Primary care & walk-in
Minor procedures
Done in a treatment room, usually in the visit you came for — because a referral for a small thing means months of putting up with it.
What we will do here
- Skin lesion removal and biopsy where it is medically indicated
- Cryotherapy for warts and similar lesions
- Ingrown toenail treatment, including partial nail removal
- Draining an abscess
- Suturing a cut, and removing sutures
- Cyst and lipoma assessment, and removal where appropriate
- Ear syringing
- Foreign body removal
- Joint and soft tissue injections
- Wound care and dressing changes
None of this is complicated medicine. What makes it worth having in a family practice is that the alternative is a referral and a wait for something small and irritating.
What it is like
Most of it is quick, done under local anaesthetic, and you walk out afterwards. You will be told what is going to happen before it happens, and what to expect afterwards — including how it will look while it heals, which is the part people are least prepared for.
If something turns out to need more than a treatment room, that is said plainly and referred rather than attempted.
Anything removed gets looked at
Where a lesion is removed, it goes to a lab as a matter of course rather than as an extra. The result comes back to the clinician who removed it, and you will be told it either way.
Insured and uninsured
Where a procedure is medically necessary it is generally insured, and with a valid health card it costs you nothing.
Where something is removed for reasons that are not medical, it is an uninsured service like any other, and you will be quoted before anything is done rather than billed afterwards. Which category something falls into is a clinical judgement, and it will be explained rather than assumed. See physicals and forms for how uninsured work is handled generally.
Common questions
Can this happen at a walk-in visit?
Sometimes. Straightforward things often can; anything needing a longer slot gets booked. Either way it starts with someone looking at it — see walk-in.
Will there be a scar?
Anything that cuts skin can leave a mark, and how it heals varies between people and sites. That is discussed before rather than after, with no promises made about the result.
I am worried about a mole.
Come and have it looked at. That is a completely ordinary reason to book and it does not commit you to anything being removed.
Do you do cosmetic procedures?
No. This is medical minor surgery in a family practice, and it is a different thing from cosmetic work.