Your Wellbeing – Our Concern

This website has been designed so you get to know us better and to ensure you are able to make the most of the services we offer. We hope you will find the various sections of it useful and remain at your disposal for any queries you may have.

We pride ourselves in providing a personal service and excellent quality care for patients in Langdon Hills and its surrounding areas.  All the doctors provide full medical services for the patients. In addition they provide family planning services, ante natal and post natal care, child health surveillance, sexual health, travel vaccination advice and minor surgery.

Dr Salako and Partners is committed to a best practice which safeguards vulnerable children and adults and we will make their welfare our highest priority. We aim to ensure that children are protected from abuse and exploitation and this is achieved through clearly defined procedures, code of conduct and an open culture of support. Where additional support is necessary this will include working with other agencies. If you have any concerns about a child or Vulnerable adult please speak to your GP or Practice Nurse at the surgery.

e-Consult

Please be advised that Langdon Hills Medical Centre – Great Berry and Southview Park surgeries – are now transferring completely to e-Consult.  This means that any queries/communications, appointment requests and prescription requests previously received via email from patients, will now only be dealt with through e-Consult. 

This is with immediate effect. 

Please note that personal letters from patients to GPs will not be accepted.

LANGDON HILLS MEDICAL CENTRE/SOUTHVIEW PARK SURGERY

Langdon Hills Medical Centre/Southview Park Surgery would like to invite you to use eConsult.

We have been looking at how we can improve access to Practice services; eConsult is our new online service where you can:

• Access advice
• Book appointments online
• Request Repeat Prescriptions
• Request Fit/Sick Notes

You can access eConsult at - https://langdonhillsmedicalcentre.webgp.com/

For all urgent appointments, we ask that you undertake a symptom assessment through eConsult.

The symptom assessment will ask you a number of questions to help to identify your problem.

The outcome of your assessment will direct you to the right treatment, whether emergency care, your GP, nurse or self-care.

If your outcome indicates that an appointment is required at your GP practice, you simply click on the “request an appointment” button.

Once the request has been submitted, you will then be contacted by the Practice Team, to arrange an appointment within the identified timeframe (as outlined in the outcome of your symptom checker). 

The information you provide will be shared with our clinical team (where appropriate) and will assist in providing robust information of your problem to the required clinical team member prior to your appointment.

Social-Prescribing Self Referral Form

NHS Essex Child Health app is now live. NHS Essex Child Health is available to be used across North East, Mid and South Essex (including Southend and Thurrock) and has been designed to support parents, grandparents and carers finding NHS advice at their fingertips to help look after their children’s health and recognise when they are unwell. The information and materials can be found on:

https://coronavirus.msehealthandcarepartnership.co.uk/health-and-care-staff/useful-resources/communications-resources/essex-child-health-app/

Top Tips for Hay Fever Control

Stay one step ahead of your symptoms:

Start your FULL treatment about 2 weeks before your usual hay fever season.

The first few days of hayfever (HF) is a histamine reaction.  After that inflammation takes over, especially in the nose.   Regular steroid nose spray use, before you get a blocked runny nose, is the best way of controlling HF symptoms throughout your season.  Most HF eye drops help block histamine and work best used regularly before your eyes get bad.

Avoid your allergen: 

Easier said than done, but wearing sunglasses when out, using over the counter dry eye drops, a smear of Vaseline inside both nostrils, closing your windows in the evening, keeping car windows shut.  These all act as physical barriers to pollens.  Read more advice on Allergy UK website.

Use two or three way defense: EYE DROPS AND NOSE SPRAY +/- tablets.

If you are anything other than a very mild infrequent HF sufferer, please treat your eyes and nose.  That means regular eye drops and nose spray EVERY DAY.  Tablets are not great for everyday use. If you can, just keep them for occasional use or short courses and carry on with your drops and sprays.  (Popping a tablet is easy, but it’s the drops and sprays that do the best work for you).

A word about nose spray technique:

To get the spray to the important bits up your nose and avoid it dripping down your throat: Bend your head forwards to look at the floor.  Put the nozzle up your LEFT nostril and aim it outwards towards your LEFT ear. (Right nostril aim out towards your RIGHT ear).  NO SNIFFING!  When you stand up straight again, just wipe any nose dribbles with tissue.

Over the counter best buys:

Any HF nose spray containing a steroid: Beclometasone or Futicasone

Eye drops: containing Sodium Cromoglicate, or Antazoline/Xylometolazone ( Otrivine- Antistin)

Hayfever Tablets: any containing Cetirizine or Loratadine.

You can get expert advice from your local chemist about what might suit you best and other medications not listed above.  If you are confident what to get, remember you can get cheap, effective, generic preparations from supermarkets.

If you are still suffering badly after following the above advice, please review your home self-management plan and look at https://www.allergyuk.org  for further tips.

Most hay fever preparations are considered home remedies by NHS England and you are expected to source them yourselves without a prescription.  In case of severe active disease, not adequately controlled with usual measures, please book a telephone review with your chemist or primary care service. Children and people with kidney or liver disease may require a script; ask your chemist first please.

Last word:  If you also have severe allergies, such as anaphylaxis to nuts or asthma, good hayfever control reduces your ‘allergic load’ and helps to reduce the risk of serious allergic reactions and asthma attacks happening.  More info available on allergyuk.org

By Dr Debra Spraggins, GP and hayfever sufferer, for Langdon Hills Medical Centre. March 2021