Supporting a Healthy Lifestyle

We offer a range of clinics and services here at Richford Gate Medical Practice to support and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Alcohol Advice

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

Chlamydia Screening

Chlamydia screening is available from the surgery.

Simply ask at reception for a kit. It is a completely confidential service where you can send a urine sample in the envelope provided and receive the results easily.

Sexual Health

A range of sexual health services are offered at the surgery including:

  • Contraception and contraception advice
  • Emergency contraception and emergency contraception advice
  • Testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhoea and genital warts
  • Testing and counselling for HIV and AIDS

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.

For more information please visit the websites below:

Useful links

Smoking Cessation

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 to arrange an appointment with our smoking cessation advisers.

Useful links

Weight Loss

If you would like to know more about weight and diet advice, we offer a weight management clinic giving you advice on how to lose weight and stay healthy.

A range of options are available to support people with weight loss. To understand which of them may be the best fit for you please arrange an appointment with your GP who will be happy to discuss them with you.

One suitable option may be our Health Trainers (Health Care Assistants) who offer advice 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.

For more general information about weight loss, please see the websites below:

Useful links