Your General Practice Team is made up of a range of healthcare professionals who work at your practice to help you get the right care when you need it. Talk to your reception team to find out more about how they can help you.

If you need help for a mental health crisis or emergency, you should get immediate expert advice and assessment. If you feel you may attempt suicide or seriously harm yourself, please call 999 or visit A&E immediately.

We understand mental health is a serious condition that can affect anyone, and we try our best to ensure all of our patients can get the right support when they need it most. If you are struggling with your mental health, please contact either surgery on 01253 344 544 or 01253 951 952 to book a routine appointment with any doctor.

On this page, you can find information regarding local services outside of the GP practice which are available to support you if you are struggling with your mental health.

If you need help for a mental health crisis or emergency, you should get immediate expert advice and assessment. If you feel you may attempt suicide or seriously harm yourself, please call 999 or visit A&E immediately.

Call 999 or visit A&E as soon as possible if you have any of the following symptoms:

• signs of a heart attack (chest pain, pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across the chest)
• signs of a stroke (face dropping on one side, cannot hold both arms up, difficulty speaking)
• sudden confusion or delirium (unsure of own name or age)
• suicide attempt (by taking something or self-harming)
• severe difficulty breathing (not being able to get words out, choking or gasping)
• a serious accident, or severe injuries burns or scalds
• heavy bleeding (spraying, pouring or enough to make a puddle)
• severe injuries (after a serious accident or assault)
• a seizure or fit (shaking, jerking, or unconscious & can’t be woken up)
• sudden, rapid swelling (of the lips, mouth, throat or tongue)

The Emergency Department (A&E) at Blackpool Victoria Hospital is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to treat emergency and life-threatening conditions.

UTCs, also known as walk-in centres, are for more urgent matters which require same-day treatment from a healthcare professional. UTCs are there to help patients with conditions which require immediate care, but are not life threatening.

You’ll be asked about your medical problem when you arrive at a walk-in centre. Patients are treated based on the urgency of their need, so please be aware that during busy times that you may need to wait. The NHS 111 service can also book appointments for you at a UTC if necessary, where you will have a much shorter wait time to be seen.

Nurses at UTCs can offer treatment for minor illnesses and injuries, including:

• Sprains and strains
• Suspected broken limbs
• Minor head injuries
• Cuts and grazes
• Bites and stings
• Minor scalds and burns
• Ear and throat infections
• Skin infections and rashes
• Eye problems
• Coughs and colds
• High temperature in child and adults
• Stomach pain
• Being sick (vomiting) and diarrhoea
• Emergency contraception

The Whitegate Drive Health Centre is the closest UTC to our practices. It is open from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week. You can find your nearest UTC and more information by clicking the button below.

As your GP, we are here for you to help you with new conditions, as well as treat your ongoing problems and review them. If you’re struggling with symptoms and would like treatment and advice, given that it is not an emergency, your GP can help you when self-care and pharmacy help is no longer effective for you.

Our practice is made up of a team of healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, healthcare assistances, a first-contact physiotherapist, clinical pharmacists, and more.

Depending on your symptoms, we will direct you to the most appropriate clinician to help you based on your needs and symptoms. Our trained reception staff will help direct you to the most appropriate clinician, which can reduce your wait time for an appointment. Remember, it’s not always the doctor you have to see!

We can help you with a range of conditions, such as:

• Illness or pain that won’t go away
• Mild to moderate breathing problems
• Recurrent coughs or sore throats
• Abdominal pains
• Skin problems such as eczema
• Migraine
• Joint pains and recurrent back pain
• Mental health problems
• Wound re-dressing
• Travel immunisations
• Chronic disease management

When we are closed, and you feel your condition cannot wait until we reopen, you can direct yourself to the most appropriate care by contact 111 online or by telephone.

The NHS 111 service, online and by telephone, provides people aged 5+ years with medical help right now – this does not include emergencies. In emergencies, always dial 999.

111 can help you with many things, including:

• Help for your symptoms or injury
• Prescriptions or medicines information
• Mental health help
• Help with an existing medical condition
• Dental help
• COVID-19 help

Through answering a serious a questions about yourself and your condition, the 111 triage system will direct you to the most appropriate care to meet your needs. Based on the answers you provide to 111, they can:

• Have a nurse call you back
• Refer you to urgent care services
• Advise you to contact your GP for a routine review
• Refer you to your local pharmacist
• Advise you on self-care treatment
• Refer you to dentists and opticians.

If you can not visit the NHS 111 service, or would prefer to call them, you can dial 111.

Your local pharmacy can provide expert and confidential advice regarding your minor illnesses. They specialise in medicines and treatment for minor illness for approximately 5 years, so they should be your go-to when suffering with a minor illness, not your GP.

Pharmacists can help you treat several minor illnesses, including:

• Vomiting and diarrhoea
• Runny nose
• Headache flu-like symptoms
• Indigestion

Your pharmacist can also help you with lots of other things you may not realise, which could save a GP appointment for someone who needs it. This includes:

• Give advice on medication and whether you need to see your GP
• Help you manage certain long-term conditions
• Dispense medicine when you give them your prescription
• Dispense repeat prescriptions without the need to visit your GP
• Give sexual health and contraception advice

Whilst at your pharmacy, it’s a good idea to stock up on basic necessities for your medicines cabinet at home, to help you treat minor illnesses with self-care. It would cost approximately only £10 to completely fill your medicine cabinet with everything you’d need.

Helping people to look after their own health, and their family’s health also helps to manage demand on health services.

By keeping a well stocked medicine cabinet at home and choosing self care for minor ailments, you can easily help to take care of you and your families health. In doing so, you also help to reduce the strain on NHS services, as well as leaving more GP appointments available to others, helping benefit others with more serious illnesses.

Minor illnesses you can mostly treat with self-care include:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Tickly coughs
• Sore throat
• Flu-like symptom
• Earaches

Antibiotics are not always the answer! For viral infections (e.g. coughs, colds, sore throats, flu) antibiotics are not effective at treating these illnesses, as antibiotics only work against bacterial infections. By taking antibiotics when you don’t need them, you build a resistance to the medication making it much less effective when you do need this.

Explore other treatment routes

Click on each of the buttons below to learn more about each treatment pathway, how it can help, and understand if this would be best suited for your condition.