Contact details

The Avenue Surgery

1 The Avenue,
Brighton
BN2 4GF

Enquiries:                    01273 604220

Appointments:           01273 606214

Website:                       www.theavenuesurgerybrighton.co.uk

Our doctors

Dr James Leckenby   –   MBChB (Birmingham 2013), MRCGP (London 2021)

Practice Management

Business Manager – Ros Clayton

Operations Manager – Aaron Hill

Opening hours

Monday – Friday:  8.30am – 12.00 noon and 3.00pm – 6.30pm

Emergencies Out of Hours

Call NHS 111

Welcome to The Avenue Surgery

This leaflet has been produced to outline the services that we provide at The Avenue Surgery and to give guidance on how to make the most effective use of them.

We aim to treat all patients with dignity and respect, providing the same care irrespective of your ethnic origin, religious beliefs, age, personal preferences, lifestyle or the nature of your medical condition.

How to register

Our list is currently capped meaning we will no longer be registering new patients to the area.

We have taken this decision in order to continue to provide a safe, effective service to our patients and to control our workload particularly given the difficulties in recruitment of new GPs.

We will keep the situation under constant review and will open to new registrations when it is safe to do so. Visit the NHS website’s page to find out how to register with a GP Surgery: https://www.nhs.uk/nhsservices/gps/how-to-register-with-a-gp-surgery/

If you move outside our Practice area you will be asked to register with a new Doctor.

How to make an appointment

To book an appointment, please telephone our dedicated appointments line on 01273 606214  between 8.30am and 12.00 noon and 3.00pm and 6.30pm.

We will do our best to allocate you your clinician of choice, but this may not always be possible.

Online e-Consultation service: 

We offer an e-Consult service that will respond to the request within 48 hours. However, the eConsult query may not be resolved within the 48 hours. If the request is routine it will be dealt with in the usual timeframe. Anything urgent will require you to call the practice on the appointments line.

How to speak to a clinician at the surgery

During surgery hours only, please telephone: 01273 604220.

Opening times

8.30am—12.00 noon and 3.00pm—6.30pm Monday to Friday.

The surgery is closed all day Saturday and Sunday plus all Bank Holidays.

Extended Access Service

Through our partnership with Brighton and Hove Federation, patients now have access to additional appointments from 18.30 to 20.00 weekdays and 09.00 to 17.00 Saturday and Sunday. These include remote and face to face GP appointments as well as appointments with a nurse, pharmacist or health care assistant.

Specialist clinics are also being planned (e.g. menopause).

Please refer to the Federations website https://www.brightonandhovefed.co.uk/enhanced-access for updates.

Access to these clinics is by contacting The Avenue Surgery in the normal way.

These appointments might be held at a different location to the surgery and are subject to availability.

The GP or Nurse that you see will have access to your electronic medical history.

Home visits

Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Telephone Reception before 10.00am on 01273 604220 and you will be able to speak to a Doctor about your problem.

Out of hours

If you require URGENT attention outside normal hours, telephone NHS 111 which provides a single point of contact, including access to out-of-hours GP services and advice services.

Walk in centre

Open daily from 8.00am—8.00pm next to Brighton train station:

Aspect House, 84-87 Queens Road, Brighton BN1 3XE.

Accidents

Broken bones, cuts and other injuries should go direct to the Accident and Emergency Department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Disabled access

All clinical rooms are located on the ground floor, including accessible toilet facilities.

Chaperones

If you would like a trained chaperone to be present at your appointment please let your clinician or Reception know.

Repeat prescriptions

By arrangement with your clinician you may have repeat prescriptions for long term treatment. Orders for repeat medication can be placed as follows:

In person – drop your repeat prescription slip into the surgery with the required items clearly marked.

Online – follow the link on the surgery website

www.theavenuesurgerybrighton.co.uk

Repeat prescription requests will not be taken over the telephone.

Please allow THREE full working days for prescriptions to be processed and remember to take weekends and Bank Holidays into account.

We will only give a repeat prescription to a representative of a patient where we are satisfied that the patient has given his or her consent for the representative to collect the prescription.  Children under 16 may not collect repeat prescriptions.  

Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)

Prescriptions can be sent electronically to your nominated pharmacy or appliance company without the need for prescriptions to be printed and collected. If you wish to join in this scheme please go to your preferred pharmacy and let them know you want them to be your nominated pharmacy.  You will still need to request your repeat medication as detailed in the paragraph above.

Clinics and Service available

Ante-natal Care – the Doctors work closely with the midwives  to deliver your ante-natal care.  If you are pregnant Reception can give you the midwives’ contact details.

Child Health Surveillance and Immunisations – our programme for health surveillance for all children under five includes regular developmental checks which are carried out with the assistance of the Health Visitors. We aim to give all our children maximum protection against infectious diseases. Immunisations can be given by our Nurses during clinic time.  If you think your child’s immunisations are overdue please speak to one of our Nurses.

Contraception and Sexual Health – a full range of contraceptive services are available – this includes pills, injections and implants as well as advice on sexual health and screening.

Adult Immunisations/Vaccinations – are your vaccinations up to date? If not, make an appointment to see one of our Practice Nurses to have your routine vaccinations.

Travel Vaccinations – if you require any vaccinations relating to      foreign travel you need to make an appointment with one of our Practice Nurses at least two months before your planned travel. This allows time to plan and complete a course of any necessary injections.

Minor Surgery – in these clinics, minor lumps and bumps, skin tags, verruca’s and warts may be removed. Please see your Doctor for further details.

Post Natal and 6 week baby checks –   these are arranged by appointment with the Doctor.

Smoking Cessation – we are now offering this service at the surgery. Please book an appointment with reception. A number of local pharmacies offer smoking cessation advice and their details together with useful information can be found on the Brighton and Hove City Council website: www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/support-improve-your-health/help-stopsmoking

Young Person’s Sexual Health Clinic – This service is not currently operating here

Health Promotion – the Practice firmly believes that good health can be maintained by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Advice and encouragement are available for all our patients.  Free NHS Health Checks are available for all our patients aged 40-74 years. Please book this via reception.

Non NHS work

Some services provided are not covered under our contract with the NHS and therefore attract charges. Examples include the following:

• Medicals for pre-employment, sports and driving requirements (HGV, PSV etc.)
• Insurance claim forms
• Private sick notes
• Vaccination certificates

The fees charged are based on the British Medical Association (BMA) suggested scales and our Reception staff will be happy to advise you about them along with appointment availability.

Practice staff

We have one Lead Nurse, one Advanced Nurse Practitioner, one Practice Nurse and one Health Care Assistant who are highly trained and run many of our clinics.

We have a Clinical Prescribing Pharmacist.

We have an Operations Manager and a team of Receptionists who ensure the smooth running of the Practice.  If you have any problems please ask at Reception and they will be able to help you.

Primary health care team

Health Visitors — are registered Nurses who have received training particularly related to babies, children and pregnant women. Their role is to provide families with children under five years old with support and advice around the general aspects of mental, physical and social wellbeing.
The health visitors are based at the Moulsecoomb Children’s Centre and can be contacted on 01273 666483.

For specialist NHS advice you can contact the Brighton & Hove 0 – 5 Healthy Child Team by:

Text: You can text the Texting Parent Line 07507 331 296 any time, and they will return reply to your text within 24 hours, Monday to Friday 9am – 3.30pm except for Public holidays and weekends.

Telephone: You can telephone the Health Visiting Contact Point on 01273 266 000

Email: sc-tr.bh-healthvisitors@nhs.net

Monday to Friday 9am to 4.30pm except for Public holidays and weekends.

Integrated Primary Care Team (District Nurses) – Cluster 1 are based at Brighton General Hospital, call 01273 242117, option 2 then option 1.

Midwives – 01273 294040

Social Workers – 01273 295555

Carer’s Hub – 01273 977000

Interpreting services

Should your knowledge of English be limited, Sussex Interpreting Services and Vandu Language Services provide face to face interpreting for our patients.

Language Line provides an overseas language telephone interpreting service for quick conversations e.g. booking an appointment.

A British sign language interpreting service is also available.

These interpreting services are all provided free of charge for all NHS patients.  Please ask at Reception.

Accessible information

Do you have any information or communication needs?

Do you require information in a different format?

If you (or a member of your family who is a patient at this Practice) have information or communication needs, sensory loss or a disability, please let us know.  This will ensure we are able to communicate and assist you in the most appropriate way.

Violent and abusive patients

The NHS operates a zero tolerance policy with regard to violence and abuse and the Practice has the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard Practice staff, patients and other persons.

Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety.

In this situation we will notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it.

Access to records

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation,  Data Protection Act and Access to Health Records Act, patients may request to see their medical records. Such requests should be made through the Practice Manager. No information will be released without patient consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

Confidentiality

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep your information confidential.  Ask Reception for a copy of the “How we use your Health Records” leaflet for more information.

Responsibilities of patients

Please let us know of any change of address or telephone number so we can keep our records up to date.

Please help us keep the building clean, tidy and safe.

Please turn your mobile phones to silent while on the premises.

Please let us know if you cannot keep an appointment so it may be given to someone else.

Please be kind to all staff at the practice – we are here to help you.

Named Accountable GP

From 1 April 2015 GP practices are required under the General Medical Services (GMS) Contract, to allocate a named, accountable GP to all patients, including children.

The Practice has decided that your named, accountable GP will be the doctor you are registered with.  If you are unsure who is your named GP and wish to know, please ask the Reception staff the next time you are at the Surgery.

Should you express a wish to be changed to another GP the Practice will make reasonable efforts to accommodate this request.

Please be aware that having a named GP does not affect your ability to make an appointment with any of the clinicians at The Avenue Surgery.

Our contract

We provide essential services under the General Medical Services Contract as follows:

• The management of patients who are ill or believe themselves to be ill with conditions from which recovery is generally expected.
• Management of patients who are terminally ill.
• Management of patients suffering from chronic disease.
• Provision of relevant health promotion advice.
• The referral of patients to other services.
• The above are delivered by the Practice in discussion with the patient.

Registered patients who have not attended an appointment within the past 3 years and are aged between 16 and 74 or those aged 75 and over who have not been seen within the past 12 months may request an appointment.

Patient Participation Group (PPG)

We have a well-established PPG which facilitates communication between the group, the Practice and patients on relevant issues relating to patient services.

The Group meets virtually to suggest ways to preserve and promote the highest possible standards of care to The Avenue Surgery patients.   If you are interested in joining ask Reception for a form.

Complaints/Suggestions

We all work hard to ensure you receive the services you need.  Please let us know if you have any complaints or suggestions.