The healthcare assistant is able to offer a wide range of services including:
- Weight management
- Health checks
- Chronic disease monitoring
All Services
Women’s Health and Contraception
We offer a complete contraception service including fitting/removal of implants and coils.
Dr Kharwadkar specialises in women’s health and has many years of experience working in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
If you have any specific concerns such as fertility issues, period problems or wish to discuss menopause management, please specify your request to see her.
Minor Surgery
Minor Surgery is performed at the practice by Dr Kharwadkar, such as removal of simple lumps and bumps and joint injections. This needs to be agreed with your GP beforehand.
Minor surgery is done on Wednesday between 11.30am and 1.00pm at Fordhouses Surgery.
Baby Clinic
6 week baby checks are held at Fordhouses Surgery on the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, between 1.30 – 3.00pm.
Clinics we offer at our GP surgery
We provide a range of services and clinics.
The following clinics are available at our surgery by appointment:
- Baby Immunisations
- Blood pressure and urine checks
- Cervical smears
- Childhood immunisations
- Chronic disease management
- Cryotherapy
- Ear syringing
- Family planning advice
- Minor injuries
- Skin Surgery
- Removal of stitches
- Registration health checks
- Travel Advice and Vaccinations
Chargeable Services
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
- Passport signing
- Prescriptions for taking medication abroad
- 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.
Why does my doctor charge fees?
When your doctor is asked to give medical information about you in the form of a report, letter or certificate, the request kick starts a series of processes.
This takes time and is not always straightforward or simple to complete. Some of the information is not available easily and will mean the doctor has to sort and select the right information for the request.
The doctor also must establish who is funding this work and if it is not part of their NHS work, agree a fee for this.
Surely the work is paid for by the NHS?
Many patients see their doctor as the embodiment of the NHS and all that it provides – free care at the point of delivery. However not all work doctors are asked to do is paid for by the NHS and many GPs are self-employed.
This means they must cover their time and costs – staff, buildings, heating, lighting, etc – in the same way as any small business. The NHS only pays for NHS work, any work outside of the NHS must be funded by other means and this is why fees are charged.
Why does it take so long?
Your doctor receives large amounts of request and which is often to do with whether your general health allows you to do something e.g. to work, receive benefits, drive, play sport, attend school, own a house, a firearm or it is for insurance, court or other medico-legal reasons.
All requests will vary in complexity, volume and consistency ranging from signing a certificate which can take minutes, to an in-depth report with an examination that can take hours.
What your doctor is signing
When your doctor signs a certificate or completes a report, it is a condition of remaining on the Medical Register that they only sign what they know to be true.
In order to complete even the simplest of forms, they may have to check your entire medical record (some of which may not be accessible on a computer or on site).
Carelessness or an inaccurate report can have serious consequences for the doctor with the General Medical Council (the doctors’ regulatory body) or even the Police.
Why does my doctor seem reluctant or say no to this request?
Your doctor is inundated with work. They have to balance their time with treating the sick, keeping their practice afloat and making sure they are doing all of this safely and within their professional duties as a doctor.
With certain exceptions written within their contract, doctors do not have to carry out non-NHS work. However, many choose to for the benefit of you and other families they treat.
Where a doctor chooses to undertake the work, we advise them to inform and always agree a fee in advance of undertaking work.
Should their volume of work prove to be greater or more complex than expected, the doctor will contact you to discuss how to proceed.
What can I do to help?
– Not all documents need a signature by a doctor and can be done by other professionals. Please check the form and accompanying guidance as you may get a quicker response that way.
– If you have several forms requiring completion, present them all at once and ask your doctor if he or she is prepared to complete them at the same time to speed up the process.
– Do not expect your GP to process forms overnight. Urgent requests may mean that a doctor has to make special arrangements to process the form quickly, and this will cost more.
– Don’t book an appointment with your doctor to complete forms without checking with your doctor’s administrative staff as to whether you need to or not.
Get test results
General Information about Test Results
When you attend a test of any kind, you will be told how long you should expect to wait for the results. This is a guideline, and we ask that you wait this time before checking for your results.
Please note that we have a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection. We will only give test results to the person they relate to unless that person has given prior permission for their release or if they’re not capable of understanding them.
There are different ways you can access the results of tests that have been done at our GP surgery.
- You can use your Patient Access account (or the NHS app) and access the results from there. Please note that results are only available once the doctor has reviewed them. If you don’t have access to your record online, please request this in your online account or ask our reception team for help, ideally after 2 pm.
- You can contact the practice
Please note that the results of tests carried out during hospital visits are not normally sent to the practice.
Why have I been asked to have a repeat test?
If a doctor asks you to have a repeat test, it is usually because:
- The result was borderline or unclear, and the doctor wants another sample to monitor the situation or to re-check the results.
- The result is abnormal, and the doctor cannot interpret the result without further tests and has asked you to come in for more tests.
Please do not worry if the doctor has asked you for a repeat test. The doctor will speak to you or request to see you directly if they need to discuss the results.
Accessing Test Results Online
Patient Notice
You must first visit the surgery to obtain your login details for online access.
We will require identification (should be valid and in date or less than 3 months old. Two forms of identification should be presented: one photographic (e.g. passport, drivers licence) and one proof of address (e.g. recent utility bill, bank statement etc).
Important information for patients viewing test results online
If you have been given access to view your test results online these will become available after one of the doctors has viewed and commented on them. Some results arrive in the practice with a comment from the lab of “Abnormal” or will show with a little red marker outside the normal range. It is important to look at the comment of the doctor who has viewed the result rather than this lab marker!
The marker which says “normal” may not be appropriate for you
In some situations the lab will view a result as normal when it is not correct for you. One example of this would be a patient on treatment for gout. The normal range for the test goes up to a value of 450, but if you are on treatment we target a value of below 300.
The marker which says “abnormal” may not be appropriate for you
The lab marker is based on a sample, if your result is in the same range as 95% of normal tests it will be marked as normal – so 5% of “normal” tests will be marked as abnormal.
Get a sick note for work
The NHS provides sickness certification only after seven continuous days of illness. If you need a sick note to cover this period of sickness you should complete a Self-Certification (SC2) form which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.
You can also request a Sick Note via our online consultation service, note: if you select the email option, it will be sent as an attachment to your smartphone.
Online Services
If you are registered with our GP surgery, you can access some health services online. This means you can do some tasks when it is better for you and avoid telephoning the practice.
You can do things like:
- Order repeat prescriptions
- See parts of your health record, including information about medicines, vaccinations and test results
- See communications between your GP surgery and other services, such as hospitals
- Book, check or cancel appointments with a GP, nurse or other healthcare professional
- Send us a query or request a sick note
Below are some of the main online services we use in our GP surgery:
NHS App
You can find out more about the NHS App, how to download it and get support here (https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/).
You’ll need to provide extra proof of who you are to get full access to your NHS account.
Once you have full access, you can:
- order repeat prescriptions – see your available medicines, request a new repeat prescription and choose a pharmacy for your prescriptions to be sent to
- book appointments – search for, book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery, and see details of your upcoming and past appointments
- view your health record – securely access your GP health record, to see information like your allergies and your current and past medicines. If your GP has given you access to your detailed medical record, you can also see information like test results and details of your consultations
- get your NHS COVID Pass – view and download your COVID Pass for travel abroad. There are also other ways to get your NHS COVID Pass
- register your organ donation decision – choose to donate some or all of your organs and check your registered decision
- find out how the NHS uses your data – choose if data from your health records is shared for research and planning
- view your NHS number – find out what your NHS number is
Quote / Testimonial: For more information go to www.nhs.uk/nhsapp.
If you’re a patient at our practice you can use the new NHS App, a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.
Get the app
Non-urgent advice: Having Problems?
You can still contact the practice by phone or in person, this is just another option, which other patients have found is more convenient and saves them time. More information including “how to” leaflets and videos of patients and why they are using GP online services are available at www.nhs.uk/gponlineservices
Your NHS Login
Your NHS account allows you to access your services through the NHS App or website. It also allows you to access authorised apps such as Airmid and PATCHS.
To have an NHS account, you must be aged 13 or over and registered with an NHS GP surgery in England or the Isle of Man.
You can find out more about how to set up your NHS login, you can visit the NHS website: How to set up NHS login
You may find it easier to have an app on your phone to access your account but you don’t have to. If you prefer, you can access your NHS account online: Log in – NHS App Online (service.nhs.uk)
Online Consult
Patient Access
Patient Access connects you to local health services when you need them most.
Book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions and discover local health services for you or your family via your mobile or home computer.
Sign in with ease using your NHS login.
Patient Access
