Practice Nurses
Our Practice Nurses are Sisters Val Hardy and
Jane Purdy. They are highly qualified and
experienced members of our team who hold
their own clinics and can advise on healthy
lifestyle and a wide variety of problems.
Sisters Hardy and Purdy have special
experience in women’s health and work closely
with the doctors to provide advice on
contraception, sexual health and the
menopause. Both are trained to perform
routine cervical smears and provide advice on
breast self examination. Sister Purdy has a
special interest in Minor Illness and Asthma
and runs our Asthma Clinic. Our Healthcare
Assistants run our Smoking Cessation Service.
Advice and information can be provided about
traveller’s health along with a wide range of
immunisations for foreign travel, including
Yellow Fever. As a Yellow Fever vaccination
centre, we are able to offer this service to
patients outside this practice.
District Nurses
District Nurses provide care to patients in
their homes. They can be contacted by
telephoning the surgery and asking for a
message to be sent.
Disabled Patients
We are able to offer ground floor, wheelchair
accessible consulting and treatment facilities
to those of our patients who cannot manage
the stairs. Please inform the receptionist when
you make an appointment or arrive for your
appointment so arrangements can be made.
Cervical Smears
Routine cervical screening in this area is
undertaken according to national guidelines.
Smears are performed by Nurses Sisters Hardy
& Purdy. When booking an appointment
please inform the receptionist that a smear is
to be done.
Family Planning
Family planning services are provided by all
the doctors and Sisters Purdy and Hardy. We
are happy to advise on all contraception and
women’s health needs including coil fitting.
Antenatal Care
We provide a full range of ante and post-natal
care for our patients and share this care with
our local midwives and hospitals. Local
midwifery services are now run on a team
basis and clinics are run at the Limes on a
weekly basis.
Community midwives may be contacted on the
following numbers:
Hertfordshire 01707 365160
Essex 01279 444455 ext 7103
Children’s Health
The practice provides routine screening at 9
weeks of age to all our youngest patients. This
will coincide with the first immunisations and
the routine postnatal consultation. This
examination forms part of the programme of
health checks offered by the Health Visitors
and ourselves.
You will be sent a letter with the date to bring
your child for his first check and for his/her
immunisations. We are keen that all our young
patients should be fully protected.
Disease Registers
Part of our duty as a general medical practice
involves the care of patients with long-term
medical problems. To enable us to monitor the
care of such patients, we compile registers of
certain conditions. Should you have any
concerns about how this affects you, please
speak to your doctor.
Violent or Abusive Patients
In order to ensure the safety and welfare of the
staff and patients of the Limes Surgery, we
operate a zero-tolerance policy regarding
abuse or violence from patients or relatives.
We reserve the right to remove such patients
from our list with immediate effect.
Your Health Care
We try our hardest to provide first-class health
care to all our patients. We are always open to
suggestions as to how our service can be
improved. If we fall short of your expectations,
suggestions or complaints about us should be
made either in person or in writing to Mrs C
Price, our Practice Manager. A copy of our inhouse complaints procedure may be obtained
from her on request.
Clinical Commissioning Group
The Limes Surgery is a general medical
practice within the area of the East and North
Herts Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
The CCG is located at Charter House, Parkway,
Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 6JL
Patient Advice and Liaison Service is also at
Charter House.
How to see your Doctor
General surgeries are run at the Limes
between 8:30 am and 6:30pm by appointment
only.
Please telephone 464533 between 9:00am
and 5:30pm to make routine appointments.
For ongoing problems it is advisable to see the
same doctor each time you come, however not
all doctors are here at all the surgery times. If
you want to see a particular doctor and your
problem is not urgent, you may have to wait
until an appointment is available.
Emergencies will be seen on the same day, but
you will not be able to see the doctor of your
choice. Please telephone 464533 after
8:00am if your problem is urgent.
Please be sure to inform us if you cannot use a
booked appointment. Non-attendance means
that everybody has to wait longer.
Special Appointments
We also offer the following appointments
Thursday evenings 6:30pm – 7.30pm
Friday mornings 7.00am – 8.00am.
Health Visitors
Health Visitors give advice help and support to
mothers, newborn babies and children under
five. Our local teams may be contacted on the
following numbers:
Hertfordshire 01992 471818
Essex
New Patients
01992 760400
We accept new patients from the Hoddesdon,
Broxbourne and Wormley areas, from
Stanstead Abbotts in the north to the New
River Arms in the south. We also accept
patients from parts of Nazeing and Hertford
Heath. If in doubt, ask our receptionists.
We ask all our new patients to attend for a
health check as soon as possible after joining
the practice. This provides the opportunity to
discuss current health needs.
Prescriptions
If you take regular medication, the doctor may
issue you with a slip to use when you request a
repeat prescription. Your doctor will review
your medication and may ask to see you before
further prescriptions are issued. Please give 2
full working day’s notice for each prescription.
We regret that telephone requests will not be
accepted. In some cases we can arrange for a
prescription to be delivered to a chemist of
your choice. We also operate an electronic
prescribing service. For further details please
ask the doctor/receptionist.
Home Visits
If you are requesting a home visit, please make
sure that you telephone 464533 between
9:00am and 10:00 am. If you are phoning on
behalf of a patient, please ensure that you
know the patient’s name, address and a brief
description of the problem so that priority may
be given. If at all possible, try to attend the
surgery where many facilities are available.
Out of Hours Emergencies
If you urgently need to speak to a doctor out of
surgery hours, Hertfordshire patients can
telephone 111, for Essex patients please
telephone 03000 33 33 33. Alternatively
telephone the Surgery on 464533. The
answer-phone will give you the number of the
out of hours medical service that covers our
patients.
Other Out of Hours Services:
Harlow Urgent Care Centre
01279 694775
The
LIMES
Surgery
www.thelimessurgery.co.uk
Dr Colin P Blankfield
MB BS 1980 MRCGP DRCOG MRI
Dr Mark Andrews
MB BS 1980 DRACOG
Dr Vineeta Verma
MB BS 1992 MD FRCOG MRCGP DFSRH
Dr Samar Sami
M.B BCh 1989 DFSRH
Dr Elizabeth Aylett
MBchB, MRCGP,DFFP
Dr Laura Smith
MBchB, MRcgp, DFSRH, DRCOG,
BSc(Hons)
8-14 Limes Court
Conduit Lane
Hoddesdon
Herts EN11 8EP
01992 464533