Alderney is unique in that the primary care doctors are also your hospital doctors. This means that they will know you and your family, as well as your medical history and will have a better understanding of your health concerns, especially in an emergency or out of hours if you have to attend the local hospital, the Mignot Memorial.
Working on a remote island means that our experienced doctors have to have a much broader range of medical skills than might be found in normal General Practice. For example, the doctor might need to apply a plaster of Paris to immobilise a fracture, reduce a dislocated shoulder under sedation, suture a wound, undertake minor surgery, as well as manage acute life threatening conditions. All this and more, in addition to our normal general practice skills.
The doctors at the Island Medical Centre are contracted to provide a 24 hours a day service, every day of the year. This service is provided on a rota basis and means a doctor will carry out home visits where necessary, as well as attending patients who arrive in the Emergency Room at the Mignot Memorial Hospital. There is only one doctor on at a time to cover all the 24 hours services so we respectfully ask our patients to be considerate when ringing. If you are genuinely very unwell we will of course visit, but if you are able to get to the surgery or the hospital, we can often better optimise your care there.
The IMC is also contracted to provide these services to hospital in-patients who are admitted under the care of the Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC).
During normal business hours (0800-1800) Monday to Friday, the surgery should be contacted to arrange a daytime home visit. Outside of these hours (1800-0800 weeknights, weekends and Public Holidays) the IMC is shut. The hospital should be contacted on 01481 822822 and a member of the nursing team will take a message and ask the doctor to either contact you for more information or ask you to come directly into the hospital. More investigations can be done at the hospital or the surgery, such as blood tests, ECGs and so on, if the doctor thinks this is necessary.
Sometimes, the doctor may decide that there is not an urgent or immediate threat to life and arrangements will be made for follow up the next day instead.
All children aged 5 and under will be seen by a doctor at any time. Older children will be assessed by the doctor in conjunction with parents or carers.
IN AN EMERGENCY OR LIFE THREATENING EVENT YOU MUST CALL 999 WITHOUT DELAY AND ASK FOR THE AMBULANCE