Long term conditions

Our chronic disease reviews help you better manage your medical condition. These are usually provided on an annual basis unless your clinician advises otherwise.

Long term conditions - annual reviews

Our chronic disease reviews help you better manage your medical condition. These are usually provided on an annual basis unless your clinician advises otherwise.

We spend many NHS staff hours and money to text and post reminders for reviews. Invitations cost the NHS a lot of money, so please do respond when invited.

Remember that your health is your responsibility. Although we want to help you keep yourself well, we can't make you attend an annual review.

We would advise against opting out of chronic disease reviews as there is often a cost to your long term health. But you are free to do so - just let us know.

Asthma & COPD

We offer annual Asthma and COPD clinics run by our nursing team. 

We encourage all our patients to take control of their lung health by attending their reviews every year. 

You will be invited, usually by text message, when your annual review is due.  The message will include a self-booking link which enables you to book an appointment online, at your convenience, with one of our respiratory specialists.

Alternatively, we may call you or send a letter.

You may be asked to book for lung function testing prior to your COPD review. The nursing team will guide you on this. It is helpful if you can bring your inhalers and spacers along.

Cardiovascular disease

If you suffer anything from high blood pressure, irregular heart beats, to a heart attack, we will offer you an annual review with one of our clinicians. This will usually include a review of your symptoms, examination, blood pressure check, blood tests and review of your medications.

This is the perfect opportunity to discuss how the condition is affecting you and to find out what you can do to help manage your illness better.

You will be invited, usually by text message, when your annual review is due.  The message will include a self-booking link which enables you to book an appointment online, at your convenience, with one of our respiratory specialists.

Alternatively, we may call you or send a letter.

Diet and lifestyle are key features of self care with cardiovascular disease. Check out the NHS Live Well website or Better Health website for lots of good quality advice.

Severe mental health

Anyone aged 18 or over who has schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or psychosis will be invited for an annual review. 

You will be invited, usually by text message, when your annual review is due. Alternatively, we may call you or send a letter.

During your health check the doctor or nurse will be able to look for any health problems, to help you get the treatment you need to stay well.

You can ask them questions about your health and tell them how you are feeling.

You can also talk about any treatment you are having or medicines you take.

Learning difficulties

Please tell your doctor if you have a learning disability so we can check if you are on the learning disability register. If you are not, we can arrange for your name to be added.

Pioneer Medical Group has healthcare professionals with a specialist interest in supporting patients with learning disabilities.

Being on the register means you will be offered extra support to make things a bit easier. And, importantly, you will be offered an annual health check. This information can be shared with other doctors and nurses, so they can make things easier for you too.

An annual health check is done once a year. We take a closer look at how you are doing – making sure you’re healthy and offering our support.

We understand that getting information in an accessible format can be tricky. But there are now some good resources on the web that can help. Easy Health is one of the better ones. They have a wealth of information in easy to access formats, including videos. They have easy access information about keeping healthy, medical conditions, useful organisations and more. 

Diabetes

You will be invited, usually by text message, when your annual review is due.  Alternatively, we may call you or send a letter.

You will firstly be offered an appointment with one of our healthcare assistants who will take bloods, check your feet, do your blood pressure and weigh you.

Your bloods will then be reviewed by one of our diabetes team who will contact you. This will be done remotely in most cases - by text or phone. We will discuss the management of your diabetes, focusing on issues particular to your medical conditions. If you need generic diabetes advice that is not individualised to you (e.g. general diet and exercise advice) you will be directed to the Diabetes UK website.

Read more about diabetes and find further support, here

Pre-diabetes

In Pre-Diabetes, your blood sugar is raised beyond the normal range but not so high that you have type 2 diabetes. It is also sometimes known by the rather longer name of 'non-diabetic hyperglycaemia'.

Some people - not all - will progress to diabetes. While you are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in future, this doesn't mean you will definitely develop type 2 diabetes. There are several things you can do to help decrease this risk. ​

Pre-Diabetes is defined as a Hba1c (the standard diabetes blood test) of 42 or more. To be diabetic the result is 48 or more.

Because you are at risk of becoming diabetic we will offer you a diabetes blood test once a year. 

You will be invited, usually by text message, when your blood test (review) is due.  Alternatively, we may call you or send a letter.

Read more about pre-diabetes here.

Urgent advice: Diabetes Medicine Supply notification

There are very limited, intermittent supplies of GLP1’s. These are medicines licensed in the management of Type 2 Diabetes. E.g., Ozempic, Rybelsus, Trulicity, Victoza, Saxenda, Byetta and Bydureon.​
Unfortunately, the supply is not expected to return to normal until at least late-2024. The supply issues have been caused by an increase in demand for these products. If you are on one of these medications and are having problems with your supply, please contact our prescribing hub (bnssg.pmgprescriptions@nhs.net or 0117 9591919), and a member of the diabetes team will be in contact for a review.

Other long term conditions