Family medicine
Your routine appointment for anything that is new, worrying, or has not settled on its own. Twenty-five minutes with a clinician who keeps your record.
- From
- £95
- Length
- 25 minutes
- Wait
- Same or next working day
Long-term conditions
Structured reviews for diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, thyroid and heart disease — as one appointment that covers everything, not five that each cover a little.
- Appointment length
- 50 minutes
- From
- £180
- Typical wait
- Within two weeks
Includes the bloods taken beforehand and the written plan. Interim reviews are 25 minutes at £95.
The standard model for long-term conditions splits a person into their diagnoses and reviews each one separately, often by a different clinician, often months apart. It produces reviews that are individually reasonable and collectively incoherent.
We do the opposite. One appointment, every condition, one clinician who has read everything first.
What a review covers
Your results and how they have moved, not just where they sit today. Every medicine: what it is for, whether it is still doing that, what it costs you in side effects, and whether stopping it is an option. Blood pressure measured properly, which means seated, rested, correct cuff, both arms the first time.
And then the part that is usually skipped: what you actually want. People have different thresholds for medication, different tolerances for risk, and different things they are trying to protect. A plan built without that information is a guess.
Deprescribing
If you are taking more than five medicines, we will go through all of them. Some will have been started for a reason that has passed, some for a side effect of something else that has since stopped. Ruth leads this work and is very good at it.
This appointment is for
- Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD, thyroid disease or raised cholesterol
- More than one condition, each currently reviewed by a different service
- A repeat prescription list that has grown without anyone pruning it
- Numbers that are technically controlled but a life that does not feel it
Step by step
What actually happens
From booking to follow-up, with how long each part takes. No stage of this is a surprise.
- 1
Bloods first, two weeks ahead
10 minutesYou come in for phlebotomy before the appointment, not after it. That single change is the difference between a review that acts on your results and one that promises to call you about them.
- 2
We prepare before you arrive
Your results, trends over time, current medicines, and anything secondary care has sent are pulled together into one view beforehand. The appointment does not start with us reading.
- 3
The review itself
50 minutesFifty minutes. Every condition in one sitting, every medicine questioned, and a genuine conversation about what you are willing to do — which is the variable that actually determines the outcome.
- 4
One plan, not four
Same dayA single written plan covering all your conditions, with your targets, your medicines and the reason for each, what to do if things change, and what we are deliberately not treating.
- 5
Interim contact between reviews
Home readings reviewed remotely where relevant, and a 25-minute interim appointment if something changes. The annual review stays annual rather than becoming the only time anyone looks.
Why is this one long appointment instead of several short ones?
Because conditions interact and medicines interact, and splitting them across separate reviews guarantees nobody sees the whole picture. A blood pressure drug affects the gout; a steroid inhaler affects the diabetes. Fifty minutes once is both cheaper and better than four appointments of fifteen.
Will you change the medication my NHS GP prescribes?
We will recommend, explain our reasoning, and write to them with your consent. We can prescribe privately if you prefer. What we will not do is change things in a way that leaves two prescribers working from different lists — that is how harm happens.
Do I need to fast for the blood tests?
For a lipid profile, usually not — non-fasting lipids are acceptable for most purposes now. If fasting is needed we will say so when we book you in, and we will give you an early slot so it is a short fast.
What if I do not want to take more tablets?
That is a legitimate position and we would rather you said it out loud. A plan you will not follow is worse than a smaller plan you will. Often the conversation ends with fewer medicines rather than more.
Can Ruth see me instead of a GP?
Yes. Ruth Calloway is an independent prescriber and runs her own hypertension, anticoagulation and medication review clinics. For a review that is mostly about medicines, she is frequently the better appointment.
You might also need
Diagnostics & labs
Bloods, ECGs, ultrasound and swabs on site at Riverside, with results explained by the clinician who ordered them.
- From
- £45
- Length
- 10 minutes for phlebotomy
- Wait
- Walk-in from 07:30, Monday to Friday
Mental health
Thirty-minute first appointments for anxiety, low mood, burnout and sleep, with a clinician who can prescribe, refer and keep seeing you.
- From
- £120
- Length
- 30 minutes for a first visit
- Wait
- Within 5 working days