Information regarding the HPV Vaccination

In addition to GP consultations, The Vallance Brunswick Group adheres to the General Medical Services Contract for the provision of healthcare services:

Chronic Disease Management

• Asthma
• COPD
• Coronary heart disease
• Diabetes
• Hypertension

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Additional Services

• Cervical smears
• Child health & immunisations
• Maternity services – ante and post natal care are provided by the midwives. Expectant mothers will be given the contact details for the midwifery service.
• Mental health & social worker service – via a GP referral.
• Smoking cessation
• Vaccinations and immunisations – including seasonal flu and travel.
• Weight Management

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Translation / Interpreter Service

This service is provided by Manchester NHS and can be booked for patients whose first language is not English. Please give 4-5 days notice. The service is free to patients but costly to the NHS. In this respect it would be appreciated if any necessary cancellations are notified as early as possible.

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Patient Transport Services

Please view out patient transport services leaflet (PDF) for information on Using NHS transport to get to your appointment.

Meet your Dietitian!

Lucy is a Registered Dietitian working across GP practices in Ardwick & Longsight. She has worked in the NHS for 8 years, spending most of that time at both adults and children’s hospitals.

Being a Registered Dietitian means that Lucy looks at the most up to date research around food and health, and then translates that into practical advice for the public.

You might find her at local community groups giving informal dietary education,delivering group courses, or in clinics at your GP practice. This website will hopefully be a useful tool to provide information around how to save money while eating well, which shops in Ardwick & Longsight have the best prices, and some recipes to try with the family.

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Real Food Real Health course – sign up now!

We are running a new healthy living course in this neighbourhood called Real Food Real Health.

• Do you need additional support in better managing your weight, health and (if applicable) diabetes?
• Would you like to try a different approach in a safe and encouraging environment by using a whole food, strength-based approach that you can tailor to suit your needs and values?
• Would you like to learn how to maintain lifestyle changes to suit your life, environment and priorities?

The course is run by a neighbourhood dietitian, health coaches and is completely free.

• Drop-in sessions: These will be run at various locations and will be available for people who have already attended the course, or those who are interested in finding out more. Next drop in: TBC.
• 8-week course: These term-time courses will run 3 times a year, next one starting in May:

Date	Time	Location
Thursday 04.05.2023	10am – 12 noon	Brunswick Village – Extra Care 50 Brunswick Street, Manchester, M13 9PE
Thursday 11.05.2023	10am – 12 noon
Thursday 18.05.2023	10am – 12 noon
Thursday 25.05.2023	10am – 12 noon
WEEK OFF FOR HALF TERM
Thursday 08.06.2023	10am – 12 noon
Thursday 15.06.2023	10am – 12 noon
Thursday 22.06.2023	10am – 12 noon
Thursday 29.06.2023	10am – 12 noon

If you feel you can commit to the 8 week course or would like to find out more about the drop ins please click here to fill in an application form:

• Real Food Real Health: Self-Referral form for Ardwick and Longsight PCN

Thank you!

Lucy Blackstone, Aurora Bush-Gordon, Ola Skrodzka and Rozina Akhtar – The Real Food Real Health Team

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Is Fruit Juice Good For me?

Fruit is an excellent source of Vitamin C and fibre. Vitamin C helps to keep your immune system working well, and also helps your body to absorb iron.

However, fruit is quite high in sugar. And this is where it gets confusing – the sugar in whole fruit is not counted as ‘free sugar’ but in juices and smoothies it is. ‘Free sugar’ is also known as ‘added sugar’ and is the sugar that is added to processed foods such as sweets, cakes, fizzy drinks and chocolate. It is recommended that our consumption of ‘free sugar’ is reduced as excess intake can increase risk of overweight and type 2 diabetes.

For this reason, the best way to take your fruit is to eat it. As once it is juiced, much of the fibre content is removed. The fibre will help to slow the pace at which the sugar enters the system and keep you fuller for longer.

It is important to mindful of portions of fruit, and remember that 1 piece = 1 portion, in the case of berries and grapes it is the amount that fits into one cupped hand.

1 portion of fruit juice = 150ml, and it is not recommended to have more than once a day. Try adding water to make it go further!

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Who Needs To Take A Vitamin?

Not everyone needs to take a vitamin, in fact the only one that it is advised we all take is Vitamin D – as this is absorbed from sunlight and we simply don’t get enough of that in the autumn and winter months (especially in Manchester!)

Apart from those stated in the table below, you should be able to get all the nutrients you need from a varied diet.

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What is a varied diet?

• Plenty of fruits and vegetables – frozen, tinned or fresh are fine. Aim for a variety of these and at least 5 a day.
• Some starchy carbohydrates in appropriate portions – rice, bread, pasta, potatoes. Wholemeal choices are the most nutritious, although some 50/50 loaves are fortified with calcium, iron and Vitamin D.
• Some milk and dairy products, or alternatives that are fortified with calcium.
• Two portions per day of protein foods – beans, pulses, meat, fish, chicken and eggs. Try to replace meat with pulses once or twice per week.
• Oily fish such as mackerel, sardines or pilchards once a week is a great source of vitamins and healthy fats that are good for your heart
• Not too many foods high in fat, salt and sugar – such as takeaways, processed foods and snacks.

The table below indicates who is recommended to take a vitamin and how much:

Who?	Vitamin	Why?
All babies under the age of 1	8.5 – 10mcg Vitamin D in vitamin drops (Babies drinking 500ml or more of infant formula do not need additional vitamin D supplementation)	To prevent a vitamin D deficiency
Adults and children aged 1 and over	10mcg Vitamin D per day during the autumn and winter months (Some groups, such as those who cannot go outside that often or who cover their skin when outside may benefit from a supplement all year round).	To prevent a vitamin D deficiency
Pregnant people, or people trying to conceive	400mcg Folic Acid daily from pre-conception until 12 weeks of pregnancy. (A higher dose of folic acid is recommended for people at a high risk of conceiving a child with a neural tube defect, including those who have previously had an infant with a neural tube defect or if they have diabetes or sickle-cell disease.	To reduce the risk of neural tube defects in the unborn baby.
People suffering from medical conditions or deficiencies, or who have had stomach surgery	As per your doctor	To prevent a deficiency
People following a vegan diet	10mcg of Vitamin B12 daily Up to 150mcg of iodine daily – do not exceed this dose as excess iodine can be harmful.	To prevent deficiencies in these nutrients.

Table taken from British Dietetic Association website

• A pharmacy, supermarket or your local chemist is a reputable place to get a supplement from – avoid buying from an unknown company on the internet.
• Make sure you need the supplement – have you spoken to a doctor or dietitian?
• Could you alter your diet to boost your nutrient intake first?
• Be careful with supplements that claim to delay ageing, help you to lose weight or boost your metabolism – there is often little scientific evidence back up these claims.

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Top tips for saving money on your food shop

The rising cost of food has put strain on many families in Manchester. These tips should help you to keep the cost of your weekly shop down, while helping you to continue eating well.

• Make a meal plan at the beginning of the week – then use this to make a shopping list to make sure no food is wasted.
• Use your leftovers – either freeze or store leftovers in the fridge, factor in when you will eat them to your meal plan. This can help you to avoid convenience foods on a busy day!
• Try to eat more vegetarian meals – tinned pulses and beans still contain protein and are much cheaper than meat.
• If using meat, try adding beans or pulses to make the meal go further. This will reduce the price, keep the protein content high and add fibre.
• If buying meat in bulk, freeze some portions that won’t be used to make sure they aren’t wasted.
• Try using frozen or tinned vegetables to reduce costs – they are still full of vitamins and fibre.
• Beans and pulses = chickpeas / kidney beans / butterbeans / lentils / even baked beans!

We offer all our patients aged 75 and over the opportunity to have an annual health assessment at the Centre.

We provide a comprehensive range of family planning services. The pill and general advice on contraceptives may be obtained from any of the doctors.

From January 2019 we are providing a ‘long acting contraception’ clinic talk to your doctors if you are interested in having a coil or implant fitted.

We offer a full range of immunisations to help protect our patients from disease.

Non NHS Work

We are often asked to offer services which are outside of normal NHS work. This includes medical and insurance forms, private medicals as well as reports or letters to support various issues that are affected by health. Unfortunately, a lot of this work is not funded by the NHS and will therefore have to be paid separately.

Isn’t the NHS supposed to be free?

The National Health Service provides most health care to most people free of charge, but there are exceptions: prescription charges have existed since 1951 and there are several other services for which fees are charged.

Sometimes the charge is made to cover some of the cost of treatment, for example, dental fees; in other cases, it is because the service is not covered by the NHS, for example, providing copies of health records or producing medical reports for insurance companies.

Surely the doctor is being paid anyway?

It is important to understand that many GPs are not employed by the NHS; they are self-employed, and they must cover their costs – staff, buildings, heating, lighting, etc – in the same way as any small business. The NHS covers these costs for NHS work, but for non-NHS work, the fees charged by GPs contribute towards their costs.

Do GPs have to do non-NHS work for their patients?

With certain limited exceptions, for example work that has been ordered by a court, GPs do not have to carry out non-NHS work on behalf of their patients.

Whilst GPs will always attempt to assist their patients with the completion of forms, for example for insurance purposes, they are not required to do such non-NHS work.

Generally, GPs would not refuse any work unless there are justifiable conditions, for example:

• The doctor is unable to complete it within a certain deadline due to other work
• The doctor does not feel they are qualified or expertise enough in answering the report

Is it true that the BMA sets fees for non-NHS work?

The BMA suggests fees that GPs may charge their patients for non-NHS work (i.e., work not covered under their contract with the NHS) to help GPs set their own professional fees. However, the fees suggested by the BMA are intended for guidance only; they are not recommendations, and a doctor is not obliged to charge the rates they suggest.

Why does it sometimes take my GP a long time to complete my form?

Time spent completing forms and preparing reports takes the GP away from the medical care of his or her patients. Most GPs have a very heavy workload and paperwork takes up an increasing amount of their time, so many GPs find they must take some paperwork home at night and weekends.

I only need the doctor’s signature – what is the problem?

When a 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. To complete even the simplest of forms, therefore, the doctor might have to check the patient’s entire medical record.

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.

What will I be charged?

The BMA recommends that GPs tell patients in advance if they will be charged, and what the fee will be. It is up to individual doctors to decide how much they will charge. A list of our costs are listed below. Please note these are a guidance for our doctors and there may be differences in cost, if for example, there are more complexities.

What can I do to help?

Not all documents need a signature by a doctor, for example passport applications. You can ask another person in a position of trust to sign such documents free of charge.

If you have several forms requiring completion, present them all at once and ask your GP 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 must make special arrangements to process the form quickly, and this will cost more.

We do NOT offer the following services:

• Court of Protection (COP3)/Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) assessments
• Capacity assessments for financial / testamentary capacity

These are very specialist and niche area of medical practise and should be carried out by psychiatrist or specialist doctors with experience in such assessments.

• Private drug testing for insurance, occupational or probationary work

• References for employment purposes

• Signing for Passports and Home Office declarations. Please note that doctors are specifically exempt from the list of accepted registered occupations that can countersign a passport. Please do not ask the GP to offer this.

Advice, information, vaccination and services are provided to help you maintain your health and prevent disease while travelling. There is a charge for most of the vaccinations which should be paid prior to receiving the vaccinations.

This clinic offers patients with diabetes the opportunity to have regular specialist medical and nursing care.

These clinics aim to help people with asthma and COPD to understand and manage their condition so that they can maintain the best possible health.