Please call reception if you would like to book an appointment or find out more information about any of the following services:
Acupuncture clinic
- This clinic is not funded by the NHS, so is reliant on donations from those who are able to contribute. A voluntary donation of £20 to Minchinhampton Surgery Charitable Trust who provide this service is suggested.
Advice about healthy lifestyles
- Our practice nurses & HCAs are able to provide advice on alcohol consumption, diet & healthy eating, and stopping smoking.
Ante-natal (midwife) clinic
- You must be more than 6 weeks pregnant to make a midwife appointment.
- Screening tests will be discussed with you during your initial appointment, and your GP will be involved in monitoring the progress of your pregnancy when medically needed.
Blood tests
- All blood tests must have been authorised by a GP or Hospital consultant. If you have been given a blood form with the requested vials from a consultant, please bring this along to your appointment.
- You will need to make a routine GP appointment to discuss any new requests for blood tests.
- Blood tests cannot be done after 15:30 as this is the last collection time for samples to go to the laboratory.
Child immunisations
- Please make an appointment with the practice nurse for routine childhood vaccinations.
- However, for any catch-up school vaccinations that have been missed, you will need to contact the Gloucestershire “School-aged Immunisation Team” on 0300 421 8140.
Counselling
- Please make an appointment with a GP to discuss referral to our counselling services.
- Our counsellors can talk to you in confidence about any difficulties you are currently experiencing (including stress, depression, loneliness, bereavement, anxiety, anger, or relationship issues).
- This clinic is not funded by the NHS, so is reliant on donations from those who are able to contribute. A voluntary donation of £20 to Minchinhampton Surgery Charitable Trust who provide this service is suggested.
Emergency contraception
- Please call reception to make a same-day appointment with a GP.
GP appointments (routine)
- You can now book routine GP appointments using your online services.
- All our GP appointments are 10 minutes long, and can be chosen by the patient as either a face-to-face or telephone consultation. If you would like more time with the GP to discuss complex or multiple problems, please call reception and request a double appointment when booking.
- If you need to cancel your appointment, please give as much notice as possible so that the slot can be used for someone else.
- Skype or Facetime consultations are offered by Dr Simpson as an alternative to telephone calls. When you take the call, make sure you are out of earshot, are at home or in a secluded environment, and are aware of the potential risks of others hearing about your conversation with your GP.
GP appointments (urgent)
- Telephone requests for urgent (same-day) appointments will be triaged by our staff. You should expect to receive a same-day phone call from a triage nurse or duty doctor although you will not be given a specific time slot.
- Be prepared to give information about your illness so that the degree of urgency can be assessed. Problems requiring immediate attention will always be dealt with urgently.
- Please note that we do not accept walk-ins – always call reception to make an initial telephone appointment first. If a clinician then decides they need to see you face-to-face, they will arrange for you to come into the surgery as needed.
GP appointments (Enhanced Access)
- Our surgery is participating in the Stroud Cotswold PCN Enhanced Access scheme – a project aimed at improving patient access to primary care services. The GP surgeries involved in this scheme are Minchinhampton Surgery, Beeches Green Surgery, Frithwood Surgery, Painswick Surgery, and Rowcroft Medical Centre.
- Extra GP clinics will be held during normal hours, and additional appointments will be available on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings. All appointments will be booked by either our reception staff or GPs.
Hearing aid clinic
- Anyone with an NHS hearing aid can have their hearing aids re-tubed or cleaned at the clinic.
- You can pick-up new batteries for your hearing aid from surgery reception (free of charge).
Home visits
- Home visits are available for patients who are house-bound or too ill to get to the surgery. Please ring before 10.30am to request a home visit.
- Home visits take a lot of time so the doctor will ring you to assess the urgency so that the most serious conditions can be dealt with first.
Medical record requests
- GDPR entitles you to free access to your personal medical records. Please submit a detailed written request to reception who will then process this.
Mental health help
- Call reception to book an appointment with a GP if you are experiencing mental health issues.
- You can also self-refer to Gloucestershire Talking Therapies (Let’s Talk) or Every Mind Matters.
- If you or someone you know needs urgent help in a mental health crisis, call the Gloucestershire Crisis team on 0800 169 0398. If there is an immediate danger to life, dial 999 or go to your nearest Accident & Emergency Department.
Nurse appointments
- B12 injection (must be agreed with GP beforehand)
- Blood pressure check
- Cervical screening
- Child immunisations
- Contraceptive injection
- Dressings
- Ear check
- Ear syringing
- ECG (must be agreed with GP beforehand)
- Influenza or Covid19 vaccination
- Pertussis, pneumovax, or shingles vaccinations (subject to patient eligibility)
- Pill check
- Routine “health check” (subject to patient eligibility)
- Stitch removal
Physiotherapy
- Patients can now self-refer to the Gloucestershire NHS physiotherapy service.
- You can also sign up for the Gloucestershire MSK app (powered by getUBetter) which offers tips & exercises to help you recover from a range of musculoskeletal conditions. For more information about this app, please click here.
Prescriptions
- We recommend that all patients order their prescriptions online. Alternatively, you can order in-person by ticking the requested medications on your prescription and placing it in the dedicated prescription box, or call the surgery prescription line on 01453 883793 (option 2) from 08:30-10:30.
- When ordering, make sure you have the correct name, dose, and quantity of the medication you require & wherever possible order all your regular items at the same time.
- Allow at least 72 hours (excluding weekends and bank holidays) after ordering your repeat prescription before collection from your nominated local pharmacy. Please be aware that most adults in England have to pay an NHS prescription charge on collection at the pharmacy.
Post-natal clinic
- New mothers should receive a letter from the surgery detailing their appointment date & time for their 8-week post-natal check and for their baby’s 8-week check and immunisations.
Referrals
- Please make a routine appointment with your GP to discuss any onward private or NHS referrals to hospitals or consultants.
- You can visit the NHS My Planned Care website for information on local Hospital waiting times and available services
Reports & certificates
- We are able to complete insurance reports, certificates and licences, solicitors, medical examinations, and private claims forms. You can send your paper forms to reception and explain your requirements for completing them.
- Please be aware there is a fee involved for non-NHS administrative services.
Research
- Our Practice takes part in medical research. The work is undertaken in partnership with universities and other organisations with the aim of improving all aspects of Primary Care.
- You may be invited to take part in a research project. Under no circumstances would any information about you, identifiable or not, be released to any research organisation without your fully informed, written consent.
Respiratory clinic
- For routine respiratory reviews (including asthma), you should receive an invite from the surgery.
Samples
- Make sure to properly label your sample (including your name and date of birth) on both the bottle and the form, otherwise the sample may be rejected by the laboratory.
- Please try to bring your sample (collected/taken on the same day) to reception before 3pm. Any samples brought in after this time will not be processed as the pathology van arrives around 3.30pm to take samples to the laboratory.
Sexual health clinic
- Call reception to make an initial telephone appointment with our sexual health nurse who can give you advice and guidance on our sexual health services available.
- The sexual health nurse can then book you in for any procedures needed – this cannot be booked directly by our receptionists.
- The sexual health clinic is suitable for coils and implants (fitting & removal), sexual health advice, and STI screenings.
- Unfortunately, we are no longer seeing patients from other GP surgeries in our sexual health clinic.
Sick notes
- If you have been ill off work for 7 days or less, you do not need to give your employer a fit note or other proof of sickness.
- If you have been ill off work for more than 7 days in a row, you must give your employer a ‘fit note’ (also called a ‘sick note’).
- You can visit the government website for more information on taking sick leave.
- Please call reception to request a sick note – you will need an appointment with a GP to discuss any new sick note requests.
Social prescribing
- Social prescribers can provide support and guidance on what local groups & activities, community fun, work experience, peer support, mentoring, and counselling services are available.
- Our clinicians work closely with the Stroud network social prescribing team – please ask reception or your GP about the referral process.
Test results
- We recommend that all patients have online access via the NHS app to view their test results.
- Alternatively, you can call reception after 2pm to request test results. You will be asked to establish your identity before any information is given out over the telephone. Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to share results to a third party for any patient aged 16+ without the patient’s verbal or written permission.
Travel vaccinations
- Call reception to make a routine appointment with our travel nurse to discuss your vaccination requirements. This must be booked at least 6 weeks before the start of your trip.
- Find specific travel requirements and recommended vaccinations for the country you are visiting at www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/home or www.travelhealthpro.org.uk
- Please be aware there may be a fee involved for some vaccines.
