Health Supports
For the best pathway to have your health and social care needs met, your first contact is usually your General Practitioner (GP) who is your family doctor. GPs treat common medical conditions. They refer people to hospitals and medical services for other urgent or specialist treatment.
Most GPs provide services to people with medical cards, GP visit cards and other schemes. If you do not have a medical card or GP visit card, you will pay a fee for your GP visit.
If you need to see a GP outside clinic opening hours, you can contact your local GP out of hours service.
GPs work in partnership with your local Primary Care Team, who are a community team of health and social care professionals who promote health, screen for disease, and vaccinate to prevent disease. There are many disciplines working in Primary Care Teams, and these can include –
- GP
- Public Health Nurses (PHN)
- Community Registered General Nurses (CRGN)
- Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioners (RANP)
- Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS)
- Health Care Assistants (HCA)
- Occupation Therapists (OT)
- Social Workers (SW)
- Psychologists
- Physiotherapists
- Dieticians
- Speech and Language Therapists
- Palliative Care Professionals
- Hospital Discharge Teams
- Community Pharmacy
With housing and other social provisions a PCT Social Worker may be able to support you, act as an advocate and direct you to the services you may require.
- For your local PCT please, you can find a list here
- Find a wider range of Health and Social Care services
- You can apply for benefits and schemes that can help with healthcare costs.