Appointments
Can I still see the doctor or nurse if I need to?
Yes. We are still here. If you have a medical problem we will aim, if at all possible, to deal with it on the telephone. If you need to be seen, the doctor will make the appropriate arrangements to see you face to face at the surgery, especially if you need an examination. All nurse appointments can be either face to face or a telephone call if appropriate, for advice etc.
The appointment lines are open from 8.30am onwards. We aim to offer you an appointment with your doctor at a period of time convenient to yourself however if that doctor is not available you will be offered an appointment with the most appropriate healthcare professional if you cannot wait until your own GP is available.
Seeing your doctor
We have a strong belief that a person is best served by a doctor who knows them well and with whom they can develop a long-term beneficial relationship. With this in mind we will always try to offer you an appointment with your own doctor, even if that means waiting a little longer.
Booking an appointment
There are three types of appointment and our reception team will make gentle enquiries to ensure you are directed to the most appropriate person. You do not need to answer their questions if you do not wish to.
- Urgent: For medical problems that cannot wait
- Follow-up: For problems that your doctor or nurse already know about and want to review
- Routine: For non-urgent medical problems
We offer appointments on the day with the duty doctor for all urgent medical problems, you will be called on the day by the duty GP in order of priority.
There may be a few appointments to book on the day for routine or follow-up problems but we cannot always guarantee availability and we encourage all patients to book these type of appointment in advance. We have a strong belief that a patient is best served by a doctor who know them well and with whom they can develop a long-term relationship. With this is mind we will always try and offer you an appointment with your own doctor, even if it means waiting longer.
Some questions or requests may be most efficiently dealt with a telephone consultation appointment or by seeing a practice nurse or another member of the team. This may include our Paramedic, Mental Health Nurse, Community Navigators, Care co-ordinators or our First Contact Physiotherapists. We will always endeavour to meet your needs when we are busy, however sometimes there is a need for us to prioritise.
As well as telephoning for an appointment we will soon be able to offer a varied number of appointments online. We currently offer online appointments via invitation to vaccination clinics and we hope to offer this service for more clinics soon. Patients wishing to use this service will need to register, notifying the practice of their email address and completing some forms. If you are already registered for online drug ordering you will be able to make or cancel appointments with the same login when they restart online appointment service.
All telephone consultations (incoming and outgoing calls) are recorded for your safety, for staff training and audit purposes. These calls can only be accessed by the Practice Management and by requesting a 'Subject Access Request' form. You will then be invited into the practice to listen to the call. If you do not want your call recorded inform the clinician and they will rearrange for you to have a face to face consultation at another suitable time.
You can contact us about a medical or administrative issue by clicking HERE.
PLEASE NOTE THIS FORM IS NOT FOR BOOKING/REQUESTING APPOINTMENTS OR FOR URGENT OR EMERGENCY REQUESTS
This short online form is another way for our patients to access our clinical team for simple administrative or clinical assistance.
Our practice phone lines remain open for anyone with accessibility needs who might find difficulty completing this form.
If you think you need to be seen for an appointment please call the team on the main number, do not use this form as it may not be reviewed for a couple of days.
The submitted forms will only be read during office hours.
The forms must not be used for urgent medical queries and will not be read on the weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) or on bank holidays. Please contact 111 during out of hours or 999 if this is an emergency.
Arriving for your appointment
We have a touch screen computer in the front foyer area which is available for you to automatically check yourself in and therefore not wait at the reception desk. It is very straight forward to use and requires no computer knowledge at all. Please follow the instructions carefully and if you are in any doubt please speak to the receptionist. We ask that patients do not arrive too early for their appointment as we have limited seating.
Cancelling appointment and non-attendance
If you have booked an appointment with a GP, Nurse or Healthcare Professional and you are unable to attend, PLEASE LET US KNOW BY PHONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE on 01872 863221.
Many hundreds of valuable pre-booked appointments are wasted every year. These appointments could, very easily, have been made available for other patients had we known in advance. If patients do not attend on more than three occasions in one twelve month period, we may decide to remove them from the practice list.
If at any stage you are uncomfortable during any type of examination, or wish to stop the examination please tell the examiner immediately.