Clinics and Services

Our Adult Mental Health Practitioner supports the needs of patients between the ages of 18 and 65 year olds. Appointments are offered at the surgery. This service is provided by our Primary Care Network (PCN).

Our Cancer Care Coordinator supports our patients that have a new diagnosis, to provide coordination and navigation of care and support across health and care services. This service is provided by our Primary Care Network (PCN).

Routine cervical smears are performed by our practice nurses.

Women are invited for cervical screening every three years between the ages of 25 and 49, and every five years between the ages of 50 and 64. Some women are invited more often due to results from a previous cervical screening test.

Further information about cervical screening (smear tests) can be found on the NHS website

All parents are invited to bring their babies in for a 6 week check with their GP.

8 month checks are carried out by the Health Visitors who will contact parents directly.

It is very important that all babies and children are fully immunised. Illnesses such as diphtheria, tetanus and polio are now thankfully rare, because of current immunisation policies, but if contracted can be crippling or even fatal.

Whooping cough causes a distressing illness with prolonged coughing and vomiting which can last for months. It can lead to permanent lung damage and occasionally brain damage. Small babies are particularly at risk and so it is important that they are immunised as soon as possible.

Haemophilus influenzae (Hib) can cause a type of meningitis which particularly affects babies and toddlers.

Meningitis C causes another form of meningitis.

Pneumococcal infection can cause meningitis, septicaemia and severe pneumonia. Measles is an unpleasant illness which can cause pneumonia and permanent lung damage.

Mumps is a common cause of meningitis and can also cause permanent deafness. Rubella (German measles) can cause major deformities in babies if it is passed on to mothers in early pregnancy.

If you have any worries or questions about any aspect of your child's immunisations, please feel free to discuss them with your doctor, practice nurse or health visitor.

Further information on vaccinations and when to have them can be found on the NHS website 

Our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Practitioner supports the needs of young patients and their families. Appointments are offered at the surgery. This service is provided by our Primary Care Network (PCN).

Get information about COVID-19 vaccination, who can get it, and safety and side effects

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations on the NHS website

Our Dementia Care Coordinator supports our patients with dementia from diagnosis to end of life. This service is provided by our Primary Care Network (PCN).

The doctors provide full planning services including fitting of ICUDs as well as post-coital contraception (the 'morning after' pill). The practice nurses provide the follow-up for many patients' contraceptive needs after they have been seen initially by a doctor. All doctors and nurses are happy to provide contraceptive advice.

Face to face Physiotherapy appointments are offered at the surgery on various days each week. Appointments are made via referral by your GP. 

Find information about the flu jab, including who should have it, why and when

Learn more about flu vaccinations on the NHS website

If you suffer from diabetes and develop foot problems, you are entitled to NHS treatment via GP referral to the Chiropody Department at Foster Street in Maidstone. However, there is usually a very long wait for a first appointment.

Are you between 40 and 74?

If you have not already been diagnosed with heart disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease or stroke, and are aged between 40 and 74, then you will receive an invite for a Health Check.

It will give you and your GP a clearer picture of your health, and help you to take action to reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease

Our Learning Disability Care Coordinator supports our patients with learning disabilities, to ensure that they have access to appropriate healthcare, take advantage of all screening and health promotion opportunities available to them, including annual health checks. Appointments are offered at the surgery. This service is provided by our Primary Care Network (PCN).

Antenatal and postnatal care is provided by the doctors and the community midwives who are also based at the surgery.

Thornhills has a long tradition in minor operations spanning four decades. We are one of the largest local providers of these services in primary care. We have a dedicated operating suite at our premises in Larkfield, equipped with medical technology to provide minor surgery to patients with a range of conditions such as removal of skin lesions, carpal tunnel decompressions and many more procedures.

Operations are carried out every day by our own skilled teams of GPs.

GPs are ably assisted in theatre by our experienced Nurses and Health Care Assistants.

All patients have a pre-op consultation with the operating GP first. If the doctor feels it is necessary to operate, the patient will be booked in to the minor ops clinic. The doctor will explain the procedure to the patient and why it is necessary. The patient will then have the opportunity to ask any questions to reassure them about the procedure and when they are happy they will be asked to sign a consent form.

Most patients will be able to go about their normal business the following day but they are advised to ask somebody to drive them home. The practice has a small free carpark and there is a public chargeable carpark at Martin Square.

All operations are performed under local anaesthetic (numbing of the affected area while the patient remains awake) and there is a recovery room for patients to rest for a while after having had their operation.

Our Specialist Team

• Dr Dylan Le (Minor Operations Lead) MBBS, MRCS
• Dr Rob Gilmore BSc, BCh, DCH, MRCGP    
• Dr Graham Mitchell MSc, DCH, DRCOG, BSc (Hons)

Procedures

We provide a wide range of surgical procedures, from simple excisions to complex operations such as carpal tunnel decompression. We are the largest surgical service provider in Maidstone and Weald district. 

One Stop Clinics

Up until now patients referred to us have to be assessed by one of the GP surgeons prior to their operation. We appreciate that patients may have to travel long distances to Thornhills for their pre-operative assessment and to return on another date for the operation. This is time consuming and inconvenient for some patients. Therefore, we also provide a ONE STOP minor surgery clinic for many cases. Patients will have to be referred to Thornhills by their own GP as usual, once we receive the referral we carefully select patients with a condition that could be treated in this clinic, patients will then be offered an appointment. During the appointment, the patient will be assessed, consented and operated on.

Joint Injections

Joint injections or aspirations (taking fluid out of a joint) are usually performed under local anaesthesia. After the skin surface is thoroughly cleaned, the joint is entered with a needle attached to a syringe. At the point, either joint fluid can be obtained and sent for appropriate laboratory testing or medications can be injected into the joint space. This technique also applies to injections into a bursa or tendon to treat tendonitis and bursitis, respectively.

Carpal Tunnel

The median nerve passes through a tight space at the wrist called the carpal tunnel. Occasionally it becomes compressed in the tunnel causing pins and needles in the fingers and pain which can extend up the forearm. Some settle with splinting, others with tablets and others following a steroid injection into the tunnel itself. However, when symptoms persist despite three medical measures, it is necessary to de-compress the nerve surgically. This will offer the definitive cure to the condition.

The procedure will be done under local anaesthetic supplemented by a pre-medication injection of a mild sedative and analgesic and the operation will take about 30 minutes in all.  After the operation, patients will be kept in the recovery room for 30-45 minutes to recover.  Patients will not be able to drive home and therefore, need to be accompanied home.  Patients are usually advised to take two weeks off work following this operation.

Excision

This is a long and well established method of treating many conditions such as skin cancer, lipoma, sebaceous cyst, naevus. Primarily, skin is infiltrated with local anaesthetic to numb the operating site.  Skin is then incised and the lesion is removed and sent for histopathological examination. The wound is then closed by sutures (stitches). Sutures are usually removed by a member of the nursing team at a patient’s own surgery within 5 to 14 days depending on the site of the wound. Most of the patients who undergo this procedure will be able to drive home on the same day unless otherwise specifically asked by the operating doctor. 

The majority of patients who have this procedure do not have a lot of time off work.  However, it does depend on the type of work that the patient does and the site and size of the lesion.

Basal Cell Carcinoma

A basal cell carcinoma (aka Rodent Ulcer or BCC) is a type of skin tumour which is increasing in frequency in this country. It is thought to arise from previous repeated exposures to sever ultraviolet light causing sunburn up to forty years previously. They are locally invasive skin cancers (i.e. they do not spread to other parts of the body producing secondary tumours), but slowly grow, and if not treated, become larger and larger, slowly invading deeper tissues beneath the surface.

Small basal cell cancers can be treated in a various number of ways - some are excised surgically and the wound stitched, others are treated with radiotherapy, and others by removing with a steel spoon (curettage) and cauterising the base several times with a diathermy or electrocautery.

Whichever method is chosen depends on the site and size of the lesion. During the pre-op consultation our doctors will be able to advise the patient on the appropriate type of treatment.

Electrocautery / Radiowave Surgery

Many warts, moles, naevi and keratoses can be removed with a scalpel or curette and the base cauterised with the electrocautery. Alternatively, the mole can be removed entirely by radio-wave surgery from a high frequency electrosurgical unit. Radio-surgery is a new method of treating many skin lesions using high frequency radio-waves (4 million herz) which both cuts through the skin and also seals off any small blood vessels simultaneously thus avoiding the need for any stitches and in many cases give a neater scar. This tends to give superior cosmetic results to conventional surgical excision or electrocautery

We DO NOT treat the following

• Verrucas
• Epidipymal cysts – refer to Urology
• Morton’s neuroma – refer to Podiatry
• Intradermal piercings – refer privately to a Dermatologist
• Dupuytren’s contracture – refer to Orthopaedics (hand surgeon)
• Corns – refer to Podiatry
• Ingrowing toenails – refer to Podiatry
• Olecranon bursitis – refer to Orthopaedics
• Chalazion/meibomain cyst – refer to Ophthalmology
• Viral warts – refer to Dermatology (we can treat seborrheic warts/keratosis)

We DO the following joint steroid injections

• Shoulder
• Knee
• Trochanter bursitis
• Trigger finger (more than 3)
• Tennis elbow
• CT

We DO NOT do the following joint steroid injections

• Small joint fingers
• Hips
• Plantar fasciitis 

Most blood tests are taken in the morning. A few blood tests have to be taken during the early afternoon, either because the tests have to arrive at the laboratory within a specified period of time or the bloods need to be taken a certain number of hours after a medication has been taken. We are unable to keep most blood samples overnight, as they are then unsuitable for testing.

We will always try to offer you an early appointment if the doctor has requested that you starve overnight prior to the test.

All nurses and Health Care Assistants will take blood according to the procedure displayed in each treatment room.

The nurse or HCA will tell you how long we expect it to be before the results are available. Most results come through within a few days, but some can take considerably longer. In certain cases, if a specialist test is required, the sample may be referred to another hospital outside the area. In these cases, it can be a number of weeks before a result is obtained.

You should telephone the practice for the results, ideally after 2pm. The receptionists will be able to tell you if the result is normal or whether the doctor wishes to discuss the results with you, either by phone or at an appointment.

In many cases, following a blood test, your doctor will have agreed with you how the result will followed up eg a further appointment or perhaps telephone call to the doctor. Please ensure you do keep any arrangements made with your doctor.

If a result requires urgent action, the doctor will contact you as soon as possible. Please ensure that we always have an up to date contact number for you. However, due to the high volume of blood tests done daily, it is not possible for them to contact you with individual results if they are normal or require no further action.

If you are having a number of tests done and are unsure of what is being done, please ask the nurse or HCA for a slip indicating what tests have been taken. This will ensure that you know whether all results are back when you telephone for your results.

We have experienced psychologists and counsellors running sessions at the surgery on various days each week. Appointments are made via referral by your GP.

Our social prescribing link worker works with our patients to connect them with non-medical support such as community groups, charities, or activities relevant to their needs. This service is provided by Involve Kent and our Primary Care Network (PCN).

Your doctor isn't the only person who can help you feel better. You can improve your health and wellbeing through social prescribing.

Hi, I’m Sarah and together, we can explore what help you need, by  discussing ‘what matters to you’ and identify activities/ and or local 
support. You can consider the  benefits of participating in them, and I will assist you to plan your next steps. 

Social prescribing looks at all your needs from the different areas of your life and supports you to take more control of your health and well being. 
We can meet in person, or have telephone contact and I can work with you for as long you require.

I look forward to working with you.  

How do I access the service?

It's simple. You can talk to your GP, health care professional or ask at reception for an appointment with the Social Prescriber.

Alternatively you can self refer by filling out the form and hand it to reception or contact us online.

Did you know?

Around 1 in 5 people who see their GP have problems that medical intervention can't fully treat. Social Prescribing can help tackle the root cause of many health and well being issues.

Charges apply for some vaccincations

Clinics are held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Further information is available on our Travel page