Our Updates

We’re always looking for ways to improve your experience with our practice, especially during the busy 8am period when many of you are trying to get through to us.

From 1st September 2025, we’re launching a new collaboration with Quantum to help manage morning call volumes more efficiently. This means that when you call us, you may be greeted and supported by EMMA, our new call handling assistant.

What EMMA Does:

•  Answers phone calls with care

•  Helps you complete RapidHealth forms

•  Directs you to the right clinician or admin team

•  Reduces the 8am rush

This is part of our commitment to making it easier for you to access the care and support you need, without the frustration of long wait times in the morning.

We appreciate your support as we introduce this new service and continue to improve how we care for you.

See How St Martins Medical Centre Is Enhancing Patient Access and Continuity of Care

We’re proud to share the steps we’ve taken to improve your experience at St Martins Medical Centre. From increasing accessibility to strengthening continuity of care, we’re committed to delivering high-quality, patient-focused services every step of the way.

Improving Your Access to GP Services 

This service ensures that eligible patients are supported by a dedicated team of clinicians who are familiar with their medical history and ongoing health needs. By seeing the same core group of professionals over time, you’ll benefit from more consistent, joined-up, and personalised care.

Please note: This service is only available to patients who have been reviewed and identified by their GP as clinically eligible.

---

How It Works

If you have been selected, you will be assigned to one of two dedicated care teams at the practice: Team Blue or Team Orange. This model allows us to build stronger, long-term relationships with you and deliver more responsive, tailored healthcare.

---

🔵 Blue Team

If you’ve been allocated to Team Blue, your dedicated team includes:

• Dr. Mohan – GP

• Ayanna – Advanced Nurse Practitioner

• Guste – Healthcare Assistant

• Keshav – Continuity Champion

• Valentina – Continuity of Care Coordinator

---

🟠 Orange Team

If you’ve been allocated to Team Orange, your dedicated team includes:

• Dr. Raj – GP

• Ayanna – Advanced Nurse Practitioner

• Honey – Healthcare Assistant

• Justina – Continuity Champion

• Valentina – Continuity of Care Coordinator

---

Supporting Your Care

• Ayanna, our Advanced Nurse Practitioner, supports both teams and plays a central role in delivering high-quality clinical care.

• Valentina, our Continuity of Care Coordinator, is also assigned to both teams.

---

What If Your Usual Clinician Is Away?

If a member of your team is absent (e.g. due to illness), you may be temporarily seen by a member of the opposite team. All clinicians have access to your full medical records and care plans, ensuring your care continues seamlessly.

We’re pleased to inform our patients that contraception services are now available at selected local pharmacies, making it easier and more convenient for you to access the care you need.

What Does This Mean?

You can now visit participating pharmacies for free access to a range of contraception services, including:

• Starting or renewing the contraceptive pill

• Emergency contraception (morning after pill)

• Contraceptive advice and support

These services are provided confidentially, and in most cases, without the need to see your GP.

Why This Change?

This initiative is part of an NHS plan to expand access to contraception by making it available in community settings. It helps reduce waiting times at GP practices while giving patients more flexibility and choice in where they receive care.

Who Can Use This Service?

• Anyone who needs to start or continue contraceptive pills

• Patients looking for advice on birth control options

• Individuals seeking emergency contraception

Pharmacists are specially trained to provide these services safely and professionally.

Find a Participating Pharmacy

We are closely working with the below pharmacies. You can visit the websites below to book appointments.

• Garners Pharmacy

Garners Ickenham Pharmacy offers the NHS Contraceptive Pill Service, providing free, confidential consultations—either in-store or via video. Our trained pharmacists can help you start or continue oral contraception (combined or progestogen-only pills). Eligible individuals (from menarche to age 49 for combined pills, and up to age 54 for progestogen-only pills) can receive expert advice and a supply of the pill. If you’re not eligible, we’ll refer you to the appropriate care.

Book online or visit us in-store to get started.

NHS Contraception Service – Free NHS*

• Howelets Pharmacy

FREE NHS Contraception Service

• Boots Pharmacy

Alternatively, you can call and arrange an appointment with our practice nurse.

We are pleased to inform you that paramedics are now part of our on-site clinical team.

They will be seeing patients registered not only with our practice, but also with other practices within our Primary Care Network (PCN). This means quicker access to care for a range of conditions and improved support for our local community.

The paramedics are fully trained to assess, diagnose, and manage a wide range of health concerns. They work closely with our GPs and wider healthcare team to ensure joined-up care for our patients.

Once you have been registered with the surgery. You will be invited for an appointment with our health care assistants, which will include the following (if eligible):

• Latent TB screening
• AF Screening
• ECG
• NHS Health Check – Health MOT

This appointment may be longer than your usual appointments with the clinicians. This service will start from April 2025.

What is Latent TB?

• Latent Tuberculosis (TB) is a state in which a person has been infected with the TB bacteria, but the infection is dormant and not actively causing disease. People with latent TB are not contagious but may develop active TB later if their immune system weakens.

Who Should Be Screened for Latent TB?

Screening for latent TB is recommended for individuals at increased risk, including:

• People with a history of close contact with someone with active TB
• Individuals born in or who have traveled to countries with high TB prevalence
• Immunocompromised individuals (e.g., HIV-positive, organ transplant recipients)
• People who have worked or lived in high-risk environments (e.g., healthcare settings, correctional facilities)

Screening Methods:

1. Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRAs) – Blood tests that measure the immune response to TB bacteria. These are often preferred for people who have received the BCG vaccine.

 

For more information, please visit the attached website which provides information leaflet.

Information Leaflets from GOV.UK – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/latent-tb-testing-and-treatment-leaflet 

At St. Martin Medical Centre, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to our patients. We are continuously working to enhance the patient experience while maintaining a safe and respectful environment for everyone. We have a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination, aggression, and violence, and we stand firmly against any form of racial abuse.

Any violation of this policy may result in the removal of the patient from our surgery, as we must prioritise the safety, well-being, and professionalism of both our staff and patients.

To help keep things running smoothly, we encourage all patients to use our self-check-in machine when arriving for an appointment. It’s quick and easy—simply enter your date of birth, select the first letter of your surname, and your appointment details will appear.

Using self-check-in is essential, as it ensures you are marked as arrived and helps prevent unnecessary Did Not Attend (DNA) records on your file. Please make sure to check in before sitting down, as our team won’t know you’ve arrived otherwise.

If the machine confirms your check-in, there’s no need to re-confirm the arrival. Only join the reception queue if the machine displays an error message, and our team will be happy to assist.

By using self-check-in, you’ll help reduce waiting times and allow our staff to focus on patients who need extra support. Thank you for your cooperation

We are currently overhauling our prescription procedure to improve safety, accuracy, and efficiency. This change is necessary due to issues we have identified, such as blood tests not being completed or delayed, which can impact the safe prescribing of medications.

What’s Changing?

• Better Medication Safety: We are ensuring that necessary blood tests and health checks are done before issuing certain medications to prevent potential health risks.
• Improved Patient Education: We are linking prescribed medications to the conditions they are treating. This means you will receive clearer information about why you are taking a medication, any monitoring required, and how it benefits your health.
• Enhanced Prescription Review: Our team is carefully reviewing all prescriptions to ensure they are clinically appropriate and safe based on your latest health data.

How This Affects You

Due to these improvements, prescription processing times may take up to 3 working days.

Please refer to the table below which explains the days that your prescriptions will be ready to collect from your chosen chemists.

Monday AM/PM	Thursday, end of the day – electronically sent to chosen chemist
Tuesday AM/PM	Friday, end of the day – electronically sent to chosen chemist
Wednesday AM/PM	Monday, end of the day – electronically sent to chosen chemist
Thursday AM/PM	Tuesday, end of the day – electronically sent to chosen chemist
Friday AM/PM	Wednesday, end of the day – electronically sent to chosen chemist
Saturday / Sunday	Thursday, end of the day – electronically sent to chosen chemist

We kindly ask that you:

✅ Do not call the surgery before 3 working days to check on your prescription.

✅ If you have not received your prescription after 72 working hours, only then should you contact the surgery.

✅ We ask that when requesting your medications, you state the name of the medications and their strengths to avoid errors and delays. This includes ‘DOSSET BOXES’

We understand that this change may cause some short-term inconvenience, but it is necessary to provide safer and more effective care.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to improve your prescription experience.

St Martins Medical Centre is excited to announce the implementation of Heidi, an innovative software program designed to transcribe conversations between clinicians and patients in real-time. Heidi converts speech to text efficiently, ensuring that key details are accurately documented without recording the conversation. This technology aims to streamline documentation processes, save time, and enhance the quality of patient care while maintaining privacy and compliance with data protection standards.

To read more about Heidi, please visit: https://www.heidihealth.com/uk

We want to inform you about an issue affecting urine albumin tests at our Charing Cross Hospital laboratory.

• What Happened: Since May 30, 2024, results from one specific analyser have been unreliable, leading to falsely elevated urine albumin levels.
• Action Taken: We are reviewing past results and will replace any affected results with a note indicating they should be disregarded. If necessary, we recommend repeating the test with a fresh urine sample.
• Current Status: Results reported from October 19, 2024, onwards are accurate, and normal range results are also valid.
• Next Steps: We are enhancing our quality checks and monitoring to ensure other analysers are functioning correctly.

We apologise for any impact this may have had on patient care.

For more details, please refer to the letter we received from North West London Pathology.

North West London Pathology Letter

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest health information, wellness tips, and important updates. Our social channels are a great way to stay informed about upcoming events, new services, and valuable health advice directly from our team. We share insights on staying healthy, managing common conditions, and seasonal tips to help you and your family make the best health choices.

Please note: These platforms are managed by a third-party provider and are not monitored for medical advice, appointment requests, or personal health inquiries. For personalised assistance, please contact us via RapidHealth.

Join our community, get answers to your health questions, and stay engaged with us! Click below to follow us:

• Facebook
• Instagram

We look forward to connecting with you!

We have noticed that some patients are approaching our practice after being referred by travel clinics for certain vaccinations that are advertised as “free on the NHS.”

Please be informed that St. Martins Medical Centre does NOT provide travel vaccinations, including those that are available on the NHS (e.g. hepatitis A, typhoid, diphtheria/tetanus/polio, and cholera). Administering these vaccines requires a travel health assessment, which we do not conduct as this is not part of our core offerings.

Therefore, for advice and vaccinations related to travel, kindly visit your local pharmacy or travel clinic. They will be able to offer the guidance and services you need.

For general travel health information, you can also visit: www.travelhealthpro.org.uk 

At St Martins Medical Centre, we are committed to proactively identifying patients who may be at risk of, or already have, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). As part of this approach, your medical records may be ‘coded’ with a CKD diagnosis. Please don’t be alarmed by this—most cases do not indicate a serious kidney problem.

Our aim is to ensure that those at moderate to high risk of future kidney issues are closely monitored. Patients will be added to an annual call-back register, where we will routinely check kidney health with blood and urine tests. This proactive monitoring helps catch potential problems early, similar to how we manage pre-diabetic conditions or elevated cholesterol levels. All GP surgeries across North West London are taking similar steps.

By identifying and addressing risks early, we can significantly improve your overall health and well-being. In rare cases, your GP may need to discuss your kidney health further, and we will contact you directly if necessary.

For more information on Chronic Kidney Disease, please visit Kidney Care UK. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to submit a RapidHealth request.

We’re here to support you every step of the way.

As part of our commitment to enhanced services, we now have dedicated staff available on weekends and after regular surgery hours to ensure you receive the care you need promptly.

During these extended hours, our team will proactively contact patients to schedule appointments and share information about our services. This initiative is part of our continuous effort to make healthcare more accessible and convenient for you.

Please note that you may receive calls from a “No Caller ID” number; there is no cause for concern. Our staff will always introduce themselves and confirm that they are calling from St Martins Medical Centre.