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Our nurses offer a wide variety of other health services. Here are a few of the main ones.
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Blood Pressure Management
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What is it?
Hypertension is persistently high blood pressure in adults. Blood Pressure (BP) measures how strongly blood presses against the walls of your arteries as it is pumped around your body by your heart. Blood pressure goes up and down as the heart pumps. The highest BP reading is called the systolic pressure and the lowest reading is called the diastolic pressure. Blood pressure is recorded as systolic BP over diastolic BP, and it’s measured in millimetres of mercury (written as mmHg), for example 120/70 mmHg.
If you are diagnosed as having hypertension it means your BP is consistently higher than it should be. This is important because the higher your BP, the greater your risk of a heart attack (where the blood supply to your heart is affected) or stroke (where the blood supply to your brain is affected).
There may not be a clear cause of your high blood pressure. It may be happening partly because you may be overweight, because of diet, lifestyle or genetic make up. However, if the cause of the high blood pressure can be found – for example, some kidney problems can increase the blood pressure – it may be called secondary hypertension.
Our practice nurses are trained in how to take BP measurements. Taking the Measurements |
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A cuff is placed around your upper arm, inflating it until no blood can flow through the upper arm, and then gradually deflating it. The device itself reads the blood pressure. When you have your blood pressure taken you should be sitting down, relaxed, with your arm outstretched and supported. You shouldn’t be too hot or too cold (ideally, the conditions in the practice or health centre should always be the same when you have your blood pressure taken). |
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Diagnosing High Blood Pressure
A person is said to have high blood pressure if either their systolic blood pressure is higher than 140 mmHg or their diastolic blood pressure is higher than 90 mmHg, and if this is the case when their blood pressure is measured at a number of different visits. If you have a high reading at your first appointment you may be asked to go back for further appointments so that your measurements can be checked again. Lifestyle Changes to Help Reduce High Blood Pressure |
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Diet and Exercise
Your nurse will talk to you about what you normally eat and the amount of exercise you do. They will discuss how a healthy diet and regular exercise can reduce your blood pressure, and they may offer you information sheets about how you can make the changes needed.
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Alcohol
If you drink large amounts of alcohol, nurse may advise you to cut back. (A large amount of alcohol is taken to be more than 21 units per week for a man or 14 units per week for a woman. A unit of alcohol is one half pint of ordinary strength beer or lager, or a small glass of wine, or a single measure of spirits.)
Cutting down can reduce your blood pressure and is generally good for you.
Coffee and other Caffine Drinks
If you drink large amounts of coffee, tea or other caffeine-rich drinks (such as cola and some other soft drinks), your nurse may encourage you to cut back. Drinking more than four cups of coffee per day may increase your blood pressure.
Salt
You may be recommended to reduce the amount of salt you eat as a way of reducing your blood pressure. You can do this either by cutting it out from your food as far as possible, or by using a salt substitute (which has a lower amount of sodium than normal salt). High levels of salt are found in some processed foods so it is a good idea when buying food to check the salt content by reading the label.
Smoking
If you smoke advice is available on how to stop. Smoking greatly increases your chances of getting heart and lung diseases, and treatment is available on the NHS to help you to quit. The NHS website giveupsmoking.co.uk will give you further facts and information about giving up smoking.
Relaxation Therapies
Relaxation therapy and exercise can reduce blood pressure. These therapies include:
- stress management, meditation or yoga
- cognitive therapy (which focuses on how thoughts and beliefs can affect the way you feel and how you cope with problems)
- biofeedback (where a small monitor constantly shows you your heartbeat or blood pressure, and is used to help you try to control your blood pressure).
These treatments are not normally provided by the NHS, although you may want to find out more about them for yourself. |
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Treating High Blood Pressure with Medicines
If your blood pressure has been measured several times at several different visits and has been repeatedly 160/100 mmHg or more, you may be offered medicine to bring it down. Someone whose blood pressure is repeatedly more than 140/90 mmHg and who has an increased risk of heart attack or stroke should also be offered a medicine,as should someone whose systolic blood pressure is repeatedly 160 mmHg or higher. The aim of treatment is to get your blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg.
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A smear test checks to see if the neck of the womb is healthy. It is not a test for cancer, but can spot abnormal cells which, if untreated, might become cancerous.
All women from the age of 20 to 65 should be smear tested, repeated every 5 years at least. The nurse can advise you if this is appropriate in your own case. You cannot be tested during your period, so please time your appointment accordingly.
How is it Done?
The nurse will insert an instrument (a speculum) into the vagina to hold it open while a sample of moisture from the neck of the womb (the cervix) is taken using a small spatula. The sample is then sent to the laboratory for testing.
The results
These take about 6 weeks. It is your responsibility to contact the surgery to obtain these. Occasionally the test may need to be repeated, perhaps where the smear was not clear enough, or if there was a minor infection, or if changes in the cervix need to be watched. If the test shows any potentially cancerous cells you may be referred for further advice. Early treatment gives excellent results.
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Ear Syringing and Pre-Treatment |
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You are able to buy ear drops from your local pharmacy – try this first as these will often clear ears of wax build-up. Drops will soften the wax allowing it to break up and fall out within a few days to a week – it is important to follow the instructions on the product.
Where this is not successful syringing will usually clear wax, but it is necessary to soften the wax first, so ear drops are also necessary for this. Soften the wax 2-3 times a day for 5 or 6 days before syringing.
Ear syringing is usually painless and is carried out by one of our nurses. Lukewarm water is squirted via a machine into the ear canal. This dislodges the softened plug which then falls out with the water.
Some people feel dizzy after ear syringing, or can develop an inflammation in the ear canal following ear syringing. This causes itch and discomfort, but can be treated with ear drops. Rarely, ear syringing can cause damage to the ear or eardrum.
Ear syringing may not be advised if you have certain ear problems such as;
- Have had surgery for some types of ear problems.
- Have recurring infection of the ear canal (recurring otitis externa).
- Have or have had a perforated ear drum.
- Are deaf in your other ear (as there is a very small risk that syringing can cause deafness in your good ear and so make you deaf in both ears.)
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Our nurses are able to offer advice on smoking cessation, and if necessary refer you to other support services in the Leeds area. There are many positive benefits in reducing or giving up smoking, and these include;
- Reducing risk of illness, disability or death caused by cancer, heart disease and lung diseases.
- Protecting the health of the people you care about by not making them breathe secondhand smoke.
- Reducing the chances of your children suffering from asthma or glue ear.
- Improving your fertility and your chance of a healthy pregnancy (women) and baby.
- Improving your breathing and general fitness.
- Enjoy the taste of food more.
The local NHS service in Leeds is the Leeds Smoking Service which may be contacted on 0800 1694219 during normal office hours, or e mailed on stopsmokingleeds@hotmail.com They offer one-to-one and also group support, with some drop-in sessions.
They also offer pregnancy smoking advice for women and their partners, and appointments for this are usually offered in your own home.
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There are many different types of contraceptives available. At Charles Street we aim to offer support, help & advice on all aspects of contraception & family planning. Most contraceptives need to be prescribed, either at your GP practice or at a local sexual health clinic.
Different methods of contraception:
- Contraceptive injection
- Contraceptive implant
- Intrauterine system (IUS)
- Intrauterine device (IUD)
- Female & male sterilisation
- Contraceptive patch
- Combined pill
- Progestogen-only pill
- Male condom
- Female condom
- Diaphragm/cap with spermicide
- Natural family planning
Emergency contraception
If you have had sex without using contraception or think your method might have failed there are two emergency methods that you can use:
- The emergency hormonal pill – must be taken up to three days (72 hrs) after sex. It is more effective, the earlier it is taken after sex.
- An IUD – must be fitted up to five days after the earliest time you could have released an egg (ovulation).
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At Charles Street surgery, the nurses all have extensive knowledge on wound care & treat many patients regularly with things such as;
- Leg ulcers
- Surgical wounds
- Burns & abrasions
- Bites & stings
- Soft tissue infections
- Puncture wounds
- Cavity wounds
- Pre-tibial lacerations
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We offer a minor surgery service at Charles Street surgery. The sessions usually take place on Wednesday & Thursday mornings. You
need to discuss with you GP to see if minor surgery is appropriate. If you are suitable then you will be given an appointment.
The procedure will be fully explained to you by the doctor, who will answer any questions that you may have. Listed below are some of the problems we may be able to help you with:
- Small lumps or cysts on, or just underneath the skin
- Skin tags
- Moles
- Skin biopsies
- Injections of joints or soft tissue
- Aspirations
- Cryotherapy for warts & verrucas
- Insertion of contraceptive coils
- Implanon insertion (within the next six months)
How it is Done
A local anaesthetic will numb the area where you have your operation. The lesion will be dealt with by one of the following methods:
- Excision –which involves cutting through the skin, sutures will be used to bring the skin edges together, and you will need to return to the surgery to have them removed.
- Diathermy/ cautery – which removes the lesion by heating part of it.
- Cryotherapy – this freezes the lesion with liquid nitrogen.
When a lesion is removed it may be sent for histology, where a pathologist will look at the tissue under a microscope to determine the cellular make-up, and decide whether any further action needs to be taken. The report will be sent back to the doctor within one month. You will be informed of the result.
Complications are rare but should you experience any of the following………
- Swelling, redness or excessive bleeding from the wound site
- Offensive discharge
- Fever or temperature
- Pain relief does not control the pain
- You are worried about anything
…………then please contact the surgery as soon as possible, for further advice & possible treatment.
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