Appointments

Quote / Testimonial:
Our current appointment system includes acute on the day appointments, early morning appointments and pre-bookable routine appointments.

Urgent appointments

Our urgent on the day triage runs between 8am to 10.30am; we ask you to call on the day for all urgent/acute problems.

Our triage appointments are all telephone calls, so the GP will call you back between 8am – 1pm. If the GP decides you need to be seen this will be booked/discussed when the GP calls back. The triage appointments open up on the day and cannot be booked in advance.

To request an urgent appointment for today :

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.

Routine appointments

The routine appointments are telephone calls; if the GP decides you need to be seen, this will be booked/discussed with you when the GP calls you back. If you book a routine appointment the GP will call back between 9am – 1pm.

You will get a text reminder the day before your appointment.

To request a routine appointment in the next 2 weeks:

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.

Your appointment

All of our appointments are initially by telephone as this allows the doctor to prioritise urgent cases on the same day. Following the doctors telephone appointment you will be offered a face to face appointment if necessary, which is usually the same day or at your convenience. This also applies to our routine appointments.

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

  • by phone
  • face to face at the surgery

If you are more than 10 minutes late we may have to reschedule your appointment.

Please call the surgery to book your appointment with a nurse in advance. It is helpful if you tell our receptionists the reason for your appointment, i.e. asthma review, blood pressure check etc., to ensure that the correct time is allocated for your appointment.

Cervical smears and Asthma review appointments are now available to be booked online using Patient access or the myGP app. As well as nurse appointments here at the surgery, we are also able to book weekend appointments at Barbara Castle Way health centre for smears and asthma reviews.
Please note that one appointment is for one person only.

When booking an appointment each patient is given an allocated time. The time is to allow an appropriate consultation length of time for one person.

If you want more than one patient to be seen then they will need a separate appointment.

Please do not ask the doctor to see an extra patient who does not have an appointment booked.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

For nurse and GP appointments we ask you to contact us as soon as possible if you need to cancel so the appointment can be offered to another patient to prevent a wasted appointment.

To cancel your appointment:

  • phone us on 01254 260051, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm

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 need an interpreter
  • if you have any translation needs
  • if you have any other access or communication needs

Home visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, please call reception before 10am.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP/nurse will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor/nurse to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Urgent home visits

The Acute Visiting Service will be used when a patient telephones the surgery requesting an urgent visit. An urgent visit is when a patient requires a visit within 4 hours of contacting the GP practice.

In most cases, to visit the following would not be clinically indicated:
– common Symptoms of childhood
– fevers
– cold
– cough
– earache
– headache
– diarrhoea/vomiting
– abdominal pain (most cases of)

These patients are usually well enough to travel by car. It is not harmful to take a child with a fever outside. These children may not be fit to travel by bus or to walk, but car transport is generally available from friends, relatives or taxi companies. We regret that the surgery cannot arrange transport to the surgery.

Adults with common problems, such as cough, sore throat, influenza, back pain and abdominal pain are also readily transportable to the surgery.

Common problems in the elderly, such as poor mobility, joint pain, and general malaise would also best be managed in the surgery.

The exception to this rule would be the truly bed-bound.

GP visit recommended

GP home visiting makes clinical sense and is the best way to give a medial opinion in cases involving

  • Terminal illness
  • The truly bed bound patient for whom travel to premises by car would cause a deterioration to their medical condition or cause unacceptable discomfort.

GP visit may be useful

After an initial assessment over the telephone, a seriously ill patient may be helped by a GPs attendance to prepare them for travel to hospital; that is, where a GP’s other commitment does not prevent him/her arriving before the ambulance.

Examples of such a situation are:-

  • Heart attacks/severe chest pain
  • Severe shortness of breath
  • Severe bleeding

In some cases it may be appropriate for the GP to arrange for an emergency ambulance.