surgery or contact Bristol Drugs Project (BDP).

All the doctors have experience in this field and are able to prescribe blue prescriptions for replacement after an initial assessment in conjunction with our team of BDP specialist drug workers at the practice.

Bristol Drugs Project are a charity that help you with alcohol and drug problems. With over 30 years experience providing a free and confidential service, they have the expert knowledge to support you, whether you are looking for help for:

• Yourself – Looking for help with your alcohol or drug use
• Someone you care about – A parent, carer, partner or friend seeking advice and support
• Professional guidance – Working in another organisation and wanting advice or information on alcohol and drug effects, services and support

Website
www.bdp.org.uk

Phone
0117 987 6000

Earwax is a normal build-up of dead cells, hair, foreign material such as dust, and natural wax which forms a protective coating on the skin in the ear canal. You only need to remove earwax if it is causing symptoms such as dulled hearing or when fitting a hearing aid.

If you think you have ear wax, do not try to clean the ear canal with cotton wool buds. This can make things worse, as you will push it deeper inside. It may also cause an ear infection.

Ear drops alone will clear a plug of earwax in most cases. Put 2 or 3 drops of ordinary olive oil down the ear 2 or 3 times a day for 2 to 3 weeks. You can buy a dropper from the pharmacy. This softens the wax so that it then runs out of its own accord without harming the ear. You can continue for any length of time, but 3 weeks is usually enough

How to insert drops:

1. Warm the drops to room temperature before using them
2. Pour a few drops into the affected ear
3. Lie with the affected ear uppermost when putting in drops
4. Stay like this for 10 minutes to allow the drops to soak into the earwax.

Unfortunately we are currently unable to offer ear syringing.

Protect yourself, protect those around you, protect the NHS

This year it is more important than ever to get yourself vaccinated against flu. Flu is a serious illness which can lead to hospitalisation and vaccination is a way of protecting ourselves.

For more information visit NHS flu campaign.

Lawrence Hill Health Centre flu clinics 

Elligible patients will be invited to book an appointment via text message or letter. Please book an appointment either online or through reception. We are running weekly clinics.

Information about clinics for children aged 2 to3 years will be available soon. School aged children will be vaccinated in school.

Flu vaccines and faith statements

We recognise that some religious adherents may have concern about the porcine gelatin in some vaccines, particularly the nasal flu vaccine. These statements by faith leaders may help patients in their choice of whether to have the vaccine.

Statement by the Muslim Fatwa Council (PDF)

Statement by Jewish leaders (PDF)

The getUBetter app is provided free of charge by BNSSG ICB for patients registered at Lawrence Hill Health Centre.

It can be accessed on a Smartphone or on the Web and guides you day-by-day through a sequence of exercises and tips to help you get better from a range of new or recurrent musculoskeletal conditions:

• Lower back pain
• Back and leg pain
• Neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Ankle pain
• Knee pain
• Soft tissue lower limb

You will be referred to the App by one of our GPs or Physio, or you can self-register by visiting getUBetter App.

Please use an email address that is unique to you and select the condition you need help to manage. You will then be sent an email with all the information you need to get started.

You can download the getUBetter App to your smartphone for easiest access or use the webapp.

If you develop another condition register again with the same email address, select your new condition and it will be added to your account.

The app will also connect you to your local; treatment, healthcare providers or support services if needed like physiotherapy.

Hay fever is a common allergic condition that affects up to one in five people at some point in their life.

Symptoms of hay fever include

• sneezing and coughing
• a runny or blocked nose
• itchy, red or watery eyes
• itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears

How to treat hay fever yourself

There’s currently no cure for hay fever and you cannot prevent it. But you can do things to ease your symptoms when the pollen count is high. Treatments are available from the pharmacy or supermarket.

Do

• put Vaseline around your nostrils to trap pollen
• wear wraparound sunglasses to stop pollen getting into your eyes
• shower and change your clothes after you have been outside to wash pollen off
• stay indoors whenever possible
• keep windows and doors shut as much as possible
• vacuum regularly and dust with a damp cloth
• buy a pollen filter for the air vents in your car and a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter

Don’t

• do not cut grass or walk on grass
• do not spend too much time outside
• do not keep fresh flowers in the house
• do not smoke or be around smoke, it makes your symptoms worse
• do not dry clothes outside, they can catch pollen
• do not let pets into the house if possible, they can carry pollen indoors

For more information visit about advice and treatments visit NHS Inform or your community pharmacy.

Please register your baby soon after birth, we will then invite you for your babies 6 week check with a GP and arrange to have their first immunisations. Baby clinic is on a Wednesday afternoon.

Travel vaccines and advice should be booked at least 6 weeks before travelling.

Adult immunisations can be booked anytime.

Useful links

• NHS vaccinations and when to have them – NHS

Please contact us for further information.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, Lawrence Hill Health Centre doctors and midwifes provide antenatal and postnatal care.

Book your first appointment with a midwife via the online system www.nbt.nhs.uk.

If you do not have internet access you can phone 0117 4146743 and leave a message.

The midwifes can be contacted through the Lawrence Hill switch board on 0117 9543063 and please listen to the instructions once you are answered or by the numbers on the front of your hand held maternity records.

If you have concerns about sexually transmitted disease, why not pick up a chlamydia screening self-test kit from the trolley outside the treatment room.

Useful links

• Sexual health – NHS
• Unity Sexual Health – local sexual health clinic

• Smoking cessation video on Vimeo

Stopping smoking is one of the best things you’ll ever do for your health.

When you stop, you give your lungs the chance to repair and you’ll be able to breathe easier. There are lots of other benefits too – and they start almost immediately.

There are various resources available to help you quit smoking.

Everyone Health

Everyone Health can help you stop smoking with:

• behaviour change support
• medications

When used together, these give you the highest chance to quit smoking long term.

Free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) is provided if needed and a dedicated qualified stop smoking practitioner will support you through a mix of face to face and telephone appointments.

• NHS: Stop smoking advice

When you are young, your parents are usually involved in your health care. They may make decisions for you, and speak to health workers on your behalf. But as you get older you have more rights. You can decide if you want your parents to be involved or not. This information explains your rights once you are thought to be old enough to make your own decisions about your health care information.

Find out more about how the surgery can help you as a teen.

As you will be aware, GP surgeries are working under increasing pressure, and are having to prioritise the services they can provide. We are able to offer NHS travel vaccinations only in Lawrence Hill Health Centre.

The following vaccinations are commonly required for many holiday destinations, and are free of charge on the NHS:

• Hepatitis A – if you have had two vaccinations, you are covered for 25 years (from the 2nd dose)
• Diphtheria, tetanus and polio – booster required every 10 years (for travel purposes only)
• Typhoid – booster required every 3 years (for travel purposes only)

It is important that all travellers are up to date with routine immunisations according to UK immunisation schedule.

These vaccinations can be administered by a nurse at Lawrence Hill Health Centre. Please contact reception to make an appointment, preferably 6 to 8 weeks before you travel. Please bring with you the dates and names of any previous vaccinations given; dates of current travel and where you are travelling.

Travel assessment

The NHS has a very comprehensive website, giving the information you need to identify any vaccines advised for trips abroad, and ensure that you stay as healthy as possible. This can be found at www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk. You are encouraged to go on this website to ascertain which vaccinations and, if relevant, anti-malaria tablets you need, and also to inform you of recommended safe travel precautions. Advice is also given about visas and health insurance.

We strongly advise you to check your requirements at least three months before travel, as sometimes a course of up to three vaccinations needs to be given over the course of several weeks.

Other vaccinations may be necessary for more exotic or unusual destinations, complex travel itineraries, or long stay vacations. These need to be given at a high street travel clinic (eg, Nomad, Masta or Sta Travel). There will be a charge for these.

Malaria prevention

If anti-malaria tablets are advised for your destination, there will be a link to ‘malaria map’ in www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk which will show the details of the risk for your destination. The site will also indicate which anti-malaria tablets are effective in that region.

If proguanil and/or chloroquine are advised, these can be bought over the counter at a pharmacy.

If Atovaquone/proguanil (Malarone) or doxycycline or mefloquine (Lariam) are recommended, read through the information carefully, and go to a high street travel clinic to buy your supply.

These need to be started before entering a malaria area, continued during the trip, and for a period of time after leaving, so you need plan ahead. We also advise you to take your itinerary and dates with you to work out how many you need to buy.

Details of local high street travel clinics are below but please note that this information does not constitute a recommendation.

• Nomad
  01341 55 50 61
• The Medical 
  0117 376 37 32
• Tesco pharmacy
  0117 291 09 37
• Boots
  0117 929 36 31
• Superdrug
  033 0029 0885
• Lloyds Pharmacy

Further travel information

The following websites will give you additional travel advice

• Travel Health for information of vaccinations available on NHS
• MASTA for private vaccination clinics
• Gov.uk for specific country travel advice
• EHIC to apply for your free European Health Insurance Card

At Lawrence Hill Health Centre, our team provide a comprehensive service regarding all aspects of women’s health.

Contraception

Emergency contraception

Sexual health

Come in and discuss confidentially your sexual health, we offer a full range of screening, just make an appointment with any of the team.

Why not pick up a chlamydia screening self-test kit from the trolley outside the treatment room.

Menopause

We advise on all matters relating to the menopause. This includes problems leading up to the menopause, advice regarding HRT and other alternatives, and also advise on women’s general and sexual health in the years after the menopause.

Website
Menopause Matters

Urinary incontinence and bladder problems

This is a common problem which affects many women, particularly those who have had children.

We know that women are sometimes embarrassed to come forward with this problem. But there is much we can do to help. Depending on your problem we may be able to offer medication, exercises or local vaginal treatments to support your bladder.

Website
Urinary incontinence – NHS