John Radcliffe Hospital Directory of Services

Key to services

National Organisation

Local Organisation

Grants Available

Peer Support

Counselling

The simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet. Using the NHS App you can search for, book and cancel appointments at your GP surgery, see details of your upcoming and past appointments, see your available medicines and request a new repeat prescription and view your medical record securely.

search ‘NHS App’ in your phones App store

The NHS is a huge organisation with many different services. Often these services may not be known to you or be co-ordinated in the best way to help you recover. Your GP should be able to help you navigate and access the NHS in a way that will help you, but here is information about some of the most important and helpful areas of the NHS.

The NHS Constitution gives people living in England the right to choose where to receive treatment. In most cases, you have the legal right to choose the hospital or service you’d like to go to. This can include many private hospitals, as long as they provide services to the NHS. This means, you can choose the organisation that provides your NHS care when you’re referred for your first appointment with a consultant. So, if your GP recommends that you see a specialist, you can choose where and when to see them. Finding a hospital: www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Hospital/LocationSearch/7/Hospitals

W: nhs.uk/nhs-e-referral-service

If you are having difficulty living at home, or think that you will find it difficult when you are able to return home to manage every day tasks, such as washing, dressing or cooking then you may need a home care needs assessment. Social Services have a legal duty to assess anyone who appears to be in need of support services. This is regardless of the person’s income and savings or whether the council thinks they will qualify for support. The needs assessment should not cover any financial matters, except to make sure that you are receiving the state benefits you are entitled to.

You should contact your local council Social Services department and ask for a “Needs Assessment” or a “Care Needs Assessment”, or of you are still in hospital a member of the therapy team (Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists) can probably help you. A member of your family or friend can request this on your behalf.

Useful contacts:

  • www.gov.uk/apply-needs-assessment-social-services
  • Age UK “Fact Sheet 41”
  • Disability Rights UK

If you are aged 18 or over, with complex, intense and unpredictable healthcare needs, you could qualify for NHS continuing healthcare. Clinical commissioning groups, known as CCGs (the NHS organizations that commission local health services), must assess you for NHS continuing healthcare if it seems that you may require it.

Where it is determined that the primary reason for you requiring care is health-based rather than social care needs based, you will be entitled to ongoing package of free healthcare that is fully funded by the NHS which you could get directly arranged by the NHS or you could receive it in the form of a Personal Health Budget PHB similar to the personal budget for social care.

Although this may sound like a complicated process there is plenty of help available to help you, including the following organisations, many of which are listed in this guide.

  • Disability Rights UK
  • People Hub
  • Citizens Advice UK
  • Your GP
  • Age UK
  • Independent Age

Physiotherapy is often a part of your recovery as it is helpful to people with a wide variety of physical and neurological health problems. It is available on the NHS and also widely available privately. Your Hospital or GP may refer you for NHS physiotherapy, but you can refer yourself to a physiotherapist privately if you are able to pay for it.

In addition to bone and joint injuries, Physiotherapy is also often used for:

  • Neurological (Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s)
  • Neuro-musculoskeletal (back pain, whiplash, sports injuries, arthritis)
  • Cardiovascular (chronic heart disease, rehabilitation after heart attack)
  • Respiratory (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis).

Useful contacts:

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). This is governing body of physiotherapists in the UK and via their website you can locate a physiotherapist for private treatment and find out more about how physiotherapy could help you.

W: csp.org.uk

Many patients suffer from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or stress. There are a number of different services to help you within the NHS. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is proven to help with many common issues. There are various ways of accessing CBT, and many NHS Trusts have set up telephone services, internet-based systems and face to face services, including the IESO service shown in this guide. Your GP should be able to help you choose which is best for you, you can also locate talking therapy and CBT treatment services via the NHS Choices website.
Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) is an NHS funded service designed to treat common mental health problems that your GP can refer you to.

Unfortunately, there can be delays in accessing psychological support via the NHS, so some people choose to pay for treatment. If you decide to do this, you can find an appropriately qualified therapist via the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP) website www.cbtregisteruk.com.