Appointments

In keeping with Government guidelines we aim to allow access to a health professional, either face-to-face or on the telephone, within 48hrs. We guarantee to see patients with urgent problems on the same day, if the patient considers this to be necessary.

For fairness to all patients, appointments are for 10 minutes per patient.  If you think you may need a longer appointment, please ask the Receptionist for a double appointment or make a further appointment to come back.

Making an Appointment

The surgery is open continuously from 8am - 6pm for telephone calls and personal callers.

Surgeries are held between the hours of 8.20am - 12.30pm and 2.00pm - 5.30pm, Monday to Friday (Tel: 01224 562888).

We also offer Extended Hours consulting on 1-2 days a week with GPs as follows:

7.30 - 8.30am - face-to-face appointments

5.30 - 6.00pm - face-to-face appointments

6.00 - 6.30pm - telephone consultations ( only certain GPs)

All consultations are by appointment, which can be made by telephone or in person during normal surgery hours. Please book well in advance for routine appointments. If possible, try to avoid Mondays for routine appointments as this is the busiest day of the week for patients who need to be seen with acute illnesses.

The Receptionists will ask you for details of why you require an appointment in order to signpost to the most appropriate Health Professional.  We appreciate that there will be occasions when you may not feel comfortable providing such information and we would respect your privacy in such instances. You may be directed to see your local Pharmacist in the first instance for minor ailments or offered an appointment with our Nurse Practitioner who can manage many minor illnesses, such as chest and urinary infections. She can prescribe the same medications as the Doctor, and there is always a Doctor available to see patients should this be required.

If you wish to see a specific Doctor you may need to wait longer for an appointment.

Duty Doctor appointments for acute illness are available every day. These appointments are for patients who are acutely unwell and who feel that they cannot wait for a routine appointment.  At times of increased demand for appointments a Clinician will sometimes call you back (sometimes referred to as triage) to prioritise the urgency of appointment requests on the day.  Please be aware that Reception staff may ask you to expect a call from a Clinician if they are triaging requests for appointments.

Lastly, if you are unable to keep an appointment PLEASE telephone us in good time so that the appointment can be used for someone else. This helps us to reduce waiting times and improve our service to you.

One Problem per Appointment

Remember that each appointment is only 10 minutes long.  To be fair to other patients and help us run our clinics on time, we politely ask patients to discuss one issue only in an appointment.  You should not expect multiple problems to be assessed in one appointment unless those problems are all urgent or related to the presenting acute condition.

This also helps prioritise your GP or Nurse Practitioner's attention on the problem most important to you.  When many problems are presented at once, this increases the risk that we may miss important issues.

We appreciate your co-operation in this matter.

Telephone Advice

For some acute illness  the Duty Doctor or Nurse Practitioner may be able to offer telephone advice.When you telephone for an appointment you may be asked to provide some details of your condition. This will help our Reception staff to direct you to the most appropriate member of our Team. We appreciate that there will be occasions when you may not feel comfortable providing such information and we would respect your privacy in such instances.

The surgery does offer a few routine telephone advice appointments. They should be booked in the normal way.

For general health enquiries NHS 24 should be consulted ( tel 111)

Home Visits

We prefer to see patients in the surgery wherever possible but we recognise that there may be occasions that individuals cannot come to the surgery due to illness or disability. If you do require the Doctor to attend you at your home, please discuss this with the Receptionist when you phone.

If at all possible, please telephone before 9.30 am. You will routinely be asked if you can come to the surgery and in certain circumstances a Doctor may call you back to establish further details, including whether it would be more appropriate to send a Nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

Home visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability. You will appreciate that in busy traffic a single home visit can take up to an hour (6 normal appointments). In some circumstances, where the Doctor feels it is more appropriate, you may be asked to attend the surgery.