Appointments

Booking an Appointment

Our appointment system is a mixture of pre-bookable routine and high priority appointments booked through our Online Triage system, eConsult.

If you need to book an appointment, the Fastest way is to book is by eConsult. This allows us to understand your needs and ensure that you are being signposted to the correct service.

Patients are encouraged to complete the online consultation themselves as they can give detailed information, in their own words. If a patient calls the surgery, they will be asked to go online, or a care navigator can assist the patient.

Many minor illnesses can be managed by over-the-counter remedies and are of short duration. Please can we ask that you have tried to self-manage your illness before you try to book an appointment.

High Priority Appointments

Urgent Appointment are limited and therefore you should consider how urgent your medical needs are and if NHS 111 would be more. If your appointment request is of a high priority, you should consider how urgent your medical needs are and if NHS 111 would be more appropriate first. To request an appointment

• Submit an eConsult form online Monday to Friday from 8am to 10.30am. We will respond within 48 hours during opening times.
• Phone us on 01282 502740, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm.

When you contact us, the Care navigators will ask you questions, and we will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or health professional to help you.

Routine appointments

A routine appointment is defined as an appointment that does not require immediate attention and can be scheduled for a later date. These appointments are often for ongoing monitoring of health conditions, follow up care after a hospital stay or preventative health checks.

To request a routine appointment:

• Submit an eConsult form online Monday to Friday from 8am – 6.30pm. We will respond within 48 hours during opening times.
• Phone us on 01282 502740, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm.

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or health professional to help you.

If The Surgery Is Closed

Out of hours services are provided by the local Clinical Commissioning Group and accessed by phoning 111.

Your appointment

However you choose to contact us, we may offer you a consultation:

• by phone
• face to face at the surgery
• on a video call
• by text or email

Appointments by phone, video call or by text or email can be more flexible and often means you get help sooner.

Telephone Appointments

Instead of coming to the surgery, you may prefer to deal with simple problems over the phone. Should the problem prove too complex then you may be invited to attend the surgery.

Some of the nursing staff are also consulting by telephone.

Should you have a medically urgent problem and need to speak to a doctor quickly then the Care navigators will ask the duty on-call doctor to phone you back as soon as possible. In order to help assess your problem, you will be asked for a brief description of your symptoms.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

Please always attend for your allocated Appointment – If you fail to attend without informing us it will stop us from helping another patient in need.

To cancel your appointment:

• use your NHS app
• using the GP online system – Patient Access
• phone us on 01282 502740, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm
• reply CANCEL to your appointment reminder text message

If you need help when we are closed

If you need medical help now, use NHS 111 online or call 111.

NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

• if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
• if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email
• if you need an interpreter
• if you have any other access or communication needs

Home visits

Housebound patients, terminally ill and severely ill people may need a home visit. We expect everyone else to attend the surgery. Our practice policy is to minimise the number of home visits performed. We have a large practice area and can quite easily see 5-6 patients in surgery in the time spent travelling to and from a patient’s home. We have full access to your medical records at the surgery, better examination facilities, and access to investigations such as ECG.

Should you feel you need a home visit then please call the surgery before 10am. Our receptionist will take some details and a doctor may phone back to discuss further and decide if a visit is warranted.

Patients’ Responsibilities

To try and ensure that our appointment system runs well we request that you:

1. Cancel any appointment that you are unable to attend.
2. Arrive on time for your appointment.
3. Let us know if you are going to be late.
4. Use routine appointments for routine problems.
5. Use urgent appointments for urgent problems.
6. Remember that your appointment slot is 10 minutes long. This usually allows us to deal with one problem. Please book longer appointments for multiple problems. Please avoid using your appointment to have your repeat prescription issued and signed.