Carrington House Surgery

Important Announcement from Carrington House Surgery – withdrawal of unfunded service

For some time, we have been providing an unfunded post-operative wound care service for the convenience of our patients, despite the funding to provide post-operative wound care being received by the hospitals.

This service has been especially valuable for those needing regular care but struggling with the travel distance to the relevant hospitals.

We regret that, due to increasing demands on our nursing team and financial pressures on NHS General Practice overall (https://www.bma.org.uk/…/responding-to-the-new-gp…), we can no longer continue to provide this service for which the hospital receives payment as continuing to do so compromises our ability to deliver our core General Practice Services.

What does this mean for you?

• From 31st August 2024 we will no longer offer post-operative wound care to any new post operative patients. This includes post-operative wound care from all private and NHS services including dermatology, surgery, and urgent care. Patients will be required to receive ongoing wound care from these services directly.

• We cannot offer dressings or wound care for wounds obtained via trauma or other injury, as the surgery does not have contract to provide care for Minor Injuries.

• Patients currently receiving wound care will continue to be offered a maximum of two dressing changes per week until they are healed and discharged.

• Patients who are housebound will be able to receive post-operative wound care from the local District Nursing service. This should be arranged by the hospital service directly at the time of discharge.

• We will continue to offer post-operative clip/suture removal as this is a separate contracted service.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Get a fit/sick note

What you need to do (including what form you need to fill in) depends on the numbers of days of illness you have had and if you are under hospital care.

You do not need a sick note from your GP practice if you are sick for under 7 days.

From Citizens Advice
Very clear guidance what you should do if you are sick under 7 days, including a link to the SC2 form (which you can fill in and download) if your employer is unable to supply one and information on who you can phone for advice about sick pay

From HMRC
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Employee’s statement of sickness form you can
Download and fill in for your employer:

Private medical certificate (sick note)

Occasionally employers insist on a sick note from your GP even when this is not required and you can instead fill in a self-certificate for less than 7 days illness. A fit/sick note requested by your employer in this situation will involve a charge. The present charge for a private medical (sick note) certificate can normally be found under private fee charges under

If you’re off work sick for more than 7 days, your employer will usually ask for a fit note (or Statement of Fitness for Work) from a healthcare professional. Fit notes are sometimes referred to as medical statements or a doctor’s note or a sick note. There is no charge for this certificate.

Already seen by your GP about this illness
If you have already been seen by your GP about this illness and you subsequently need a certificate this will be available within a week on request.

Request for an extension of a previous fit note
On occasions if you have already had a fit note for the same illness then your GP may not need to see you to issue a new fit note.

Request a sick (fit) note form

In both circumstances you can request a sick (fit) note using our online form.

Complete and submit the online form:

We will contact you to let you know when the fit (sick) note is available or alternatively to arrange an appointment for a review of the illness with your GP if that is thought to be necessary before the issuing of a fit note.

Hospital attendances and more than 7 days off sick

For any hospital inpatient stay (NHS or private) you should get the fit note from the team looking after you. In addition, if you are seen in hospital outpatients your consultant can complete a fit note at that point, if they think you should be off work. This is a link to more detailed information under

Understand fit/sick notes

Under Fit Notes there are detailed answers to some common questions often asked about fit notes including:

  • What are they, when can you fill in a self-certificate yourself without seeing a doctor and when might you need one from a doctor?
  • Who should fill them in if you have been in hospital (NHS or private)?
  • When can a doctor complete a fit note without seeing you?

Support for a return to work

There is also local support for work, including returning to work after a longer absence under Work. See section “Local support -self-referral” for employment support which includes local employment advice and guidance to support you in employment whether you are currently in work, off sick due to mental ill-health or unemployed.

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