Clinics & Services

We provide all general medical services, including contraception, vaccinations, child health checks, minor surgery, counselling and cervical screening. Health Visitors, Midwives and Physiotherapists also form part of the team providing services at the surgery.

Some services, such as HGV medicals, certain travel vaccinations and some reports and certificates are not NHS services and charges will be applied for these. A list of chargeable items is available at reception.

INR blood testing is available at St Chad’s, with results available during the appointments.

Nurse Clinics

We have nurses who are have trained to a high level to provide special services such as asthma care, diabetes care, hypertension monitoring and smoking cessation. These special areas are listed against each nurses name. There are of course nursing appointments available for dressings, ear syringing and other general nursing care.

Travel Health

St Chad’s and Chilcompton Surgeries offer a range of travel immunizations.

Because of time constraints on our nurse clinics, we are unable to offer detailed pre-travel assessments. You can find detailed information in Travel Vaccinations section.

Immunisations

We offer tetanus, diphtheria, polio, hepatitis A and typhoid vaccination at St Chads and Chilcompton free of charge (these are available on the NHS). These vaccinations will cover all European destinations and many more exotic locations - you simply need to make a routine appointment with one of our qualified nurses. NB we do make a charge for the second or booster dose of hepatitis A vaccine.

Non-NHS vaccinations such as yellow fever, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, may also be available although subject to a private fee. Please contact your GP through a telephone consultation.

Antimalarials

If you are going to a country where malaria is a risk you need to find out the latest prophylaxis recommendations. Different countries require different drugs as resistances develop. Some of the above websites have up-to-date and accurate information on antimalarial medications. We have produced a leaflet on antimalarials which is on our website (address above) and available at reception. If you only require choroquine and proguanil these can be bought without prescription from a chemist or from Chilcompton surgery. For other antimalarials you will require a private prescription and therefore need to contact your GP.

Travellers with complex health needs (e.g. gap year travellers, travel to altitude, etc)

We have found that some travellers, particularly those travelling to several different countries or with more complex medical problems require lengthy consultations which are difficult to fit in and inappropriate for an NHS clinic. We refer these travellers to the above websites which contain detailed and contemporary information. If further clarification is required, please make contact your GP through a telephone consultation.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

Find Local Services In Your Area

Enter all or part of your postcode in the box below and click one of the buttons to find those services that are local to you.