Appointments

How to get the best out of our appointment system

You’ll find lots of very useful information in our February 2024 News letter which can be found here

Urgent appointments

To request an urgent appointment for today or tomorrow (Monday to Friday):

• phone us on 01253 204690, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm
• visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm

What should you do if you are ill and need an appointment with the doctor quickly?

If you need to see your doctor urgently please telephone the surgery as soon after 8.00am as possible. The earlier in the day the better so we have more time to liaise with our Community and Hospital Colleagues if this is necessary.

Be up front about why you need the appointment. This will help our staff to triage your appointment appropriately, and most of the time, will be all you need to do.

Detailed information can be found here.

Routine appointments

To request a routine appointment in the next 7 days:

• use our appointment request form, Monday to Friday 7am to 4pm. We will respond within 4 hours during opening times
• phone us on 01253 204690, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm
• visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm
• use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App) to book a screening test or vaccination

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

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.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

To cancel your appointment:

• use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)
• using the GP online system – Patient Access
• phone us on 01253 204690, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm and follow the menu instructions, you won’t need to queue to speak to a receptionist as this is an automated service.

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

Doctors can see several patients in surgery in the time it takes to see one patient at home. For this reason please only request home visits if you are too ill to come to the Surgery.  We will continue to visit patients at home where their medical condition prevents them from visiting the surgery. If you need the Doctor to visit you at home please telephone 01253 204690  BEFORE 10.00am and give the Receptionist as much information as possible. This helps the Doctor to plan his visits so that the most urgent calls are made first. The doctor may telephone you to assess the urgency of your request, they may ask a community nurse to call and assess you, you may also be asked to attend the surgery.

Safe working

BMA have recommended a safe level of patient contacts per day in order for a GP to deliver safe care is not more than 25 contacts per day. ‘At Your Service’, published by the Policy Exchange and forwarded by Sajid Javid, states that 28 patient contacts per day is safe.

Present contacts per day by GPs in England are significantly in excess of this. “At Your Service” highlights that GPs are seeing on average 37 or more patients per day. In order to move towards safe working for our GP’s and ACP’s, our Care Navigators will direct any excess demand beyond safe levels to NHS 111, extended access hubs, or other providers.

This means that at the point we have reached capacity and all our GP/ACP appointments are fully booked for that day our care navigators will direct you to an alternate service. This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but in order to comply with direction from NHSE and to ensure we provide a safe level of care.