Advice for acute (new) illness and symptoms
Camphill Medical Practice operate a telephone triage system.
This means that we use information about your condition to decide on the urgency of the call and try to help patients in order of urgency.
The initial call from a doctor or nurse is to assess how best to manage the problem - which may be via telephone advice, a video call or face-to-face appointment in the practice or by referral to another services such as the Dentist, Emergency Department, Optician or a Pharmacist. More information on the Know who to turn to website.
Urgent advice
If you call our practice and tell the receptionist that you need advice urgently, you will be allocated to a telephone triage slot and given a call back the same day. This may be by a triage nurse or by a GP. You may also be asked to speak with a medical student, supervised by a nurse or GP. You should keep your phone beside you and switched on and expect a call any time, which may be from a withheld number.
Routine appointments
If your need is not urgent, you can call us or use online services to book a telephone call with a GP. These are usually available within 1-2 weeks, though you may need to wait longer for a specific GP, depending on leave and appointment availability. Your GP will arrange a face-to-face or video call appointment if you need to be examined.
Receptionist call handling
In order to deal with incoming calls in order of urgency of the medical problem, the receptionist will ask you a few questions about the nature of your condition. Please try to answer these as best you can to ensure that you receive a call within the appropriate timescale.
Help Yourself
There are self-help guides for common problems available on this website with lots more information available via the search box at the top of this website.
Help from a Pharmacist
Pharmacists can now help with an ever increasing number of problems. Here are some of the things pharmacists can help with:
- Acne, Allergies, Athlete’s foot
- Backache, Blocked or runny nose
- Cold sores, Constipation, Cough, Cystitis (in women)
- Diarrhoea
- Earache, Eczema
- Headache, Head lice, Haemorrhoids (piles), Hay fever
- Impetigo, Indigestion
- Mouth ulcers
- Sore throat
- Pain, Period pain
- Threadworms, Thrush
- Warts and Verrucas
You can find more information on the Pharmacy First website or by contacting your local pharmacy.
Stopping medicines when you are unwell
What is the potential problem?
Taking certain medicines when you are dehydrated
can result in you developing a more serious illness.
The ‘Medicine Sick Day Rules’ card lists medicines that
should be temporarily stopped during a dehydrating illness.
ACE inhibitors:
a medicine for high blood pressure and heart
conditions.
If you are dehydrated, these medicines can stop your
kidneys working properly.
Examples: names ending in ‘pril’ such as lisinopril,
perindopril, ramipril.
ARBs: a medicine for high blood pressure and heart
conditions.
If you are dehydrated, these medicines can stop your
kidneys working properly.
Examples: names ending in ‘sartan’ such as losartan,
candesartan, valsartan
Diuretics:
sometimes called ‘water pills’ for excess fluid
and high blood pressure.
These medicines can make dehydration more likely.
Examples: furosemide, bendroflumethiazide, indapamide,
spironolactone
Metformin:
a medicine for diabetes.
Dehydration can make it more likely that you will develop
a serious side effect called lactic acidosis.
NSAIDs:
anti-inflammatory pain killers.
If you are dehydrated, these medicines can stop your
kidneys working properly.
Examples: ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac
Your pharmacist, doctor or nurse can tick your
medicines from this list on the ‘Medicine Sick Day
Rules’ card.
Other medicine you take may also result in a more
serious illness when you are dehydrated. Your health
professional will discuss these with you and write them
on the card.
Which illnesses cause dehydration?
Dehydration is the loss of fluid from your body.
Vomiting, diarrhoea and fever (high temperature,
sweats, shaking) can make you dehydrated.
If you are sick once or have diarrhoea once, then you
are unlikely to become dehydrated. Having two or
more episodes of vomiting or diarrhoea can lead to
dehydration: in these cases, you should follow the
advice in this leaflet.
What actions should I take?
If you develop a dehydrating illness, you should
temporarily stop taking any medicine listed in this
leaflet and any other medicine identified by your
health professional. It is very important that you
restart your medicine once you have recovered from
the illness. This would normally be after 24 to 48
hours of eating and drinking normally. When you
restart your medicine, just take them as normal.
Do not take extra for the doses you have missed.
See the links below to download a reminder card or the full information leaflet.
Medicines Sick Day Rules Card
Print and cut out this card-sized reminder to carry with you in your wallet
Medicines and Dehydration (Leaflet)
A full leaflet explaining the risks of certain medicines when you become dehydrated, and what to do.