A range of common illnesses such as cold and flu and minor injuries can be treated at home simply by combining a well-stocked medicine cabinet with plenty of rest.

Examples of ailments best treated yourself:

• Upset stomach
• Grazed knee
• Common cold
• Sore throat
• Headache
• Colds & Flu

There is a wide variety of helpful Self Care information and resources which could help you to treat your illness without the need for an appointment:

The Health and Social Care Board have produced a useful guide called Patient Zone which contains lots of useful information for our Patients.

Visit a pharmacy for healthcare advice without an appointment

Everyone can go to their pharmacist for advice or to buy a medicine for a minor illness or ailment. This is a NHS service. It means that if your pharmacist thinks you need it then they can give you a medicine on the NHS. It will also save you making an appointment with your GP simply to get a prescription.

A pharmacist can give confidential, expert advice and treatment for some common illnesses and complaints, without you seeing your GP or going to an emergency department.

They can help with:

• eye infections, stomach upsets, skin conditions, allergies, aches and pains
• common drugs, vitamins and minor first-aid
• healthy eating and living, including giving up smoking
• blood pressure and diabetes monitoring and needle exchange, truss fittings, stoma products and incontinence supplies
• women’s health, including treatment for thrush, emergency contraception and pregnancy testing
• children’s health, including nappy rash, teething, coughs and colds
• prescribed and over the counter medicines

No appointment is necessary and your local pharmacist is open late, is available at weekends and many public holidays.

Treat Yourself Better

We support the campaign to encourage people to self-treat minor ailments such as colds and flu. The Treat Yourself Better Without Antibiotics website is full of information to help people understand when how long they can expect their symptoms to last for, when they need to see a doctor and when they would be better off visiting their local pharmacist for advice. 

Pregnancy and baby

Am I pregnant? What should I be eating? Is it normal to be this tired? How can I help my partner during labour? Whatever you want to know about getting pregnant, being pregnant or caring for your new baby, you should find it here. Pregnancy Advice.

Patients can also self-refer to the  antenatal clinic in the Arches Centre to see a midwife

Telephone: 028 906 33049

Emergency Obstetric Unit – Ulster Hospital

The Emergency Obstetric Unit is for expectant mothers who may have concerns or worries about their pregnancy.

Emergency Obstetric Unit Direct Line

Telephone: 028 9055 0403. A Midwife will be available 24 hours a day to give advice. If heavily bleeding please attend your nearest Accident and Emergency Department.

Patients can self-refer to the following specialities:

• Continence advisor
• Occupational therapy
• District Nursing for dressings/equipment
• Social worker for care packages (but not to restart a previous package after e.g. hospital admission)
• Speech & Language therapy for swallow assessment
• Podiatry

Please contact the call management centre directly on 028 9615 8200

Sexual health Northern Ireland aimed at young people and adults, offers information and advice on how to look after your sexual health. It also highlights the services available where you can get more help and advice.

Looking after your sexual health

If you are sexually active, key ways to protect your sexual health include:

• always using a condom;
• using contraception to prevent unplanned pregnancy;
• limiting your number of sexual partners;
• getting tested for sexually transmitted infections.

Find out more about how to look after your sexual health.

There are lots of services which offer help and support to improve your quality of life and allow you to continue to live in your own home. For example, if you are elderly or disabled, have a long-term health condition or are unwell. However, it can sometimes be confusing to try to work out what help is available and who offers what services.

For dental emergencies, call the dentist with whom you are registered. You should receive a recorded message advising you of the arrangements that have been made for emergency cover. If you have not registered with a dentist, please try to do so as soon as possible. Dentist’s can perform an appropriate assessment and advise on necessary intervention including use of any antibiotics.

Advice and information is available by calling a Dental Advice Helpline.

Dental emergencies are acute dental pain, facial or oral swelling, trauma or bleeding from the mouth.

Community Optician

Whatever your eye problem your first port of call should be an Optometrist. An Optometrist is the best person to assess urgent eye problems, check for eye disorders and treat eye conditions. They have the professional training and necessary equipment to assess most eye problems.

Find a local Optician in your area (once you are linked to the NHS Inform page, select your local Health Board or local Authority to find an Optician near you).

Self-help guide: Eye problems

Find out more about your eye problems, when you can use self-care, and what to do if your condition worsens and you need medical help

If you sustain an eye injury that requires immediate emergency treatment go to your nearest Accident and Emergency.

If your mental or emotional state quickly gets worse, it is a mental health emergency or mental health crisis. When this happens, you need to get help quickly.

If you’re having treatment or were treated for a mental illness, you should have a care plan. Your care plan has names and numbers to contact in an emergency.  

If you don’t have a care plan, you should:

• make an emergency appointment with your GP or your GP out of hours service  when the emergency is at night, weekend or a public holiday
• go to a hospital emergency department
• Out of hours service

Caring for someone who is having a mental health emergency

If you’re concerned about someone’s safety but can’t get them to an emergency department or keep them safe, you can telephone 999.

If you or someone you know needs help, and you would like to speak to someone by telephone, you can telephone Lifeline free in confidence,  24 hours a day:

• Lifeline

To read more information about mental health, go to:

• Mental health

Mental health services for drug or alcohol problems

There are different mental health services available across Northern Ireland to deal specifically with drug and alcohol-related problems.

For information about statutory, voluntary and community mental health organisations, go to:

• Find a mental health organisation

Call Samaritans free on 116 123

Out of hours service

The GP out of hours service is for people who need urgent medical treatment but cannot wait until their doctor’s practice is open. The service is for terminally ill people, very sick children and frail elderly people. The dental out of hours service only treats people with dental pain, swelling or bleeding. Please note that GP Out-of-Hours do not insert or remove stitches, and cannot do blood tests or xrays.

Weekend and Night Cover

When the surgery is closed, the out of hours service centre is open from 6pm – 8am on weekdays, weekends and all bank holidays. The centre is located a Knockbreda Wellbeing and Treatment Centre.

If you require this service please call 028 9079 6220

Repeat Prescriptions

Please remember to collect any repeat prescriptions from your daytime GP practice before the weekend or a public holiday. GP Out-of-Hours will only provide repeat prescriptions in exceptional circumstances.

If you have an emergency please call 999.

Medical emergencies can include:

• loss of consciousness
• an acute confused state
• fits that aren’t stopping
• chest pain
• breathing difficulties
• severe bleeding that can’t be stopped
• severe allergic reactions
• severe burns or scalds

It’s important to use A&E only for serious injuries and major emergencies.

Use your local Minor Injuries Unit if you need medical treatment or advice which does not require a visit to A&E or a medical appointment.

Some examples of problems they deal with:

Types of injuries treated can include:

• injuries to upper and lower limbs
• broken bones, sprains, bruises and wounds
• bites – human, animal and insect
• burns and scalds
• abscesses and wound infections
• minor head injuries
• broken noses and nosebleeds
• foreign bodies in the eyes and nose

The practice has its own treatment room facilities located in-house that provide a range of services such as wound dressing, injections, suture removals, and blood/urine testing. This is NOT a walk-in service. Appointments can be booked by ringing:

Telephone 028 9056 3358 – Option 4 to speak to a member of our reception team

Please note our telephone lines are closed between 1pm and 2pm Monday to Fridays.

Please do not attend unless you have an appointment.

The Practice Nurse is usually able to assess the situation and in some cases will organise initial blood tests and other investigations prior to arranging a follow up appointment with your Doctor.

The Practice Nurse complements the service that we offer to you, our patients. Please be assured that a Doctor’s appointment will always be available should you prefer, but you may get an earlier appointment if you opt to see the Practice Nurse.

See a Nurse about: blood pressure checks, childhood immunisations, urine infection, cervical smears, family planning advice, contraceptives, immunisations, diabetes management, asthma care, COPD, heart care, & smoking cessation.

Call the surgery on 028 9056 3358 to arrange an appointment with a nurse and you may be seen more quickly.

Some patients, often those with complex and long-standing medical problems, may need an appointment with a doctor.

Call the surgery on 028 9056 3358 to arrange an appointment with a doctor