First Contact Physiotherapist

Our First Contact Physiotherapy (FCP) Service allows you to book in with the physiotherapist directly without the need to see a doctor. First contact physiotherapists are advanced physiotherapists who are clinically competent to manage and treat musculoskeletal problems which means you may not need to see a GP.

The specialist physiotherapist can assess you and suggest the most appropriate way to help you. They can also give you advice about any further investigations or treatment you may need and refer you to other services.

The Physiotherapist team can see patients with the following conditions:

• Joint pain
• Shoulder pain
• Tendon problems
• Muscle pain
• Sports injuries
• Knee problems
• Neck pain
• Soft tissue injuries
• Tennis elbow
• Back pain
• Osteoarthritis
• Trapped nerve
• Sciatica

Our First Contact Physiotherapy Service can be booked via your registered practice.

Social Prescribing Service

What is Social Prescribing?

Social Prescribing is a non-clinical service where you can explore what support, activities, and local services you can access to improve your health and wellbeing, to make positive life changes. Our social prescribing link worker works closely with voluntary and charitable organisations as well as services provided by Leicester City Council to support patients within the area.

What are the benefits?

• Increase your mental and physical health
• Get greater quality of life
• Improve your self-esteem and confidence
• Be more independent
• Learn new skills
• Meet new people
• Get involved in the community
• Have greater control over your health

What support can I get?

• Emotional wellbeing
• Healthy lifestyle choices
• Loneliness
• Life events
• Isolation
• Housing, benefits, financial advice
• Education and learning
• Accessing work and volunteering

Find social prescribing support in the community here (Have a link on here): https://services.thejoyapp.com/

How does it work?

If you think you may benefit from Social Prescribing speak to a member of staff at the GP Practice. They will go beyond simply providing information. They can listen and encourage you to try something new. They can help you find the right support as well as resources to meet your individual needs and make referrals for you, where necessary.

Mental Health Practitioner

We have a team of Mental Health Practitioners who works alongside our Nurses and doctors to provide a first point of contact for patients with mild to moderate mental health problems.

Our team of practitioners work independently and can assess, advise, prescribe, and refer patients with mental health symptoms such as low mood, anxiety, or depression.

Across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, a booklet has been created to provide support for your mental health and wellbeing. This can be viewed online or downloaded in various languages here:

Helpful documents for your mental health and wellbeing – Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (leicspart.nhs.uk)

They specialise in mental health and use a range of talking therapies to help people with common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Sessions are usually one-on-one but can also be in couple or group settings, by phone or online. Referral can be via your GP or directly via a local psychological therapies (IAPT) service.

They can help with:

• Talking therapies
• Tools and techniques to manage symptoms
• Support for those experiencing the psychological effects of managing long-term conditions, such as diabetes.

To book an appointment with the MHP please call your registered general practice for a consultation.

Care Coordinators – Reception Team

Care Coordinators working in practice reception teams are specially trained to know about the care and services available to you at your surgery and in your area. While the name of this role may differ in your practice, they’ll listen and talk to you in confidence about your health problem, to understand your needs so they can book you an appointment with the right healthcare professional or service.

They can help you:

• Get seen as soon as possible
• Know whether self-referral is available for certain services at your practice or in your area
• Make appointments for new kinds of care or new services you may not be aware of
• Access the appropriate healthcare professional.

Some of our team identify and manage a caseload of identified patients, making sure that appropriate support is made available to them and their carers and ensuring that their changing needs are addressed.

We have a highly skilled practitioner, a paramedic. They are employed to support GPs to support and provide care for patients across the PCN. As they have a pre-hospital background, our paramedic is able to work with people with a variety of health conditions. They assist in managing patients coming out of hospital, working with our care homes to support patient care.

Our Nurse Associate helps with routine tasks such as health checks, blood pressure checks, health and wellbeing promotion and support patients with a personalised care approach. They work with health care assistants and nursing teams to support bridge the gap between these roles in general practice.