PCN Outreach

Our PCN Outreach Team delivers health support directly within the community through local events and pop-up sessions. By offering quick health checks, including blood pressure monitoring, and providing tailored signposting to services, the team helps identify risks early and improves access to care.

Working in accessible locations such as community events, schools, shopping areas, and local centres, the initiative focuses on prevention, early intervention, and reducing health inequalities—ensuring more people can engage with the support they need, closer to home.

If you would like the team to attend your event, contact us

Social Prescribing and Community Support

Aldershot Primary Care Network has a Social Prescribing team that supports patients with non-medical needs that may be affecting their health and wellbeing.

Social Prescribing can help people connect with local services, community groups and sources of practical support. This may include support with loneliness, confidence, wellbeing, housing concerns, money worries, caring responsibilities, lifestyle changes or finding activities and groups in the local area.

Our Social Prescribing Link Workers take time to listen to what matters to the person and help them identify the right support for their circumstances. The aim is to help people feel more connected, more confident and better able to manage their health and wellbeing.

The team also works closely with local voluntary, community and statutory services, helping patients access support beyond traditional healthcare.

We have a dedicated Social Prescribing page with more information about the service, who it can help and how patients registered to an Aldershot GP Practice can self refer to the service.

Improving Digital Access

Aldershot Primary Care Network is working to improve digital access to GP services and NHS information.

As part of our outreach work, we promote and support patients to use the NHS App. The NHS App is a safe and secure way for patients to access a range of NHS services from a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Through our community outreach events, we help patients understand how the NHS App can be used and support them to get started where needed. This includes guidance on setting up the app, logging in, and using key features such as ordering repeat prescriptions, viewing test results, checking appointments and accessing NHS information.

We know that not everyone feels confident using digital tools. Our aim is to make digital access easier, clearer and more inclusive, while ensuring patients still know how to contact their GP practice if they cannot use online services.

By supporting more patients to use the NHS App, we can help people manage their health more easily, access services at a time that suits them, and make better use of the digital options available across the NHS.

Latent TB Testing

Latent tuberculosis (TB) means someone has TB bacteria in their body, but the bacteria are “asleep”. They do not feel unwell, do not have symptoms, and cannot pass TB to other people while it is latent. However, latent TB can sometimes become active TB, especially if someone’s immune system becomes weaker. Active TB can make people seriously unwell and can spread to others.

Latent TB testing is usually a simple blood test. It checks whether someone has been infected with TB bacteria in the past. The test is important because latent TB cannot be detected by symptoms alone.

The NHS latent TB testing and treatment programme focuses on people who have recently entered the UK from countries with higher TB rates, particularly people aged 16 to 35 who were born in, or spent more than six months in, a high TB incidence country and entered the UK within the last five years.

Why testing matters?

Testing helps to:

• Find TB early, before it causes illness.
• Offer treatment to stop latent TB becoming active TB.
• Protect family, friends and the wider community by reducing future spread.
• Support people who may be at higher risk, including those who have lived in countries where TB is more common.

Latent TB testing is an important preventative health check. It helps protect your health and supports wider public health by reducing the risk of TB developing and spreading in the future.

If your GP practice offers you a latent TB test, please book and attend your appointment.

What happens if the test is positive?

A positive test does not mean someone has active TB. Further checks may be needed to make sure there is no active infection. If it is latent TB, treatment is usually offered with antibiotics to greatly reduce the risk of it becoming active TB in the future.

Wessex Cancer Alliance Local Improvement Scheme

Aldershot Primary Care Network is taking part in the Wessex Cancer Alliance Prevention and Early Diagnosis Local Improvement Scheme.

This project supports GP practices to improve cancer prevention, earlier diagnosis and patient support. The aim is to help more people recognise possible signs and symptoms of cancer, come forward sooner, and access the right tests, referrals and advice as early as possible.

Through this work, we are focusing on:

• Raising awareness of cancer signs and symptoms
• Encouraging people to attend cancer screening when invited
• Supporting patients to seek help early if they notice a change in their health
• Improving how we identify and support people who may be at higher risk
• Helping our teams use best practice guidance and local cancer resources

Early diagnosis can make a significant difference to treatment options, outcomes and quality of life. Many symptoms are not caused by cancer, but it is always better to get checked.

Please contact your GP practice if you notice a new, unexplained or persistent change in your health, such as a lump, unexplained weight loss, ongoing tiredness, changes in bowel habits, blood in your poo or urine, a persistent cough, unusual bleeding, or a symptom that does not feel normal for you.

Cancer screening can also help find cancer early, sometimes before symptoms appear. Please take up screening invitations when you receive them.