Patient charter: our commitment to you as a veteran of the UK Armed Forces

The NHS is here to help improve your health and wellbeing and keep you mentally and physically well. It is also here to help you get better when you are ill and, when you cannot fully recover, to stay as well as you can until the end of your life.

This means that you can expect the following from our practice

• We will ask all patients if they have served in the UK Armed Forces (as a regular or reservist). If you have, we will note this in your medical record, with your permission. 
• We will ask you to share details of your time in service to help us to assess the best support and treatment for you.
• The information you share will be kept confidential and we will always speak to you before sharing this with other services you may be referred to. 
•     You can make an appointment to see our clinical lead for veteran’s health. This person has a comprehensive understanding of the Armed Forces, health conditions linked to service, and the dedicated support you can access.     
• The NHS has a duty to support the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant. This means that you will get priority treatment for any medical condition which has been caused by your service, subject to the clinical needs of other patients.  
• We will let you know what choices are available for your care and treatment and help you to make informed decisions on what to do.
• Where appropriate and with your consent, we can refer you to dedicated veterans health services.
• If you need to be seen by another service, we will let them know you’re a veteran and make sure they have an understanding of your health and wellbeing needs, so you don’t have to keep repeating your ‘personal story’.
• We can give advice and support to your loved ones who may be affected by your health conditions.
• We will investigate any issues and complaints that you may have about your care. If you have any concerns about the services we offer, please speak to one of the practice team.

Top tips for veterans

1. It is important to register with a GP, rather than wait until you need treatment. Visit the NHS website to find details of GP practices in your local area.
2. If you’ve recently left the forces, it is important to give your GP the paperwork that your military medical centre gave you, including any medical records. This will help to make sure your military health record transfers to your NHS health record. This will also give your GP information on your health and ensure that any ongoing care and treatment is continued.
3. Regardless of when you left the military, tell your GP that you’ve served in the UK Armed Forces. This will help your GP to better understand any military related health conditions that you may have and ensure that you are referred, where appropriate, to dedicated services for veterans.
   • This includes the specialist mental and physical health services, Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and the Veterans Trauma Network.
   • When using these services, you will be able to speak to people who:
     • understand the Armed Forces and military life
     • are either from the Armed Forces community or highly experienced in working with serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families
     • will work with you to make sure you get the right type of specialist care, support, and treatment
     • work closely with a range of organisations and charities, including military charities, to support your wider health and wellbeing needs.
4. With your agreement, it can sometimes be helpful for your doctor to refer you to Armed Forces charities, such as SSAFA, the Royal British Legion, Combat Stress or Help for Heroes. They can often offer significant help and support, even if they do not all deliver healthcare.
5. You may be worried about sharing information about your time in the Armed Forces. Please note that the NHS is bound by a confidentiality code of practice to ensure GPs, nurses and other people working within the NHS deliver a confidential service bound by law.

To find out more, please speak to our practice manager or one of our GPs or nurses.

More information on health services for the Armed Forces Community

If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to make an appointment with the practice nurse to discuss your travel arrangements.  This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required. 

There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on Fit For Travel website

It is important to make this initial appointment as early as possible  – at least 6 weeks before you travel – as a second appointment will be required with the practice nurse to actually receive the vaccinations.  These vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine.  Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work.

Some travel vaccines are ordered on a private prescription and these incur a charge over and above the normal prescription charge.  This is because not all travel vaccinations are included in the services provided by the NHS.

Travel Health Questionnaire

To help us offer the appropriate advice, please fill out the online form before coming to see the nurse.

Travelling in Europe

If you are travelling to Europe the EU has published useful information for travellers on the European website.

Summary Care Records (SCR)

Your Summary Care Record is a short summary of your GP medical records. It tells other health and care staff who care for you about the medicines you take and your allergies.

This will enable health and care professionals to have better medical information about you when they are treating you at the point of care. This change will apply for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic only. Unless alternative arrangements have been put in place before the end of the emergency period, this change will be reversed. 

All patients registered with a GP have a Summary Care Record, unless they have chosen not to have one. The information held in your Summary Care Record gives health and care professionals, away from your usual GP practice, access to information to provide you with safer care, reduce the risk of prescribing errors and improve your patient experience.

Your Summary Care Record contains basic information about allergies and medications and any reactions that you have had to medication in the past.

Some patients, including many with long term health conditions, have previously agreed to have additional information shared as part of their Summary Care Record. This additional information includes information about significant medical history (past and present), reasons for medications, care plan information and immunisations.

During the coronavirus pandemic period, your Summary Care Record will automatically have additional information included from your GP record unless you have previously told the NHS that you did not want this information to be shared.

There will also be a temporary change to include COVID-19 specific codes in relation to suspected, confirmed, Shielded Patient List and other COVID-19 related information within the additional information.

By including this additional information in your SCR, health and care staff can give you better care if you need health care away from your usual GP practice:

• in an emergency
• when you’re on holiday
• when your surgery is closed
• at out-patient clinics
• when you visit a pharmacy

Additional information is included on your SCR

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic we are temporarily removing the requirement to have explicit consent to share the SCR additional information. This change of requirement will be reviewed when the pandemic is over.

You can be reassured that if you have previously opted-out of having a Summary Care Record or have expressly declined to share the additional information in your Summary Care Record, your preference will continue to be respected and applied. 

Additional information will include extra information from your GP record, including:

• health problems like dementia or diabetes
• details of your carer
• your treatment preferences
• communication needs, for example if you have hearing difficulties or need an interpreter

This will help medical staff care for you properly, and respect your choices, when you need care away from your GP practice. This is because having more information on your SCR means they will have a better understanding of your needs and preferences.

When you are treated away from your usual doctor’s surgery, the health care staff there can’t see your GP medical records. Looking at your SCR can speed up your care and make sure you are given the right medicines and treatment.

The only people who might see your Summary Care Record are registered and regulated healthcare professionals, for example doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists and staff working under their direct supervision. Your Summary Care record will only be accessed so a healthcare professional can give you individual care. Staff working for organisations that do not provide direct care are not able to view your Summary Care Record.

Before accessing a Summary Care Record healthcare staff will always ask your permission to view it, unless it is a medical emergency and you are unable to give permission.

Protecting your SCR information

Staff will ask your permission to view your SCR (except in an emergency where you are unconscious, for example) and only staff with the right levels of security clearance can access the system, so your information is secure. You can ask an organisation to show you a record of who has looked at your SCR – this is called a Subject Access Request.

Find out how to make a subject access request.

Opting out

The purpose of SCR is to improve the care that you receive, however, if you don’t want to have an SCR you have the option to opt out. If this is your preference please inform your GP or fill in an SCR opt-out form and return it to your GP practice.

Regardless of your past decisions about your Summary Care Record consent preferences, you can change your mind at any time. You can choose any of the following options:

1. To have a Summary Care Record with additional information shared. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see a enriched Summary Care Record if they need to provide you with direct care.
2. To have a Summary Care Record with core information only. This means that any authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals will be able to see information about allergies and medications only in your Summary Care Record if they need to provide you with direct care.
3. To opt-out of having a Summary Care Record altogether. This means that you do not want any information shared with other authorised, registered and regulated health and care professionals involved in your direct care, including in an emergency.

To make these changes, you should inform your GP practice or complete the SCR patient consent preferences form and return it to your GP practice.

More information on your health records

Read more about your medical records.

The shingles vaccine helps protect against shingles. It’s recommended for all adults turning 65, those aged 70 to 79 and those aged 50 and over with a severely weakened immune system.

All East Integrated Sexual Health & Barts Health HIV Services’ response to Covid-19: Update 3rd April 2020

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are not seeing any walk-in patients at any of our sites

All Sexual Health & HIV emergency reviews are operating from the Royal London Hospital:

• Sexual Health from the Ambrose King Centre (AKC)
• HIV from the Grahame Hayton Unit (GHU)

The Sir Ludwig Guttmann Centre (SLG), the Greenway Centre and all sexual health satellite clinics in Newham, Tower Hamlets & Waltham Forest are now closed. Sexual wellbeing and psychosex clinic appointments have been cancelled and the service suspended.

For up to date information, please check the All East Integrated Sexual Health service website or Barts Health HIV clinic website 

If you are experiencing delays with your hospital appointment or need more information about referral please contact AIRS (Access Issues Resolutions Services) please call: 0345 602 9906

Women aged between 24 and 64 should have a cervical screening every 3 to 5 years to help prevent cervical cancer. The screening is quick and painless and can be done here in the practice.

If you are aged over 24 and have never had a smear test, or if it has been more than 3 to 5 years since your last screening, you should arrange an appointment with our Practice Nurse. You should not have the test while you are having a period or in the 4 days before or after your period as this can affect the sample.

What is cervical screening?

Cervical screening is not a test for cancer. It is a method of preventing cancer by detecting and treating early abnormalities which, if left untreated, could lead to cancer in a woman’s cervix (the neck of the womb).

A sample of cells is taken from the cervix for analysis. A doctor or nurse inserts an instrument (a speculum) to open the woman’s vagina and uses a spatula to sweep around the cervix. Most women consider the procedure to be only mildly uncomfortable.

Early detection and treatment can prevent 75 per cent of cancers developing but like other screening tests, it is not perfect. It may not always detect early cell changes that could lead to cancer.

Who is eligible for cervical screening?

All women between the ages of 25 and 64 are eligible for a free cervical screening test every three to five yearsThe NHS call and recall system invites women who are registered with a GP. It also keeps track of any follow-up investigation, and, if all is well, recalls the woman for screening in three or five years time. It is therefore important that all women ensure their GP has their correct name and address details and inform them if these change.

Women who have not had a recent test may be offered one when they attend their GP or family planning clinic on another matter. Women should receive their first invitation for routine screening at 25.

Why are women under 25 not invited?

This is because changes in the young cervix are normal. If they were thought to be abnormal this could lead to unnecessary treatment which could have consequences for women’s childbearing. Any abnormal changes can be easily picked up and treated from the age of 25. Rarely, younger women experience symptoms such as unexpected bleeding or bleeding after intercourse. In this case they should see their GP for advice.

Why are women over 65 not invited?

Women aged 65 and over who have had three consecutive negative results are taken out of the call recall system. The natural history and progression of cervical cancer means it is highly unlikely that such women will go on to develop the disease. Women aged 65 and over who have never had a test are entitled to one.

What about women who are not sexually active?

The NHS Cervical Screening Programme invites all women between the ages of 25 and 64 for cervical screening. But if a woman has never been sexually active with a man, then the research evidence shows that her chance of developing cervical cancer is very low indeed. We do not say no risk, only very low risk. In these circumstances, a woman might choose to decline the invitation for cervical screening on this occasion. If a woman is not currently sexually active but has had male partners in the past, then we would recommend that she continues screening.

Some services provided are not covered under our contract with the NHS and therefore attract charges. Examples include the following:

• Medicals for pre-employment, sports and driving requirements (HGV, PSV, Seafarer’s Medicals (ENG1s) etc.)
• Insurance claim forms
• Prescriptions for taking medication abroad
• Private sick notes
• Vaccination certificates

The fees charged are based on the British Medical Association (BMA) suggested scales and our reception staff will be happy to advise you about them along with appointment availability.

For all letters/forms/reports a minimum of 10 working days must be allowed before collection.

Who can use this service?

Anyone over the age of 10 years old, living and registered with a GP in Waltham Forest can self-refer to be seen in the Minor Eye Conditions Service (MECS) for specialist Care.

The service provides free treatment to patients with a range of eye conditions, being seen by local optometrists with the knowledge and skill to see patients at a number of approved optician’s practices – saving them a visit to the GP or hospital. 

There is no need to make a GP appointment, visit Accident and Emergency or eye casualty departments if you are suffering with any of the conditions listed below. 

Patients 18 years and over

• Red eye
• Blurred vision
• Dry eyes
• Watery eyes
• Lesions and abrasions
• Visual field defects
• Blepharitis (condition where the edges of the eyelids become red and swollen)

Patients 10 Years and over

• Reduction in vision in one or both eyes
• Blepharitis and Meibomian Cyst (Inflammation or a lump in the upper or lower eyelid)
• Red Eye (also known as bloodshot eyes).

Approved Opticians

• E4 Eyes Opticians
• Specsavers UK
• Henry Morgan Opticians
• Care Optics
• Bahri Opticiansces
• Rose Opticians
• Forest Gate Eye Clinic

NHS e-Referral Service

The NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) combines electronic booking with a choice of place, date and time for first hospital or clinic appointments. Patients can choose their initial hospital or clinic appointment, book it in the GP surgery at the point of referral, or later at home on the phone or online.

Using the service

If you’re a patient, find out more about appointment booking on the NHS.UK website.

Whether you’re using e-RS for the first time, or an existing user wanting to make the most of the service, NHS Digital provides a range of material for referrers (such as a general practice), providers (a hospital or clinic) and commissioners.

MORE INFO

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