From the 1st October 2022 CGPN will be supporting General Practice by offering the new Enhanced Access Service 

Evening and weekend appointments to see a GP, Nurse, Health Care Assistant or Phlebotomist are available to all patients in Cambridge and surrounding villages.

Extended GP Opening Hours in the evenings and at weekends

Services we can offer within the Enhanced Access

• ​GP Consultations
• Advanced Nurse Practitioner consultations
• Nurse appointments offering dressings, asthma and diabetes reviews, contraception reviews, etc
• Health Care Assistant appointments offering wound care, blood test, etc
• Phlebotomy: Routine blood tests are available within our Enhanced Access Clinics
• Cervical Screening

​Please note that your consent for our clinician to view your medical record will be required in order for an appointment to be booked for you.

Last update October 2022

Last update August 2022

The NHS Bowel Screening Programme offers a home test kit for screening to all adults aged 60 to 74 every 2 years. People over 75 or over can request screening every 2 years by phoning the helpline. Screening saves lives by discovering cancer earlier (before symptoms develop) when it is more easily treated.

For more information please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-cancer-screening/ or contact the National Bowel Screening helpline on 0800 707 6060. We do encourage you to do this screening test when you receive one.

If you have hearing or speech difficulties you can use the Relay UK service to contact us. Dial 18001 then 0800 707 60 60 from your textphone or the Relay UK app.

Easy read guide

How the bowel works

The bowel is part of your digestive system. It takes nutrients and water from food and turns what is left into poo (also known as faeces, stools or bowel motions). As illustrated below, the colon and rectum make up the large bowel.

Bowel cancer

Bowel cancer is also known as colon, rectal or colorectal cancer. Sometimes the cells that make up the bowel grow too quickly and form a clump of cells known as a bowel polyp (some types of polyp are called an ‘adenoma’). Polyps are not bowel cancers but they can sometimes change into a cancer over a number of years.

Risks of developing bowel cancer

Everyone, whatever your sex, is at risk of developing bowel cancer. Things that can increase your risk include:

• getting older (8 out of 10 people diagnosed with bowel cancer are over 60)
• not being active enough
• being overweight
• a diet high in red and processed meat and low in fibre, vegetables and fruits
• smoking
• drinking too much alcohol
• having type 2 diabetes
• having inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease)
• a family history of bowel cancer

How bowel cancer screening works

We send you an invitation letter with information about bowel cancer screening. The information is to help you decide whether to take part. Then we send you a faecal immunochemical test, or ‘FIT kit’ for short. It detects blood in your poo (blood you would not notice by eye). We look for blood because polyps and bowel cancers sometimes bleed. Finding blood does not diagnose bowel cancer but it means you need further tests (usually a bowel examination).

Most people’s screening result shows they do not need any further tests.

Last Update Jan 2022

The NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme offers screening to all women aged 50-70, every three years. Women aged 71 or over can request screening. Screening saves lives by discovering breast cancer earlier (when it is too small to see or feel), when it is easier to treat.

Easy read guide

Breast cancer

Breast cancer starts when cells in the breast begin to grow in an uncontrolled way and build up to form a lump (also known as a tumour). As the cancer grows, cells can spread to other parts of the body and this can be life-threatening.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. About 12,000 women in the UK die of breast cancer every year. Survival from the disease has been improving over time, and now about 3 out of 4 women diagnosed with breast cancer are alive 10 years later.

Your risk of getting breast cancer goes up as you get older. About 4 out of 5 breast cancers are found in women over 50 years old. Most women with breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease.

Breast screening

Breast screening uses an X-ray test called a mammogram to check the breast for signs of cancer. It can spot cancers that are too small to see or feel.

Breast screening results

You will receive a letter with your breast screening results within 2 weeks of your appointment. The results will also be sent to your GP.

Occasionally women will need another mammogram before they get their result. Sometimes technical problems mean that the mammogram is not clear enough to read. If this happens, you will be asked to have another mammogram to get a clearer picture of your breast.

Making a choice: the possible benefits and risks of breast screening

It is your choice whether or not you have breast screening. There are many different reasons why women decide whether or not to have screening. To help you decide, we have included information on the possible benefits and risks.

Screening saves lives from breast cancer.
Lives are saved because cancers are diagnosed and treated earlier than they would have been without screening.

Screening finds breast cancers that would never have caused a woman harm.
Some women will be diagnosed and treated for breast cancer that would never otherwise have been found and would not have become life-threatening. This is the main risk of screening.

Doctors cannot always tell whether a breast cancer that is diagnosed will go on to be life-threatening or not, so they offer treatment to all women with breast cancer. This means that some women will be offered treatment that they do not need.

For more information please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-screening/. We would encourage you to have screening when you are invited.

Last Update Jan 2022

You may have received an invitation for an NHS Health Check and this invitation is likely to have been sent from a more central source (whether NHS or local council) rather than our practice itself.

The NHS Health Checks are being provided by GP Surgeries only.

NHS Health Check is designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia.

If you are aged between 40 and 74 and have not already been diagnosed with heart disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease or stroke, you will receive an invitation to have an NHS Health Check every 5 years.

It will give you a clearer picture of your health and will help you take action to reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease. Everyone is at some risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes or kidney disease.

The good news is that these conditions can often be prevented, even if you have a history of them in your family.

NHS Health checks are for patients who do not have a pre-existing medical condition(s) that already requires regular check-ups; blood pressure, weight, cholesterol levels etc. They are also not designed to help investigate any current symptoms or concerns you might have. (For current symptoms or concerns, please contact the surgery in the normal way).

NHS Health Check website | Frequently asked questions

There is a range of programmes available to support healthy lifestyle in the community, schools, workplaces etc

Healthy You tier 2 weight management programmes: self referral or GP referral

Professional Referral – Healthy You
• 16 years +, BMI >=25
• 12 week Healthy You programme combining nutrition education and physical activities for 1.5 hours/week or voucher for Slimming World or WW. In person in some locations or virtual

Diabetes prevention programme: self referral or GP referral

• 18+ with pre diabetes (HbA1c 42 47mmol/mol or fasting plasma gluc 5.5 6.9mmol/l within 24 months
• Focus on diabetes prevention, but includes weight management. 9 months with 13 x 1.5 hour sessions. No practical physical act ivities in sessions.

What is antenatal care?

This is the care you receive while you’re pregnant to make sure you and your baby are as well as possible.

The midwife or doctor providing your antenatal care will:

• check the health of you and your baby
• give you useful information to help you have a healthy pregnancy, including advice about healthy eating and exercise
• discuss your options and choices for your care during pregnancy, labour and birth
• answer any questions you may have

Pregnancy Self-Referral Service for the Rosie Maternity Hospital

To book your pregnancy with the Rosie Hospital, or for pregnant women who have recently moved into the area, please go to the webpage https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/rosie-hospital/maternity/pregnancy-pathway/ where you can download and complete a self-referral form, and email it to the booking line admin team, cuh.cmwnewbooking@nhs.net ( all instructions are on the form).

For women who require a translator or don’t have digital access, please call 01223 348981 and leave a voicemail with your name and NHS number.

Please email your self-referral form or phone the admin booking team as early as possible following a positive pregnancy test.

Child health

We provide a 6 to 8 week post-natal health check for mother and new baby, as well as child immunisations. Please book your 6 to 8 week check as soon as you are able to; this is a 30 minute appointment with a GP and needs to be done before baby’s first vaccinations are due at 8 weeks of age. Baby and child vaccinations are done by the nursing team in a Baby Immunisation Clinic.

Social Prescribing offers the kind of help that focuses on you and what is important to YOU.

Your wellbeing matters to us.

We have a Social Prescribing Link worker, George Ioannou. This is a specialist who can support you with issues that are affecting your health and wellbeing.

They can offer free confidential advice and help connect you to support and services for any of the following:

• Meeting new people, Social Activities/Hobbies/Volunteering
• Emotional wellbeing – Stress management/Anxiety/Loneliness and isolation
• Lifestyle changes – Weight management/Smoking/Alcohol
• Education – Skills development/Training
• Managing your money e.g. Debt/Housing/Benefits.

To arrange an appointment please speak to one of our reception team.

Resources:

Social Prescribing Information Leaflet

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Care Coordinators

Our friendly care coordinators are based at the surgery to provide patients with support to manage their overall health and well-being.

Many of life’s problems can make you feel unwell including Loneliness, Unhealthy lifestyles, Housing Issues, weight problems, Addiction, Anxiety, Money Worries, Work and Employment, and Mental Health

Our Care Coordinators work with the Social Prescriber to help look after more than just your health.  They work alongside the GP’s and nurses to help get the extra support you need.

The Social Prescriber / Care Coordinator team can link you up with services, for example:

• Housing Benefits and financial support and advice
• Employment, training and volunteering
• Education and learning
• Healthy lifestyle advice and physical activity
• Arts, music, outdoors and creative activities
• Befriending, counselling and emotional support groups
• The Social Prescribing / Care Coordinators team can support you in the following ways:-

• They can speak with you on the phone or meet face to face
• Discuss any issues you are facing that may be affecting you
• Explore what matters to you
• Find local services and activities
• Give you support to access services you may need

Our Care Coordinators are

Lucy Cade

Maggie Centkowska

Norgaile Virsilaite

We can help you quit smoking. If you need help, call our reception team on 01223 365 555 and they’ll make an appointment for you.

These services staffed by expert advisers provide a range of proven methods to help you quit.

They’ll give you accurate information and advice, as well as professional support, during the first few months you stop smoking. 

They also make it easy and affordable for you to get stop smoking treatments, such as:

• Varenicline (Champix)
• Bupropion (Zyban)
• Nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches and gum

For extra support, CAMQUIT is a stop smoking service in Cambridgeshire which offers group sessions. Read more on their website.

Don’t Fear The Smear

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 from 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?

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.

Please visit NHS Cervical Screening for more information.

Please contact the surgery on 01223 365555 to book a 20 minutes appointment.