The clinical team at Hilary Cottage Surgery are here to help you.

Please treat your nurses and all of the staff associated with the practice with kindness and respect.

Please read on to see who is who, and find out who might be seeing you on your next visit.

Practice Nurses

The practice nurses can deal with many minor illnesses and are happy to provide telephone advice and consultations. They perform the majority of the cervical smears in the practice. They can also treat cystitis, advise on common childhood illnesses and minor injuries. If in doubt, please ask for their advice. They generally have ‘same day’ appointments. They will involve the GP if necessary.

All the nurses also take a very active role in Health Promotion. They all provide cervical smears, dietary advice, travel advice, contraceptive advice, blood pressure checks, well person checks and teenage health advice, along with dressings and wound care and immunisations. In addition, certain nurses have special areas of interest.

• Nurse Emma K – RGN (f) – Practice Nurse and Nurse Team Leader
  Emma looks after your nursing team at the practice and also runs your Diabetes Clinic and your Coronary Heart Disease clinic.
• Nurse Karen M – RGN (f) – Practice Nurse
  Karen runs one of our Asthma Clinics, offering asthma checks and offers support in managing asthma issues. Karen also runs our Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Clinic.
• Nurse Jenny Y – RGN (f) – Practice Nurse
  Jenny runs one of our Asthma Clinics, offering asthma checks and offers support in managing asthma issues. Jenny also looks after our Diabetic patients, and runs a Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) clinic.
• Nurse Kara G – RGN (f) – Practice Nurse
  Kara is the newest member of your nursing team, and has recently completed her nurse training, having had many years of experience supporting other local practices as a Health Care Assistant during her nurse training. Kara undertakes a wide range of our nursing duties, and is a great addition to your nursing team.

Paramedic / Advanced Practitioner

• Rob M – MC Para (m) – Paramedic / Advanced Practitioner
  Rob is able to advise on a broad range of issues when you need urgent medical advice, including urgent prescriptions. Our reception team will often advise that Rob is the man for the job when you contact us for a same-day appointment. While Rob isn’t working with us, he works on an ambulance, dealing with A&E issues in and around Swindon. You can be assured you are in good hands if you see Rob.

Healthcare Assistants

• Mrs Heather C (f) – Healthcare Assistant
  Heather assists the nurses by helping with blood pressure checks, performing ECGs and carrying out blood tests. Heather also sees patients eligible for their initial NHS Health Check appointment.

Phlebotomists

• Mrs Karen D (f) – Phlebotomist
• Lindy S (f) – Phlebotomist

Karen and Lindy will take your blood (if you ask them to!)… and will make sure it goes off to the right place for the right tests. Most importantly, they are calm, collected, gentle and reassuring. If you have any concerns about seeing them, they will put you at ease. Have a chat with the team when you arrive for your appointment.

The Rest of the Team

We also work with a number of other local organisations, all of whom are here to support your health and wellbeing needs.

Here are some of the teams and some names…

Community Midwives and Nurses

Your community midwife is Amy. You will usually meet Amy in the early stages of your pregnancy. She sees patients at the surgery. In the postnatal period, she visits parents and babies at home and helps with any problems. She can be contacted at Cirencester Hospital on 01285 884 561. All GPs also provide antenatal care and are happy to advise on breast-feeding problems.

District Nurses

We work with your District Nurses.

There is a sister and an auxiliary nurse available during the day. If you need the district nurse to visit after you are discharged from hospital this will normally be arranged from the hospital. In all other circumstances where you think the nurse is needed, please telephone 0300 421 6072. Outside the above usual hours, please call 0300 421 0555.

We also work with your local Frailty Team and with Health Visitors.

You can access our local Speech Therapist after a GP referral.

And we have Mental Health Practitioners to support you.