On Wednesday 15th November 2023, both Bloomfield Medical Centre and Grange Park Health Centre will close at 1pm.

This closure is to allow for staff training, so that we can better improve our services and patient care.

For any non-urgent help during this period of closure, we advise all patients to use NHS 111 service, online or via telephone, if you feel your symptoms cannot wait until the practice reopens. You can learn more on help available to you out-of-hours by clicking here.

Both practices will re-open at their usual times on Thursday 16th November 2023.

Thank you for your understanding.

To help with increasing demand for blood tests and reduce wait times for appointments, patients can now (starting Monday 11th September 2023) have a booked appointment for their blood test at Whitegate Drive Health Centre (ground floor). This service has been organised by the Anticoagulation Service within Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.

This service runs from Monday to Friday at the following times each day:

• From 9:30am to 12:00pm
• From 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Patients can book their appointment by:

• Calling the Anticoagulation Service on 01253 956 719.
• Visiting myappointments.online

Instructions on how to book online

If this is your first time using the online booking system for your blood test at Whitegate Drive Health Centre, then please follow the instructions below to help you.

1. Visit the online booking portal by clicking here.
2. Select “sign up with email”.
3. When asked for the hospital, search “Whitegate Drive CDC”. Select this and continue.
4. Enter some basic details about yourself. You only need to complete the required fields in the form which are marked by a symbol (*).
5. Your account has now been created. Continue.
6. Select “book an appointment”. Now you can select a date and time for your appointment which suits you.

You will receive email confirmation when you book/cancel your appointment though the online booking service.

Should you require any further help or information, please contact the Anticoagulation Service on 01253 956 719.

Eligible patients are now being invited to have their winter vaccinations for 2023 within the practice, with the choice to have either/both the seasonal flu vaccine and the COVID-19 booster vaccine. When booking your vaccination, you do not need to choose which vaccinations you would like, you can do this on the day.

The majority of patients will be sent an SMS text message, allowing them to use a “self-booking link” to book an appointment which is suitable for the patient, without having to phone up. Other eligible patients who may not have a mobile number or access to a smartphone device will be sent a letter invitation through the post about the winter vaccination programme for 2023.

The cohort of eligible patients for this programme, as set out by NHS England, includes:

• All adults aged 65 years and over
• Persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, as laid out in the Immunisation Green Book, COVID-19 Chapter (Green Book)
• Persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts (as defined in the Green Book) of people with immunosuppression
• Patients who are pregnant