Our Cardiology Team supports patients diagnosed with heart disease (left ventricular systolic dysfunction and atrial fibrillation).

For PCN Pharmacy Cardiology Team see Pharmacy teams section below

The Care Coordinator team supports GP practices with their back-office workload.

We actively work with the bowel and breast screening services, contacting any non-responders on behalf of the practices to encourage patients to engage with these services. We also ensure that all patients who are eligible for cytology (smear) tests are contacted by the service, again contacting any non-responders. 

We process referrals for both the Social Prescribing Service and the Health and Wellbeing Service for the entire Nottingham West PCN.

We were integral in supporting the postural stability programme for mildly frail identified patients, ‘Wise Moves’ with L Leisure.

We contact any patients identified as pre-diabetic by a blood test to offer a referral into the NHS Diabetic prevention programme, supporting patients to make informed choices wherever possible, to improve their lifestyle and manage their own health.

We contact patients who are identified for comprehensive NHS Health Checks, explaining the benefits of screening and early intervention for conditions such as high cholesterol, weight management, and hypertension.

This team works directly with every residential and nursing home in Nottingham West. These can be homes for older people, those with learning disabilities or mental health issues. They plan care for each resident, helping them to stay well and avoid admission to hospital. Our team works alongside GP practices. It includes nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, dietitians and care coordinators.

The dietitian based within the care homes team supports residents with complex nutritional needs and links in with other clinicians, such as the GP, to ensure that residents receive the best possible nutritional support.

In Nottingham West we have four Health and Wellbeing Coaches, three of which support mental health. The other coach works with patients living with diabetes and those living with a respiratory condition.

Health & Wellbeing Coaches

The Health & Wellbeing Coach works with patients to help them take an active role with their own health care, moving away from detrimental lifestyle behaviours and towards healthy changes.

The Health Coach will support the patient in making realistic health related goals and working towards those goals with regular meetings. This can include helping to increase activity, stress management, sleep management and wellbeing strategies, breathing techniques and healthy eating advice.

The coach guides and support the patient over six to eight sessions towards better health care management. As well as one-to-one support, there is also a group support offer and specialist exercise classes available.

Mental Health & Wellbeing Coaches

Mental health and wellbeing coaching provides patients with support directly related to a mental health difficulty including anxiety, low mood, stress and sleep.

The service involves identifying realistic goals and supporting with behaviour change and the development of tools and coping mechanisms to achieve these goals. We empower and establish a patient’s strengths by taking a positive approach to change. The health and wellbeing coach uses different techniques to facilitate these sessions including coaching tools, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques, and motivational interviewing.

Patients are usually referred into the service through a first contact Mental Health Occupational Therapist or Mental Health Practitioner.

Click here for our Mental Health & Wellbeing Leaflet

Mental Health Occupational Therapists

Mental Health Occupational Therapists (MHOTs) assess anyone who is presenting in mental health distress at a primary care level. They will develop an appropriate management plan to support and improve a patient’s functioning in everyday life.

MHOTs offer support focusing on how mental health may be affecting daily tasks and activities, using the activities that are meaningful to you as a tool to help you engage in everyday life and improve your mental health. They spend time to understand what you want and need to do yourself, identifying and breaking down the barriers to achieving them.

MHOTs offer an initial appointment of 45 minutes and can then offer up to six follow up sessions of 30 minutes depending on a patient’s needs. Individuals are booked directly in the MHOTs clinic by any health professional (e,g. GP, Nurse, Pharmacist etc)

Mental Health Practitioners

Mental Health Practitioners (MHPs) are managed and employed by the Health Trust as part of the Mental Health Transformation.

They work with clients who are falling between current service provision, but not meeting the Mental Health Team threshold. Care includes brief targeted interventions with potential for referrals/signposting to tertiary services or step up to secondary services when clinically appropriate. The MHPs offer an initial appointment of 60 minutes and can then offer up to six follow up sessions of 30 minutes. Referrals are made through GPs booking directly into clinics.

Support is available for patients to navigate around the NHS app, including ordering repeat prescriptions, checking when they have been sent to their ‘nominated’ pharmacy. The NHS app can also be used to book or cancel appointments at their GP practice.

Hospital referrals, letters and upcoming appointments as well as your GP health record and GPl blood test results are also available to view. If you are a ‘carer’ of a person of any age, or parent for a child under the age of 13, you can ask for ‘Proxy’ access to allow you to manage their prescriptions. You can also send queries in a message to your GP, including a photo if needed for a clinician to review. NHS services including dentists, pharmacies, urgent care services and mental health services, pregnancy service and sexual health services are also listed.

If you would like  assistance or to know more about managing your healthcare needs online, please contact Pauline Clarke on 07900 670841 or email pics.nwdigitalinclusionofficers@nhs.net

Our Nurse Associates work closely with our Nurses and Health Care Assistants. They are a home visiting service completing long term condition reviews and wellbeing assessments.

There are four paramedics working in Nottingham West PCN, currently based across four practices. They offer telephone and face-to-face appointments at the GP surgery as well as home visits when required. They are able to manage a wide variety of common illnesses, such as sore throats, chest infections, rashes, urine infections and many more.

All the paramedics are experienced clinicians who have also successfully completed a Masters’ level module to enable them to work in primary care. Reception staff are now able to offer more appointments so that patients are seen by promptly by a suitably qualified clinician.

Practice Based Clinical Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians

Our Pharmacists have expert knowledge of medicines and work closely with GP practices across the PCN and our other clinical teams. They make sure that patients with long term conditions such as diabetes are managing their medications well and answer patient queries on their medication. They work closely with our Pharmacy Technicians who also undertake consultations with patients, reconcile medication following hospital discharge or hospital/other clinic appointments and ensure all prescribed or purchased medication is safe to take together.

PCN Pharmacy Cardiology Team

We also have a Pharmacy Lead Cardiology Service working across all 12 practices to manage patients with newly diagnosed hypertension (abnormally high blood pressure). The team won a national award in 2023 for its work. See PrescQipp.

First Contact Practitioner (FCP) Physiotherapists work in GP surgeries to assess, diagnose and manage people with muscle, bone and joint pain, without the need to see a GP.

They can offer:

• specialist assessment and advice
• Complete onward referrals
• Order imaging/investigations, where appropriate
• issue Med3/Fit notes
• Some FCPs complete joint steroid injections which can be offered as part of your treatment plan.

You can be assessed by an FCP Physio at your GP practice by requesting to book in with them via your reception team. You do not need to see a GP.

Our Social Prescribing team are based within all our 12 GP practices and we are a non-medical service.

Our service aims to work with individuals to help provide support and advice for an individual around their social, practical and psychological wellbeing needs, allowing someone to feel more empowered in their life and increase their wellbeing.

A link worker will make contact to arrange an initial assessment, which is where a supportive conversation will be had around what support is wanted and how this can be met. The link worker may work with other professional services in the community to meet these needs.

The team have set up and facilitate multiple groups within the community that they work in, so if you are interested in finding out more and what social opportunities there are available, then do consider reaching out to the team and visiting our Facebook page on the link below.

The service is open for any age and if you feel the team can be of help, then please do have a look at our leaflet below and self refer by clicking the link and complete the form.

Visit our Facebook page.

Check out our leaflet below.

Refer yourself to our services here.