Anticoagulant Clinic

The Anticoagulant Clinic provides specialised care for patients taking oral anticoagulant medication to treat and prevent blood clots by offering a monitoring and advisory service.

Anticoagulants are medicines that help prevent blood clots.

Who takes Anticoagulants?

There are certain medical conditions which make developing blood clots more likely such as Atrial fibrillation, Cancer, thrombophilia and mechanical heart valves. Patients are often given oral anticoagulants to reduce the risk of future clots.

They are given to people at a high risk of developing clots to reduce their chances of developing serious conditions such as strokes and heart attacks. They are also given to  patients who have already developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or Pulmonary embolism. Patients will be referred into the service by their GP or by a hospital A&E or inpatient ward. The Anticoagulant Clinic monitors the treatment of patients taking oral anticoagulants.

The Anticoagulant Clinic is based within the Pathology Department in the Cooper Building at Macclesfield District General Hospital. From there we operate a Trust-wide service at 10 locations across Eastern Cheshire.

New Patient Clinic

We see all new patients to the clinic by appointment only.

New Patient clinic slots are available at 11:45 on Monday & Tuesday mornings and at 13:00 on a Wednesday and Friday afternoon at the Waters Green Medical Centre. A limited number of appointments are available for new patients at the Congleton War Memorial Hospital on a Monday at 12:30 and on a Thursday morning at 09:00.

Patients attending the New Patient clinic at Waters Green should be aware that there are free car parking facilities in the multi-storey car park at the Medical Centre. Free parking is also available at Congleton War Memorial Hospital.

Patients attending a New Patient clinic should also allow additional time for the appointment as they will be seeing the Anticoagulant Practitioner who will offer them advice about oral anticoagulants. A fingerprick blood test will also be taken at this appointment.

If you require any special assistance please let us know either prior to attending or at the reception desk when you arrive.

Outreach Clinics

After this initial appointment, patients can be seen in an outreach setting at a clinic which is more convenient to them. We currently see patients at:

• Bollington Medical Centre
• Chelford Surgery
• Congleton War Memorial Hospital
• Alderley Edge Medical Practice
• Handforth Clinic
• Holmes Chapel Health Centre
• Knutsford District Community Hospital
• Poynton Clinic
• Waters Green Medical Centre
• Wilmslow Health Centre

Patients attending an outreach clinic will have a fingerprick blood test and the Biomedical Scientist running the clinic will recommend a dose and a next test date for the patient.

Postal Clinic

Patients who are unable to attend one of our clinics can arrange with their GP surgery to have their blood test taken at the surgery and sent in to the laboratory for dosing. District nurses are able to take blood samples for housebound patients and this can be arranged via the GP surgery. Patients staying in nursing or residential homes can arrange with the home to have a sample sent into the laboratory.

Once a sample arrives in the laboratory it is tested the day it is received and any dose changes are telephoned to the patient (usually the same day). If a dose doesn’t change then we update the therapy record book with a new dosage label and post it back to the patient.

Our staff

Consultant Haematologist

Anticoagulant Practitioner / Anticoagulant Clinic Manager

Biomedical Scientists

Medical Laboratory Assistants

Administrative Staff