Supporting a Healthy Lifestyle

NHS Advice on drinking recommends that men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day and women should not regularly drink more than 2-3 units a day, “Regularly” means drinking every day or most days of the week.

Useful links
NHS Choices – Alcohol Misuse
NHS Choices – Where to find alcohol support
Drinkaware
Alcohol misuse (nhs.uk)
Alcohol poisoning (nhs.uk)
Alcohol-related liver disease (nhs.uk)

Chlamydia screening is available from a genitourinary medicine (GUM) Clinic.

Find out more about Chlamydia (nhs.uk)

A range of services are offered at the surgery including:
– Contraception and contraception advice
– Emergency contraception and emergency contraception advice

If you need advice and support with a sexual health matter or you think you have a problem you would like to discuss, please call the surgery to make an appointment with your GP.

Sexual health services are freely available for everyone.

Useful links
Family Planning Association: Sexual Health Advice
British Pregnancy Advisory Service
Sexual Advice Association
NHS Choices – Sexual Health Topics

Find out more about Sexual Health (nhs.uk)

If you’re trying to give up smoking, we can help. Studies show that your chances of success will be greatly improved if you get advice and support from health care professionals to help you stop smoking and if you don’t pay for your prescriptions then giving up is free.

The services we offer from the Practice can:
– Boost your willpower to stop smoking
– Concentrate your efforts by getting advice from someone who knows your medical background
– Help you feel that you’re not doing it alone
– Help you to cope when you are tempted to smoke
– Monitor improvements to your health so that you can see the benefits

Please call the surgery and ask the Patient Advisor to pass your details to one of our Health Care Assistants who will refer you to the Quit Smoking Programme. Someone from the Quit Smoking Programme will be contact you.

Useful links
Gosmokefree
NHS Choices – Smoking Cessation

Find out more about quitting smoking (nhs.uk)

A range of options are available to support people with weight loss.  If you would like to know more about weight and diet advice and to understand which option is best for you, please arrange an appointment with a Health Care Assistant or a nurse who will offer advice and may refer you to a weight loss service.

One suitable option may be our Health Trainers who offer 1:1 sessions for people wanting to improve their health and change their behavior. They can support individuals with healthy eating, weight management and getting physically active.

Many doctors now believe that when it comes to your health, your waist measurement is important.

While knowing your body mass index (BMI) is a good way to decide if you’re overweight, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

BMI is a measure of how healthy your weight is for your height. You can work out what your BMI is by using the NHS Choices BMI healthy weight calculator.

If you have a high BMI, you’re likely to be carrying extra fat. But your health could be at greater risk depending on where you store that fat.

Having a large amount of tummy fat (compared to fat around your bottom or thighs) makes you more likely to develop diabetes and heart problems.

A healthy waist circumference for men is less than 94cm (37 inches), and for women it’s less than 80cm (32 inches).

Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t easy, but it has many benefits. You may only need to make small changes to your lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight.

If you’d like to find out more about how you can lose weight in a healthy way please book an appointment with one of our nurses.

Useful links
NHS Choices – Check your BMI
NHS Choices – 8 tips for healthy eating

Find out more about Losing Weight (nhs.uk)