Translate this page

This website uses cookies to function correctly.
You may delete cookies at any time but doing so may result in some parts of the site not working correctly.

Advice in your region:

England | Scotland | Wales | Northern Ireland | Ireland

Stay at home to stop coronavirus spreading

Everyone must stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

You should only leave the house for very limited purposes:

shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible
one form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household
any medical need, including to donate blood, avoid or escape risk of injury or harm, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person
travelling for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home

Important - These reasons are exceptions – even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household.

There is separate advice about staying at home if:

Symptoms and what to do

Do not leave your home if you have either:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

To protect others, do not go to places like a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Stay at home.

Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.

Only call 111 if you cannot get help online.

Important - Call 111 for advice if you're worried about a baby or child.

If they seem very unwell, are getting worse or you think there's something seriously wrong, call 999.

Do not delay getting help if you're worried. Trust your instincts.

Help the NHS respond to coronavirus

Use the quick NHS coronavirus status checker to tell us about your current experience of the virus.

This will help the NHS plan its response to coronavirus by showing where the virus is spreading and how it affects people.

Read general information such as:

Quick Links

Clinics & Services

Practice Nurses

Practice nurses undertake numerous and varied tasks including: blood pressure and weight checks, ear syringing, cervical smears, immunisations, dressings and assisting at minor surgery. They are available to advise on minor ailments, stings and injuries as well as having specialist training in diabetes, heart disease, elderly care, respiratory disease, contraception, HRT and smoking cessation.

Community Nurses

Community nurses will visit housebound patients who are unable to visit the surgery. This can be arranged through your doctor or by the hospital. The district nurse also holds a clinic at Skidmore Way for dressings, removal of sutures and post-operative wound care.

Midwife

We will provide full antenatal and postnatal care, operating a “shared care” system with the community midwife and our local maternity unit at Watford Hospital. We also advise on pre-conception care.

Antenatal Clinics

Clinics are held at our Rickmansworth Surgery on a Friday from 09:00 until 13:00.

Our antenatal information can be found here. Patients are seen by the midwife at clinics by appointment and also by doctors during surgery hours.

The midwife can also be contacted on 01923 217634 (Alexander Ward) or 01923 217371 (Labour Ward).

Immunisations

Tuesdays 13:30-15:00 and Wednesday 13:30 - 15:00 at Gade House

Well Child Clinics

South Herts Public Health Nursing Health Visiting and School Nursing Team (Three Rivers) are available Monday to Friday (09.00 - 17.00).

Telephone 0300 123 7572.

Asthma/Respiratory Disease Checks

Performed by the nurse or doctor by appointment.

Diabetic Checks

Performed by the nurse or doctor by appointment.

Family Planning & Contraceptive Care

is provided by all doctors during surgery hours; coil fittings and contraceptive implants by Dr Sudarshi. The nurses also carry out HRT and contraceptive checks, cervical smears and will teach breast examination.

Teenage Sexual Health

Young people are encouraged to see their doctor or practice nurse with any problems and for counselling and advice on sexual health and contraception. A "drop in" clinic is held at Rickmansworth on Tuesdays at 4.00pm (no appointment is required).

Well Person Checks

Performed by the nurse by appointment. This includes blood pressure, height, weight and urine for both men and women.

Smoking Cessation

Our patients are fully supported in giving up smoking; appointments are available with nurses or our healthcare assistant.

Blood Tests

Practice nurses are available by appointment to take blood before 14.50pm. A phlebotomist is also available on Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon (by appointment). Results can be obtained by telephoning the surgery between 11.00am and 5.00pm.

Flu Vaccinations

An influenza vaccination is recommended for patients with heart, lung or kidney disease, diabetes, people over 65 and those living in nursing and rest homes. Please contact reception staff at the end of September each year for details of vaccination dates and to make an appointment.

Other Services Available

After referral from your doctor, we are able to offer visiting specialist help in the following areas:

Physiotherapy
Counselling
Dietician
Chiropody (for certain at risk groups)
Gynaecology

If you need to access a service not currently offered by the practice, you should contact West Herts Primary Care Trust for further advice. Their telephone number is 01923 281600, or write to them at Royalty House, King Street, Rickmansworth, Herts WD18 0BW.

Travel Vaccinations

Gade Surgery is able to provide a full range of travel immunisations, however, as part of your travel plans please allow at least eight weeks (more if you have a complicated itinerary or are travelling to exotic locations) to ensure adequate cover. A travel form (available from reception or downloaded from here) must be filled in before an appointment can be made with a nurse.

Travel Information

If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to make an appointment with the practice nurse to discuss your travel arrangements. This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.

There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on the links below

Europe & Russia	North America
Central America	South America
Caribbean	Africa
Middle East	Central Asia
East Asia	Australasia and Pacific

It is important to make this initial appointment at least 6 weeks before you travel as a second appointment, which needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel, to allow the vaccines to work, may be required with the practice nurse to complete the vaccinations.

Some travel vaccines are ordered on a private prescription and these incur a charge over and above the normal prescription charge. This is because not all travel vaccinations are included in the services provided by the NHS.

Travelling in Europe

If you are travelling to Europe the EU has published useful information for travellers on the European website.

Non-NHS Services

Some services provided are not covered under our contract with the NHS and therefore attract charges. Examples include the following:

Medicals for pre-employment, sports and driving requirements (HGV, PSV etc.)
Insurance claim forms
Prescriptions for taking medication abroad
Private sick notes
Vaccination certificates

The fees charged are based on the British Medical Association (BMA) suggested scales and our reception staff will be happy to advise you about them along with appointment availability.

Call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency