Nurse Practitioner
We now have two Advanced Nurse Practitioners at the practice. This leaflet explains their role within the practice. The ANPs are highly trained specialist nurses who have undertaken additional education in order to provide advanced nursing care and prescribe.
The ANPs can provide treatment and advice for many problems for which you may have seen a doctor in the past. Their main areas of expertise are in the management of common illnesses and long term conditions.
Appointments.
Routine Nurse Practitioner appointments are available every weekday for common illnesses and other long-standing conditions, and can be booked up to a week in advance.
The ANPs can assess and examine you, make a diagnosis and provide advice and treatment including a prescription, if required. They can make referrals to hospital doctors or other health care professionals, and admit patients into hospital where necessary.
The ANPs will work closely with your GP and liaise frequently with him/her about your care.
Common Illnesses and Long-standing Conditions.
In patients over 3 months old the ANPs can see things such as:-
Wounds, scalds, burns, rashes, acute back pain, joint sprains, shingles, oral thrush, acute chest infection. Dizziness, giddiness, unusual headache, conjunctivitis, sticky discharging eye, sty. Diarrhoea, constipation, piles vomiting. Urinary tract infections, cystitis, vaginal thrush, soreness, lump or discharge. Tonsillitis, earache, cough, swollen glands, sinusitis, sore throat, colds and flu-like illnesses, raised temperature that show no improvement after one week of pharmacists advice and home treatment. NB. A cough may persist for up to three or four weeks after other cold/flu symptoms have gone.
The ANPs can also see and treat many long standing conditions such as asthma, eczema, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, raised cholesterol levels, diabetes, epilepsy and respiratory disease.
There are also many other problems that the ANPs are able to help you with. For example, menstrual disorders, unexplained weight loss, breast lumps, sexual health advice, change of contraceptive pill or method, depression.
Some patients, often those with complex and long-standing medical problems, may need an appointment with a doctor. The nurse practitioner is usually able to assess the situation and, in some cases, will organise initial blood tests and other investigations prior to arranging a follow-up appointment with the GP.
We hope that you will find this service will complement and improve the care you already receive, but please be assured that a doctor’s appointment will always be available should you prefer.