Primary Eyecare is a primary eye care provider which contracts with the NHS to make NHS-funded eye care services available from local eye care practices.

Urgent Eye Care

The Urgent Eyecare Service provides urgent assessment, treatment or referral for sudden onset eye problems such as flashes, floaters, vision loss or minor eye injuries. If you are registered with a local GP in an area where the service is commissioned, you can use this service. It is for people of all ages and you do not need a GP referral. Children under 16 years must be accompanied at their appointment by an adult. If you have a major eye condition that is being regularly monitored by your optometrist or hospital eye service, such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma, this is not covered by this service. Click here to read more about this service.

Minor eye conditions service

If you are experiencing red eye or eyelids, dry, gritty or uncomfortable eyes, eye irritation and inflammation, a lot of discharge from the eye or watery eye, recently occurring flashes or floaters, painful eyes or ingrowing lashes, you can use this service. It is for people of all ages and you do not need a GP referral. Children under 16 years must be accompanied at their appointment by an adult. Click here to read more about this service.

How to make an appointment

Find a practice near you by entering your post code in the practice directory.

Book the appointment yourself – this is called ‘self referral’. Phone Primary Eyecare directly to make an appointment.

Are you having a baby? Congratulations! Choose which local hospital that you would like to attend. You can self refer yourself via the following sites:

Kingston Hospital

West Middlesex Hospital

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital

Some pregnancy dietary advice:

Have a health diet in pregnancy

Foods to avoid in pregnancy

Community pharmacists were known in the past as chemists. Like GPs, community pharmacists are part of the NHS family. Many are open long hours when other health care professionals are unavailable.

The traditional role of the community pharmacist as the healthcare professional who dispenses prescriptions written by doctors has changed. In recent years community pharmacists have been developing clinical services in addition to the traditional dispensing role to allow better integration and team working with the rest of the NHS. Most pharmacies now have a private consultation area specifically for confidential or sensitive discussions.

Community pharmacists can help with:  Find out more: https://www.southwestlondonics.org.uk/news/why-should-i-visit-my-local-pharmacy/

• Blisters
• Coughs and sore throats
• Sticky eyes
• Failed contraception
• Emergency contraception
• Headache
• Itching
• Scabies
• Head lice
• Allergies
• Athlete’s foot
• Cold/ flu
• Bites and stings
• Hayfever and allergies
• Fungal nail infections
• Piles (haemorrhoids)
• Colic
• Teething

Pharmacy First

Advice & Treatment

Pharmacists can give you advice on a range of conditions and suggest medicines that can help.

They may also be able to offer treatment and some prescription medicine for some conditions, without you needing to see a GP (this is called Pharmacy First). Conditions they can treat as part of Pharmacy First are:

• earache (aged 1 to 17 years)
• impetigo (aged 1 year and over)- a contagious skin infection
• infected insect bites (aged 1 year and over)
• shingles (aged 18 years and over)- infection that causes a painful rash
• sinusitis (aged 12 years and over)- infection of the sinuses (behind the forehead, cheeks and nose)
• sore throat (aged 5 years and over)
• urinary tract infections or UTIs (women aged 16 to 64 years)

If you have one of these conditions or you can walk into your local pharmacy.

The pharmacist will offer you advice, treatment or refer you to a GP or another healthcare professional if needed.

Pharmacies will update your GP health record.

If you are not within these age ranges, a pharmacist can still offer advice, but you may need to see a GP for treatment.

Please note on weekends online self-referral may take longer as the practice is closed and will not look at your assessment till we are open, for quicker response please walk into your local pharmacy.

Find a Pharmacy: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/pharmacy/find-a-pharmacy

Getting the contraceptive pill without a prescription

You may be able to get the contraceptive pill from a pharmacy if you need to:

• start the contraceptive pill for the first time
• take the contraceptive pill again after a break from using it

If you already have a prescription for the contraceptive pill, you can use the prescription as usual. Or you can get the pill from a pharmacy without a prescription if you prefer.

Find a pharmacy that offers the contraceptive pill without a prescription

Get a free blood pressure check

You can get a free blood pressure checked at a pharmacy without seeing a GP, if you:

• are aged 40 or over
• live in England

You cannot get a free blood pressure check if you:

• already have high blood pressure
• have had your blood pressure checked by a healthcare professional in the past 6 months

Some pharmacies offer a free blood pressure check. Click here to find a pharmacy that offers free blood pressure checks.

More than just a bad day?

We all need emotional support, particularly during these difficult times. Feelings such as low mood, stress and anxiety can impact our mental health, and sometimes you just need to talk about it. Our surgery has a mental health worker and a social prescriber (click here to ‘Meet the Team’ ) There are also other services that you can access yourself which are listed below:

Bridging the Gap

This is a great resource for anyone in need of support around mental health. It’s easy to follow with all sorts of tips and contact details with helpful local and national organisations. Click here for more information.

South West London mental health crisis line

If you need mental health support in a crisis, you can call the 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Line on 0800 028 8000. The crisis line offers emotional support and advice to people who are affected by urgent mental health issues, at any time of the day or night. It is open to everyone: both children and adults of all ages, and to people who haven’t previously accessed mental health services. Please only attend A&E if you have an emergency with your physical health. The MHSL can help and direct you to the right service for your mental health. To find out more about this, click here.

Richmond wellbeing services

NHS Richmond Wellbeing Service offers free talking therapy to help you feel better. To find out more about what they have to offer, click here.

Mind Richmond

Mind Richmond exist to make sure that anyone with a mental health problem has somewhere to turn to for support. They offer information, advice and support to young people and adults experiencing mental health issues, as well as their carers.Their work supports all communities in the borough of Richmond and surrounding areas.  Whether you’re dealing with low mood or imminent crisis, they have a range of services to help you.

Call their help line on 020 3137 9590 if you need someone to talk to or email helpline@rbmind.org

Their opening hours are

Monday to Friday: 11am-8.30pm

Saturday: 2-5pm

Sunday: 2-5pm

You can also click here to find out more about them.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

CAMHS is the name for the NHS services that assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties. CAMHS support covers depression, problems with food and eating, self-harm, abuse, violence, anger, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety, among other difficulties.The usual way to get help from CAMHS is by a referral from your parents/carers, a teacher, GP, or yourself if you are old enough (depending on where you live). To find out more, click here.

Kooth

Kooth, provided by the NHS in south west London, is a free online platform providing advice and support for people aged 11 to 25 experiencing emotional or mental health problems, giving instant access to free help in a safe environment. It can be accessed using a laptop, smartphone or tablet device. Because users do not have to provide their names, support can be given to people who might not seek help through their GP. Click here to find out more.

South London and Maudsley Crisis Support

If you need urgent help, please call 0800 731 2864 (Option 1) 24 hours a day, to speak to the South London and Maudsley mental health crisis line. For information and advice, contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 731 2864 (Option 2) You can also read about it by clicking here.

The Wolverton and Twickenham House can advise on sexually transmitted diseases and contraception:

The Wolverton, sexual health Kingston

Twickenham House, based at the West Middlesex University Hospital

The UKs leading abortion advisory service:

British Pregnancy Advisory Service – leading abortion care service

Cruse Bereavement Support will support you, however long you have been grieving.  Call 0808 808 1677 or click here for more information including an on-line chat box

space2grieve offers free, personal, confidential, one-to-one bereavement support to anyone living in Richmond Borough. You can call them on 0751 937 6363, click here to for more information or drop them a line to support@space2grieve.org.uk

NHS access to Sleepstation provides a course on how to sleep better. It usually costs £295/year for membership but is free in our area for people with insomnia. Click here for more information.

For help with weight management, please visit the ONEYOUMERTON site. They offer an effective online 12 week programme to patients registered with a Richmond GP surgery.

The Mulberry Centre is a cancer information and support centre with a welcoming and non-clinical environment based within the grounds of West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth.  It is a registered charity and the majority of their funding comes from charitable donations.

Their aim is to deliver a range of information and support services free of charge to anyone affected by cancer, including those  with a diagnosis, their main carer, family members and those bereaved.  Although most our clients come from the London Boroughs of Hounslow, Richmond and Ealing, owing to our extensive telephone and online support, we are open to all people affected by a diagnosis of cancer, regardless of postcode or hospital of diagnosis.

Click here for more information.

Service users can self-refer into our service by calling our Patient Care and Booking line on 0333 004 6666 there is no need for a GP referral.  Our Contact Centre is open 7-day per week 8am-10pm. We also have the option of Live Web Chat on https://www.nupas.co.uk/contact-us/.

Service users also have a choice of any of our early medical abortion centres, NUPAS have several centres across Greater London – Surbiton, Battersea, Twickenham, Woolwich, Finchley and Kilburn. These centres provide consultation, early medical abortion, USS, contraception and aftercare services. Together with our other centres across England we ensure services are easily accessible for all service users  Our Abortion Clinics | NUPAS

Our services in Greater London include:

• Choice of consultation type – Telephone, video call or Face to Face
• Early Medical Abortion in clinic or Pills by Post
• Surgical Abortion to 23+6 weeks gestation (pending suitable premises we are planning to open a surgical centre).
• Contraception
• Counselling
• Aftercare Call line operates 24/7/ 365 days per year.