Prediabetes means that your blood sugars are higher than usual, but not high enough for you to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It also means that you are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. You may not be experiencing any symptoms with prediabetes.

Prediabetes is also called borderline diabetes, Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG), Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT), Impaired Glucose Regulation (IGR), Non-diabetic hyperglycaemia.  They all mean the same thing. So if you’ve been told you have any of these, knowing this is the first step to being able to do something about it. And there are lots of things you can do to reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Generally patients are screened annually by doing a blood test. Following the blood test, they will have a review with a Practice nurse or HCA to discuss their diet, weight and lifestyle.

For more information see link below:

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes – Diabetes.org

Prediabetes – PocketMedic.org

Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high.

There are 2 main types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes – where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin

Type 2 diabetes – where the body does not produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells do not react to insulin

Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1. In the UK, around 90% of all adults with diabetes have type 2.

During pregnancy, some women have such high levels of blood glucose that their body is unable to produce enough insulin to absorb it all. This is known as gestational diabetes.

Our Diabetic Nurse and GP Diabetic lead will routinely see diabetic patients every 6 months or more frequently if needed.

Before a diabetes review, patients will need to book a double diabetic blood test appointment. The HCA who will check patients height, weight, blood pressure. They will also test your urine for ACR and check your feet. Patients will be reviewed approximately 2 weeks after by the Diabetic Nurse either by telephone or Face-to-face.

An annual learning disabilities health check can improve your health by spotting problems earlier. 

To have an annual health check your doctor needs to know you have learning disability. You will then be added to the Learning Disability Register. The learning disability register is different from the register of social care needs managed by local councils. The Practice will contact you once a year to book your appointment.

View a video made by the NHS to tell you how to make sure you don’t miss out on your health check.

An IUD is a small T-shaped plastic and copper device that’s put into your womb (uterus) by a doctor or nurse.

It releases copper to stop you getting pregnant, and protects against pregnancy for 5 to 10 years. It’s sometimes called a “coil” or “copper coil”.

Patients will need 2 vaginal swabs before insertion of a coil.

The contraceptive implant (Nexplanon) is a small flexible plastic rod that’s placed under the skin in your upper arm by a doctor or nurse.

It releases the hormone progestogen into your bloodstream to prevent pregnancy and lasts for 3 years.

We currently don’t do Nexplanon in our Practice. 

Please contact Crawley Sexual Health Clinic on 0845 111 3456 or on 01293 600 459 for contraception information and advice.

https://www.sexualhealthwestsussex.nhs.uk

For more information on the above see link below:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/iud-coil/?tabname=methods-of-contraception

Coronary heart disease is the term that describes what happens when your heart’s blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary arteries.  Over time, the walls of your arteries can become furred up with fatty deposits. This process is known as atherosclerosis and the fatty deposits are called atheroma.

Atherosclerosis can be caused by lifestyle factors, such as smoking and regularly drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.  You’re also more at risk of getting atherosclerosis if you have conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure (hypertension) or diabetes.

If you have CHD diagnosed you will be invited for a blood test, height,  weight, BP and some lifestyle questions.  This will be  performed by one of our nursing teams

For more information on CHD:

Coronary Heart Disease (NHS)

Coronary Heart Disease (BHF)

We all have a mental health – whether it is good, bad or in the middle. Put simply, your mental health is the way you feel on any particular day.

Our mental health and wellbeing can also be known as our “emotional wellbeing”. Generally, we all have days where we feel good and days when we don’t. However, a person with a mental health or emotional wellbeing problem will have more bad days than good.

Mental health problems can affect the way you think, feel and behave. They range from common mental health problems (such as depression and anxiety) to more rare problems (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder).

Depending on which mental health condition they have, people may feel tired, sad, helpless, angry or agitated all the time. They might make irrational decisions such as spending too much money, having inappropriate relationships, or they might feel like life just isn’t worth living.

Experiencing a mental health problem can be upsetting and very frightening, especially at first. In some cases, these fears can mean that people do not seek help for many years. But it’s better to talk to someone about how your feeling and ask for help when you need it.

There are many different mental health problems, and some symptoms are common to more than one diagnosis. So you may experience the symptoms of more than one mental health problem at once.

People with severe mental health conditions are invited annually for review. 

Mental Health & Wellbeing (crawleycommunityaction.org)

https://www.mind.org.uk

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is the name for a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties.

COPD is a common condition that mainly affects middle-aged or older adults who smoke. Many people do not realise they have it.

We run clinics throughout the week and these are managed by our Practice nurse.

Further information can be found below.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Our nursing team carry out child and adult immunisations clinics throughout the week.  You will be contacted when you or your child’s immunisations are due.

For information on vaccinations please visit Vaccinations (NHS).

There are also leaflets available to tell you what to expect after vaccinations, please visit What to Expect after Vaccinations (GOV)

Early morning appointments available from 8.30am – For further information on Cervical Screening please visit:- Cervical Screening (Further Help an Support)