Appointments

The surgery operates various appointment  types.  You can make an appointment by telephoning the surgery or by calling at the surgery during our opening hours.

You will be reminded automatically by text messages via your mobile phone. If you change your mobile telephone number please inform to the reception staff. This will facilitate us to provide an effective service. 

We have updated our telephone system.  Our practice operates an automated answering service. The callers will be asked to choose one of the following options

Press 1 –Repeat Prescriptions

Press 2 –Test Results

Press 3 –Other Enquiries

Appointments are allocated at 10-minute intervals.  Please make one appointment for each person who needs to be seen. 

If you have multiple problems it may be possible to offer you double appointments.  Please ask the reception for assistance.

1. Non Urgent Advance Appointments

You can book appointments up to 4 – 5 weeks in advance.  You will have a choice of clinicians.

2. Urgent Appointments

We allocate same day appointment slots 10.30 am until 12.30 pm for URGENT same day consultations. You can either phone the surgery before 09.00 am to book or Walk in to the surgery to book your appointment slot. These appointments are on a first come first served. You will need to provide some brief details to the reception staff as to the nature of your medical concern so that your appointment can be allocated / prioritised accordingly. These appointment slots can only be booked on the same day they are NOT routine appointments e.g for blood tests, immunisations, Blood Pressure checks, follow up appointments etc.

A limited number of Same Day urgent appointments outside the above times may be available but will be triaged by a Clinician and CANNOT be booked by the reception staff. You will be offered a telephone consultation with a Clinician to discuss your request for an urgent appointment.

3.    Online Booking

We now offer online booking of appointments.  You can book up to one month ahead.  Please note that you must first register for online access for our practice before you can use this facility. Please contact our reception staff for additional information. 

Cancelling Your Appointments

If you are unable to keep your appointment please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer your appointment to someone else that may need to see us.  You can cancel your appointment by:-

·         Telephone - 01204 471444.

·         Call in to the surgery.

·         Text message cancellation

.         Online

 Missed Appointments

Any patients who miss an appointment without any notification will be recorded as Did Not Attend (DNA).  Patients who repeatedly do not attend their appointments will receive a letter informing them that the practice will consider removing them from the practice list.

Telephone Consultations

If you think your problem can be dealt with via a telephone consultation with doctor or nurse please use the above facilities. 

Please request your telephone consultation before 1.00 pm if possible.   During the times stated the reception staff will make a note of your contact details and hand them over to the doctor or nurse who will then get in contact with you during our surgery hours.

Please note that depending on the nature of your problem / query  it may be possible for the reception staff to assist you.  Please help them to facilitate your request by answering any questions they ask you as fully as possible.

All the calls are recorded for monitoring and staff training purposes but the recordings are stored in the strictest confidence.

Home Visits

Where possible, try and come to the surgery, it is better equipped than the Drs’ bag.  If you are too ill to come to surgery and you feel that you require a home visit please telephone the surgery. Try to telephone before 10.00am, this allows the Doctor to plan his visits before leaving the surgery. 

When a request for a home visit is made, the reception will ask for further details, this information is essential as it will help the Doctor to determine which calls need immediate attention and which calls can be dealt with after surgery hours.  The Doctor will telephone the patient before going out on his home visits.