Medical services and clinics
Below are the services and clinics available in your area.
Access to care
The Access to Care Team (ATC) provides specialist nursing to patients who need it, in their own homes.
If social support at home is needed, you can contact Social Services directly, if you prefer.
Telephone:
01985 224600
Bowel cancer
Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where the cancer starts, bowel cancer is sometimes called colon or rectal cancer.
Cancer can sometimes start in the small bowel (small intestine), but small bowel cancer is much rarer than large bowel cancer.
Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed in the UK.
The 3 main symptoms of bowel cancer are:
- persistent blood in your poo – that happens for no obvious reason or is associated with a change in bowel habit
- a persistent change in your bowel habit – which is usually having to poo more and your poo may also become more runny
- persistent lower abdominal (tummy) pain, bloating or discomfort – that's always caused by eating and may be associated with loss of appetite or significant unintentional weight loss
Most people with these symptoms do not have bowel cancer. Other health problems can cause similar symptoms.
See a GP If you have any of the symptoms of bowel cancer for 3 weeks or more.
To detect cases of bowel cancer sooner, everyone aged 60 to 74 who is registered with a GP and lives in England is automatically sent a bowel cancer screening home test kit every 2 years.
If you're 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60.
For the screening test, you use a home test kit to collect a small sample of poo and send it to a lab. This is checked for tiny amounts of blood.
FIT Test (Faecal Immunochemical Testing)
FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test) is a test that looks for blood in a sample of your poo. It looks for tiny traces of blood that you might not be able to see and which could be a sign of cancer.
Traces of blood in your poo can be caused by other medical conditions and doesn’t necessarily mean you have cancer. But if it is cancer, finding it at an early stage means treatment is more likely to work.
Everyone aged 60 to 74 years who is registered with a GP and lives in England is automatically sent an NHS bowel cancer screening kit every 2 years. The programme is expanding so that everyone aged 50 to 59 years will be eligible for screening. This is happening gradually over 4 years and started in April 2021 with 56 year olds. Make sure your GP practice has your correct address so your kit is posted to the right place.
If you're 75 or over, you can ask for a kit every 2 years by phoning the free bowel cancer screening helpline on 0800 707 60 60.
You collect a small sample of poo on a small plastic stick and put it into the sample bottle and post it to a lab for testing.
There are instructions that come with the kit. But you can also find instructions here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bowel-cancer-screening-kit-how-to-use
Regular NHS bowel cancer screening reduces the risk of dying from bowel cancer.
If you're worried about a family history of bowel cancer or have any symptoms, speak to a GP for advice.
Cervical smears
All women between the age of 20 and 65 should have a regular smear test every three to five years. We send out appointment reminders to all of our patients to let you know when your next smear is due.
About cervical screening
Cervical screening is a free health test available on the NHS as part of the national cervical screening programme. It helps prevent cervical cancer by checking for a virus called high-risk HPV and cervical cell changes. It is not a test for cancer.
It is your choice whether to go for cervical screening. We hope this information helps you make the best decision for you and your health.
If you have symptoms, contact your GP surgery about having an examination. Cervical screening is not for people who have symptoms.
In the UK, you are automatically invited for cervical screening if you are:
- between the ages of 25 to 64
- registered as female with a GP surgery.
You may get your first invite up to 6 months before you turn 25. You can book an appointment as soon as you get the invite.
Cervical screening is a free health test available on the NHS as part of the national cervical screening programme. It helps prevent cervical cancer by checking for a virus called high-risk HPV and cervical cell changes. It is not a test for cancer.
It is your choice whether to go for cervical screening. We hope this information helps you make the best decision for you and your health.
Child development
We send out appointments for regular checks and immunisations for pre-school children. This is to make sure that our doctors and health visitors can check that children are developing normally and that there’s nothing to worry about.
Contraceptive services
Our doctors and nurses give confidential advice on all aspects of family planning, including coil fitting and emergency contraception.
Health screening
We offer a wide range of health screening for men and women at our surgery.
Health visitors
Health visitors can advise on issues of child health and development, and on health related problems for adults, particularly the elderly.
They also work with pregnant and nursing mothers, people with disabilities, and the bereaved.
Telephone:
01985 220459
Mammograms
Women aged between 50 and 60 are advised to attend the Breast Screening Unit every three years for a mammography. This is to make sure we can check and detect any abnormalities as soon as possible. These appointments are sent out by the local Breast Unit.
Maternity care & midwifery
Our antenatal and postnatal clinics are held at our surgery by our doctors and midwives.
Despite the specialised services provided at the Maternity Unit, care for you and your baby during pregnancy and after birth should involve your GP.
We encourage patients to keep us informed of their progress and to contact us if there is a problem. After consulting your GP, a referral for delivery at the place of your choice will be made to a Birthing Centre at Trowbridge or Frome, or to Salisbury District Hospital or the Royal United Hospital, Bath. The midwives are based in the Wylye Unit at Warminster Hospital. They can advise mothers on aspects of birth and care of the newborn.
Telephone:
01225 711300 to make an appointment (the telephone line is staffed 9.00am – 12.00pm on weekdays)
Men's health
Prostate Cancer
The prostate is a gland. It is usually the size and shape of a walnut and grows bigger as you get older. It sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra, which is the tube that carries urine (wee) out of the body. The prostate's main job is to help make semen – the fluid that carries sperm.
Prostate cancer can develop when cells in the prostate start to grow in an uncontrolled way.
Some prostate cancer grows too slowly to cause any problems or affect how long you live. Because of this, many men with prostate cancer will never need any treatment.
But some prostate cancer grows quickly and is more likely to spread. This is more likely to cause problems and needs treatment to stop it spreading.
Most men with early prostate cancer don’t have any signs or symptoms.
One reason for this is the way the cancer grows. You’ll usually only get early symptoms if the cancer grows near the tube you urinate through (the urethra) and presses against it, changing the way you urinate (wee). But because prostate cancer usually starts to grow in a different part (usually the outer part) of the prostate, early prostate cancer doesn’t often press on the urethra and cause symptoms.
If you do notice changes in the way you urinate, this is more likely to be a sign of a very common non-cancerous problem called an enlarged prostate or another health problem. But it’s still a good idea to get it checked out. Possible changes include:
- difficulty starting to urinate or emptying your bladder
- a weak flow when you urinate
- a feeling that your bladder hasn’t emptied properly
- dribbling urine after you finish urinating
- needing to urinate more often than usual, especially at night
- a sudden need to urinate – you may sometimes leak urine before you get to the toilet.
1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer. If you’re over 50, or you’re black, or your dad or brother had it, you’re at even higher risk.
Prostate cancer is not always life-threatening. But when it is, the earlier you catch it the more likely it is to be cured.
Answer three quick questions to check your risk.
https://prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker
For more information go to https://prostatecanceruk.org/
Minor Injuries
There are three nurse-led Minor Injuries Units (MIUs) in Wiltshire:
- Trowbridge, open 7:00am – 11:00pm, every day
- Chippenham, open 7:00am – 11:00pm every day
- Frome, open 8:00am – 9:00pm every day (with last patient admitted at 8:30pm.)
The MIUs deal with minor accidents (i.e casualties) only, and not routine medical problems.
Telephone:
Trowbridge 01225 711300
Chippenham 01249 447100
Frome 01373 454740
Minor surgery
Certain small surgical operations can be performed at the surgery. With minor surgery the recovery time is usually short and you will be back to your usual activities fairly quickly (depending on your procedure).
Before attending for minor surgery you will need to see a doctor for the diagnosis and then you will be given an appointment to attend for your procedure.
Travel advice, vaccinations and immunisations
We offer routine vaccinations and general advice to our patients travelling abroad.
It may take up to eight weeks for a full course of vaccinations, so please contact us in advance to give you plenty of time if you’re planning to go abroad where you need to be vaccinated.
Non-NHS services
Some services available are not covered under our contract with the NHS. This means that these services need to be paid for.
The services that include charges are:
- Medicals for pre-employment, sports and driving requirements.
- Insurance claim forms.
- Passport signing.
- Prescriptions for taking medication abroad.
- Private sick notes.
- Vaccination certificates.
Our reception staff and GPs will be happy to talk through the charges with you during your appointment.
Counsellors and advice services
Find out about local counsellors and advice services. You can access these services by speaking to your GP or the surgery’s receptionist.