We know that it can sometimes be hard to see a doctor when you need to. Lots of people in our community have told us this is a big worry. That’s why your GP practice is working together with other GP Practices (called a Primary Care Network or PCN) to make things better—especially when it’s really busy, like in winter.
Here’s what we’re doing to help:
🌟 What’s Getting Better?
🕒 More Appointments
We’re adding:
1,000 same-day appointments with doctors for people who need help quickly
3,000 extra appointments with doctors during the busy winter months.
3,000 extra appointments with doctors during the busy winter months.
💻 Faster Replies Online
If you send us a message or fill out a health form online, we’ll try to reply within 2 working days most of the time.
🧭 Helping You Find the Right Help
When you contact us, our staff will guide you to the right person first time — this might be a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or another professional —so you get the help you need faster.
🗣 We’re Listening to You
We’ll ask for your opinions through short surveys, so we know what’s working and what needs to get better.
📞 Quicker Phone Calls
We’re trying to answer 9 out of 10 phone calls within 10 minutes, so you don’t have to wait too long.
❤️ Extra Help for People Who Need It Most
Some people have health problems that need more care. To help them stay healthy, we’re giving them more personalised care and offering them appointments with the same health professional whenever we can.
📱 Helping You Use the NHS App
We’ll help more people who can use online services register for the NHS App, which makes it easy to order medicine, look at health information, and check appointments.
👩💼 More Helpers Behind the Scenes
We’re adding more staff to help book appointments and remind you when it’s time to come in.
We want to make it easier and quicker for everyone to get the care they need. Thanks for being patient while we make these changes!
Pharmacy First
What is Pharmacy First?
The NHS has launched a major transformation to try and make it easier for patients to access the care they need. The new Pharmacy First scheme enables your local pharmacy to treat some common conditions with prescription-only medicines, without you visiting your GP. Find out everything you need to know.
What can the Pharmacy First scheme do for me?
The Pharmacy First Scheme means that patients across England can now get prescription-only treatment for seven common conditions at their local high street pharmacy, without needing to see a GP. This can include prescribing and supplying antibiotics and antivirals where clinically appropriate.
What can Pharmacy First treat?
Your local pharmacy can now supply prescription-only treatment, if they believe you need it, for the following conditions:
Nasal blockage, Nasal discharge, symptoms for over 10 days, Facial pressure that is painful, Loss of smell (adults only), Cough during day (and night for children), Marked deterioration, Fever over 38 degrees, nasal discharge contains pus, Severe localised unilateral pain – particularly toothache or in jaw
Ear ache (in older children), Tugging on or holding ear (in younger children), non-specific symptoms (fever, crying, poor feeding, restlessness, behavioural changes, cough or rhinorrhoea), Pain not adequately controlled with regular dosage of (OTC) paracetamol/ ibuprofen
*Distance selling pharmacies will not complete consultations for acute otitis media
If you are not eligible for Pharmacy First (e.g. you are not within the age range), a pharmacist can still offer advice, but you may need to see a GP for treatment.
How does Pharmacy First work?
If you are feeling unwell with any of these conditions, you can go to your local participating pharmacy and ask for a private consultation with the pharmacist.
You may also be referred by a GP practice if they believe your pharmacy can help. The 111 helpline service may also refer you. Pharmacists can also offer this service on-the-spot if you go in asking generally for help.
Pharmacists may offer you a consultation in a private room at the pharmacy or a virtual consultation by phone or video call. They will ask questions, may perform an examination and must get your consent to access your medical records. The pharmacist will be able to recommend the best course of action based on your clinical needs. This might include issuing prescriptions for antibiotics or antivirals where necessary or advising you on over-the-counter treatments that could help.
There are many benefits to the new scheme, helping to make care easier and more accessible. These benefits include:
Participating pharmacies must offer the service during all their opening hours including any late nights or weekends.
It may be quicker to see your pharmacist than waiting for an appointment with your GP.
Pharmacy First – along with expanded Blood Pressure Check and Oral Contraception services at pharmacies – could free up to 10 million GP appointments a year.
How can my pharmacist supply a prescription-only medicine if they are not a doctor?
Pharmacists must follow a strict NHS protocol (called a ‘patient group direction’) covering their own required knowledge and skills the types of patients covered. This means that the supply of prescription-only medicines will be limited in all cases by age groups, and in one case, by gender.
Will I have to pay for my advice or medication?
The appointment and advice from a pharmacist are free to access.
If you are recommended an over-the-counter medication, you will pay the costs of buying this.
If you are supplied with a prescription-only medication, usual prescription charges would apply unless you qualify for free prescriptions.
How do I know if my local pharmacy is participating?
Most pharmacies have agreed in principle to deliver the new service but may launch at different times, from 31 January 2024 onwards. They may need to train staff, upgrade IT and install a private consultation room.
Can I get oral contraception without a prescription?
From December 2023, some pharmacies will be able to start women on oral contraception (also known as ‘the Pill’) for the first time, or re-start them after a break, without the person needing to see their GP first. This is an extension of the existing oral contraception service that let women go to pharmacies for repeat prescriptions, that had been initiated first by a GP.
The pharmacist will offer a confidential consultation to discuss your current medication and ensure it is the best option for your needs.
Oral contraception is free on the NHS, and you will not be charged any prescription charges.
You can still choose to visit your GP if you prefer. Pharmacy First simply offers an alternative route for getting treatment for these specific conditions.
Sexual Health and Contraception Services
Sexual Health and Contraception services are offered a range of location across London Borough of Hounslow…
Quote / Testimonial:
Sexual Health Hounslow has three clinics across the London Borough of Hounslow and offers same-day appointments and routine appointments, both booked by calling the call centre on 020 8321 5718 from 8:00 am Monday to Friday or online.
Lilie Hub
Treatment for a diagnosed sexually transmitted infection
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)—start or repeat
Contraception—start or repeat (including implants and IUD/IUS fitting or removal)
Under 18s or in an emergency, you can book a same-day appointment at a Sexual Health Hounslow clinic or come in during clinic opening hours (if coming in without an appointment, please arrive no later than 1 hour before we close).
Emergency contraception—needs to be started within 5 days of unprotected sex
Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)—needs to be started within 72 hours of exposure
Sexual assault within the last 7 days
Under 18 years old
Care experienced (Topaz)
Sexual Health London (SHL) – free home STI testing kit
Sexual Health London is an online sexual health service for people without symptoms. If you do not have any symptoms, register and complete the online consultation. If the service is right for you, a free kit will be posted out. You will need to take your own samples and return them by post for testing. The results will be available in a few days.
NHS talking therapies, for anxiety and depression is provided by West London NHS Trust and offer evidence-based therapies for people over 18 who have a GP or live in the London Borough of Hounslow.
They can help you with common problems like stress, anxiety and depression. It could be that you’re feeling low, having trouble sleeping, or feeling frightened. These are all things that they can help with.
They offer a range of treatments either online, over the telephone, web-based or in person. There are also a number of different formats such as groups, workshops, couples therapy or individual therapy. They aim to provide individuals with a choice of time, day and location suited to the needs of the individual in a timely manner.
How to access this service
You can ask for a referral from your GP or any other health or social care professional. They will fill in a form explaining how you are feeling.
Please review our list of non-NHS work that we offer at our GP surgery, which attract a fee. This includes certificates, forms, medical examinations and various travel vaccinations.
When your doctor is asked to give medical information about you in the form of a report, letter or certificate, the request kick starts a series of processes.
This takes time and is not always straightforward or simple to complete. Some of the information is not available easily and will mean the doctor has to sort and select the right information for the request.
The doctor also must establish who is funding this work and if it is not part of their NHS work, agree a fee for this.
Surely the work is paid for by the NHS?
Many patients see their doctor as the embodiment of the NHS and all that it provides – free care at the point of delivery. However not all work doctors are asked to do is paid for by the NHS and many GPs are self-employed.
This means they must cover their time and costs – staff, buildings, heating, lighting, etc – in the same way as any small business. The NHS only pays for NHS work, any work outside of the NHS must be funded by other means and this is why fees are charged.
Why does it take so long?
Your doctor receives large amounts of request and which is often to do with whether your general health allows you to do something e.g. to work, receive benefits, drive, play sport, attend school, own a house, a firearm or it is for insurance, court or other medico-legal reasons.
All requests will vary in complexity, volume and consistency ranging from signing a certificate which can take minutes, to an in-depth report with an examination that can take hours.
What your doctor is signing
When your doctor signs a certificate or completes a report, it is a condition of remaining on the Medical Register that they only sign what they know to be true.
In order to complete even the simplest of forms, they may have to check your entire medical record (some of which may not be accessible on a computer or on site).
Carelessness or an inaccurate report can have serious consequences for the doctor with the General Medical Council (the doctors’ regulatory body) or even the Police.
Why does my doctor seem reluctant or say no to this request?
Your doctor is inundated with work. They have to balance their time with treating the sick, keeping their practice afloat and making sure they are doing all of this safely and within their professional duties as a doctor.
With certain exceptions written within their contract, doctors do not have to carry out non-NHS work. However, many choose to for the benefit of you and other families they treat.
Where a doctor chooses to undertake the work, we advise them to inform and always agree a fee in advance of undertaking work.
Should their volume of work prove to be greater or more complex than expected, the doctor will contact you to discuss how to proceed.
What can I do to help?
– Not all documents need a signature by a doctor and can be done by other professionals. Please check the form and accompanying guidance as you may get a quicker response that way.
– If you have several forms requiring completion, present them all at once and ask your doctor if he or she is prepared to complete them at the same time to speed up the process.
– Do not expect your GP to process forms overnight. Urgent requests may mean that a doctor has to make special arrangements to process the form quickly, and this will cost more.
– Don’t book an appointment with your doctor to complete forms without checking with your doctor’s administrative staff as to whether you need to or not.
Get test results
General Information about Test Results
When you attend a test of any kind, you will be told how long you should expect to wait for the results. This is a guideline, and we ask that you wait this time before checking for your results.
Please note that we have a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection. We will only give test results to the person they relate to unless that person has given prior permission for their release or if they’re not capable of understanding them.
There are different ways you can access the results of tests that have been done at our GP surgery.
You can use your Systmonline account (or the Airmid app) and access the results from there. Please note that results are only available once the doctor has reviewed them. If you don’t have access to your record online, please request this in your online account or ask our reception team for help, ideally after 2 pm.
Please note that the results of tests carried out during hospital visits are not normally sent to the practice.
Why have I been asked to have a repeat test?
If a doctor asks you to have a repeat test, it is usually because:
The result was borderline or unclear, and the doctor wants another sample to monitor the situation or to re-check the results.
The result is abnormal, and the doctor cannot interpret the result without further tests and has asked you to come in for more tests.
Please do not worry if the doctor has asked you for a repeat test. The doctor will speak to you or request to see you directly if they need to discuss the results.
Get a sick note for work
The NHS provides sickness certification only after seven continuous days of illness. If you need a sick note to cover this period of sickness you should complete a Self-Certification (SC2) form which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.
Need a sick note after seven continuous days of illness?
Please contact the GP surgery as you normally would for a routine appointment as it may be necessary to arrange to discuss your request with a GP.
Do I need a note saying I’m fit for work?
No. You do not need to see your GP again to be ‘signed back to work’.
