Other Services

Non-NHS Services

Some medical services, such as passport/driving licence applications, insurance claim forms etc are not part of NHS Services and attract a separate fee.  The Doctor will usually advise you of this at the time of consultation.  See link below for a list of our current fees.  These are also displayed in the Reception area.

Services with Fees - Feb 2020

Physiotherapy

Please see self help pages on NHS Grampian Musculoskeletal (MSK) Physiotherapy website at: www.mskphysiogrampian.scot.nhs.uk/ for useful advice and information for managing a number of conditions.

NHS Grampian have introduced a self-referral system for Musculoskeletal physiotherapy. This allows anyone, who is registered with a GP in NHS Grampian, to directly refer themselves for physiotherapy via a form which is available electronically, please click on link to the form below.

Please note Hamilton Medical Group do not currently have access to a First Contact Practitioner (FCP) physiotherapist.

Children Physio request form

Self Management Patient Service

Other Health Professionals

We have a part-time attached Pharmacist and close ties with many local Pharmacies, who collect prescriptions from the surgery. 

Other health professionals who provide services at our premises include:

• Community Midwife
• Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN)
• Substance Misuse Service Counsellor 
• Psychiatrist

Aberdeen City Community Health & Social Care Services

Within Aberdeen City, Occupational Therapy is provided by qualified and registered Occupational Therapists and support staff employed by NHS Grampian and Bon Accord Care (in partnership with Aberdeen City Council). Below is a brief description of the OT services available in the City, and how to self-refer into these services.

Bon Accord Care provides help for people of all ages (paediatrics, adults and older people) who experience difficulty coping with everyday activities due to disability, illness and/or the ageing process. The main focus is maintaining the person's ability to function in their home and local environment. This may include equipment provision, adapting their home environment or skills re-training. You can access this service via:

• Self Referral is welcome from Service users by contacting the Hillylands Independent Living Centre on 01224 666360 for bookings or drop in to the centre at 2, Croft Road, Aberdeen, AB16 6RB. This centre is open to the public Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm. There is a large selection of equipment available to trial and Occupational Therapy staff are on hand to offer advice regarding difficulties being experienced.
• Self Referral forms can be found in GP Practices or by completing an on-line self assessment with BAC2Independence on www.bac2independenceaberdeen.org.uk. This is an online self tool can also be completed by someone on their behalf.

The Bounds

The Bounds is a new counselling and research centre which will provide a free counselling service to the local community.  It is named for its base in the Humanities Annexe in College Bounds, on the edge of the Old Aberdeen campus and will be run by staff from the University's person-centered counselling programme and student counsellors.

Given the current Covid-19 restrictions the service will be online initially but will move to include face-to-face counselling sessions as soon as the situation eases.

email:  thebounds@abdn.ac.uk  

Website:  https://www.abdn.ac.uk/education/research/the-bounds/index.php 

Information Leaflets

Leaflets and other written information about various illnesses and conditions are available on display and from the Practice Nurses.  We have leaflets produced by the Practice on the following topics:-

• Cervical Smear Test Results
• Oral Glucose Tolerance Test

Test Results

Practice Nurses

Our Practice Nurses are fully qualified to carry out a wide range of services including:

• Chronic Disease Management, including diabetes, asthma, COPD, heart disease, and high blood pressure
• Cervical smears and breast self examinations
• Injections
• Ear syringing
• Treatment of warts
• Wound dressing and suture removal
• Immunisation for travellers
• Health promotion, including dietary and smoking cessation advice

Please contact the main surgery number (01224 562888) for appointments or to speak to a Practice Nurse.

Community Nurses

District Nurses and Health Visitors are Registered General Nurses with additional qualifications to enable them to assess and plan the care of patients in the community.  They advise on all aspects of health promotion, support both patients and carers, and mobilise any resources that may be required.    If you have any problems which the Community Nursing Team could help you with, they can be contacted on:

District Nurses

• Monday–Friday (8.00am–4.00pm) Tel: 01224 559802
• Out-of-hours (emergencies) - Tel:    111

Health Visitors

• Monday–Friday (8.30am–5.00pm) Tel: 01224 559816
• Out-of-hours (emergencies) - Tel:   111

Community Midwife

The Community Midwife runs the ante-natal clinics at the surgery and will also provide care at home for mothers before and after having their babies.
The Midwife can be contacted via the Main Reception at the Maternity Hospital on 01224 552606 or through the Community Midwife Office on Tel 552071.

Transport to Healthcare Information Centre (THInC)

Do you need advice about travelling to and from your medical appointment?

The Transport to Healthcare Information Centre (THInC) can help. They provide practical transport advice for people who have difficulty getting to and from medical appointments in Grampian.

The service provides a dedicated telephone service offering guidance on accessing suitable transport options to get to and from appointments when they have no means of personal transport. The centre can provide details of suitable bus or train times, contact telephone numbers and other services such as local dial-a-bus or voluntary car schemes.

Please note that THInC does not book transport but can assist with travel advice.

The centre is the first of its kind in the UK and is a joint initiative between Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Moray Council, NHS Grampian, The Scottish Ambulance Service and Nestrans.  THInC is one of the projects taken forward as part of the Health and Transport Action Plan.

Please call THInC on 01467 536111 between 9am-4.30pm, Monday to Friday.  Calls are charged at local rate.

Further information on the Health and Transport Action Plan can be found on the Nestrans website . 

Florence Blood Pressure Monitoring 

What is Flo?

‘Florence’, or ‘Flo’ as it is referred to, combines the expertise of healthcare professionals with the convenience of the patient’s own mobile phone. Flo sends text message reminders to patients, prompting them to check their blood pressure. The patient texts back with their readings, which are sent to a dashboard that authorised staff in the GP practice can access at any time. By using nationally developed BP protocols, practices can take advantage of results reports being fed directly into Docman, removing the need for staff to access the Flo platform and download readings. Flo can also send patients advice to act on, or ask the patient health related questions and give health promotion messages. This is all done via the familiar 'SMS' text messaging system and is completely free of charge to patients.

What are the benefits of using Flo to Monitor Blood Pressure?

• Flo gives practitioners the opportunity to monitor patients’ blood pressure remotely, reducing the number of face-to-face appointments required to diagnose, titrate or monitor hypertension.
• Flo gives patients the opportunity to have their blood pressure monitored by the practice without having to attend the surgery, reducing inconvenience and travel cost.
• Flo can remove white-coat syndrome, optimising readings and clinical decision-making.
• Flo allows patients to understand their own condition and make lifestyle changes/seek medical advice as required to allow them to maintain longer, healthier lives. In short it can motivate patients to self-manage.
• Studies show long term hypertension monitoring with Flo encourages medication compliance and therefore reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack.

A nationally produced video to support the Florence programme can be viewed via the following link: https://vimeo.com

We encourage patients to purchase a home Blood Pressure device for self management of their blood pressure monitoring. Recommendations for a suitable device can be found via the Blood Pressure UK Org website link below. It would be helpful if you decide to purchase a monitor, that you let the surgery know to enable recording of this in your medical notes. 

https://bihsoc.org/bp-monitors/for-home-use/

The British Heart foundation also provides a 'how to' video to Managing your Blood Pressure at home: https://www.bhf.org.uk/bloodpressureathome

Florence Patient Information Leaflet

Using Florence to Help Monitor Blood Pressure

Florence Privacy Notice

Florence Opt In Form

Blood Pressure Shared Management Plan

Blood Pressure Shared Management Plan for Diabetics or CKD Stage 3.5

Text Messaging Help Sheet

The link below details the updated community resources available in Aberdeen

2015 COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN ABERDEEN

Here is the latest issue of the Dementia Friendly Aberdeen newsletter:

http://acvo.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/DFA-Newsletter-Feb-edition.pdf

Services available from the Practice

All GP practices are contracted to provide “essential services”, that is, basic treatment of ill people.

We also provide the following “additional services”:

• Child health surveillance, together with the Health Visiting team
• Contraceptive services, though not IUCD insertion, nor Implanon insertion, which are available at the Family Planning clinic at Golden Square
• Maternity services in the ante natal and post natal period, together with the Midwives from Aberdeen Maternity Hospital
• Routine immunisation of children, together with the Health Visiting team
• Immunisation in relation to travel.  Please note that patients with complicated travel plans may be asked to contact the NHS Grampian Travel clinic at The David Anderson Building, Foresterhill.  Not all travel immunisations are available on the NHS, please ask for further details
• Cervical smears
• Freezing of warts and other small skin lesions

We also hold contracts with NHS Grampian for the following “enhanced services”:

• An annual flu immunisation programme to protect the elderly and those with medical conditions that have increased health risks if they get flu, eg patients with diabetes, asthma, heart disease and other chronic conditions
• Regular monitoring, by blood test, for patients on Warfarin
• Regular monitoring, by blood and urine tests, for patients on a range of drugs for arthritis and bowel problems
• Annual comprehensive review for patients with diabetes.  Retinal screening is carried out at The David Anderson Building, Foresterhill.
• A Methadone substitution programme for patients with drug abuse problems.  Note that new patients with substance dependence problems will be referred to the substance misuse service.  The doctors at the Practice will not prescribe substitutes.