Anticoagulation Service

Basic facts about anticoagulation (from the British Heart Foundation)

Warfarin is commonly used to prevent blood clotting. It reduces the risk of the formation of blood clots. Blood clots can break off and lodge themselves in a main vessel. This can cause a loss of consciousness or even a stroke, or other problems such as blockage of arteries to the lungs (pulmonary emboli). Patients with atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat) or prosthetic heart valves may have to take warfarin for many years, if not life-long. Warfarin may also be used to treat deep vein thrombosis over approximately six months and can be used to prevent venous thrombosis after hip operations. Warfarin takes 36-48 hours to become effective, although if a rapid action is required, injections of heparin are given.
The dosage of warfarin must be adjusted in relation to the results of your blood test, i.e: prothrombin time or INR (International Normalised Ratio). The INR suitable for each individual patient varies according to the individual's condition and the treatment being received, but is usually in the range of 2 to 3.5.

Bolton's Anticoagulation Service

The Anticoagulation Team in Bolton provides services to patients on warfarin medication who require regular blood monitoring to check INR levels. This service is provided directly to patients through daily clinics. These clinics are held at Waters Meeting Health Centre. A number of other clinics run at various times and locations throughout the week. Over time we plan to increase the number of these clinics, thereby reducing the travel and inconvieniance to patients. We are now able to test more blood samples straight away at the clinic so that results are available immediately rather than samples being sent to a laboratory with results having to be phoned through or posted to the patient later.

Currently, clinics are provided as follows:

Waters Meeting Health Centre : Every Day

Other Locations :
Wednesday morning – Horwich Clinic
Thursday morning - Tonge Moor Health Centre
Thursday afternoon – Avondale Health Centre
Friday morning - Pikes Lane Primary Care Centre
Friday afternoon - Peter House Surgery, Westhoughton
Tuesday morning-Great Lever Health Centre

The team also support other healthcare professionals such as the District Nursing Teams and in the Rapid Response Team in providing a service to housebound patients.
Management of Bolton's Anticoagulation Service transferred on 1 May 2005 from the Bolton Hospital's NHS Trust to Bolton Primary Care Trust.

The team

• Maggie Cleary - Nurse
• Ann Aldred - Nurse
• Paula Hanratty - Nurse
• Salma Limbada - Health Care Assistant
• Margaret Pepper - Health Care Assistant
• Cath Seals - Health Care Assistant
• Deborah Smith - Clerical Officer

Contact details: