Appointments

As from 13th February 2023, we have changed our Appointment System. 

The New online consultation service offers a secure, simple, and flexible way for our patients and carers to contact us using digital platforms, the  PATCHS . It will not replace face-to-face appointments, it is simply a signposting tool, to ensure our phone lines are kept as accessible as possible for our most vulnerable and poorly patients.  Every request to see or speak to a GP, thus, will need to be requested via our digital platform PATCHS. 

The Practice will aim to respond to your request within two working days as a maximum. If you submit a request over the weekend, please note it will not be processed until the surgery re-opens on Monday with a response time within two working days from then at the latest (Wednesday 6 pm). 

Our goal is to increase efficiency, convenience and continuity when interacting with our services and consulting with our GPs.

Emergencies Outside of Surgery Hours: Please call 111 if you require urgent medical attention. IF YOU HAVE LIFE-THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY CALL 999

Our Appointment System

• We will continue to offer book on the day appointments for those patients who have a clinically urgent problem only.
• We will offer some appointments within one -two working days (Mon-Fri), however, these are not unlimited and will be on a first come first served basis.
• If you contact us and we do not have any appointments left for the day, but you think you need to be seen urgently, then the receptionist will take your contact number and the Duty Doctor will call you back. We will no longer have a GP Extra clinic where you can sit and wait.
• If you wish to see a named GP, at a certain time of the day, then you can pre-book an appointment, however, we must advise you that there may be a wait for this.
• We will continue to offer over 400 GP appointments per week.
•  On a Monday, Tuesday and Friday, we will offer 70 appointments within 48 hours. We will offer less than this on a Wednesday and Thursday because we have less GP’s in.
• There will less appointments available when a GP is on holiday, or indeed are ill themselves. In this instance, we will offer more book on the day appointments in order that the patients who have a clinically urgent problem can be seen.

You can help us make this new appointment system work by:

• Not insisting on a same day appointment if your problem is not clinically urgent.
• Cancelling your appointment if it is no longer needed or wanted. Since 1 April 2014, over 1000 appointments have been missed with either a GP or Nurse. This is one of the main reasons why we have a shortage of appointments.

We would like to thank you for your patience with this transformation process and hope we can work together to make the appointment system work. Your comments will be greatly appreciated. We feel that we have tried to accommodate all patients by offering a variety of pre-bookable and book on the day appointments and if this does not work, we may have to move to a book on the day system only.

It is Practice Policy that children are brought to the surgery by an adult, enabling them to be seen promptly.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many conditions and you may be seen more quickly.

Telephone Advice

Both nurses and doctors are available daily to speak to patients on the telephone.  Please arrange this with Reception. Please do not ring between 12:30pm and 1:30pm when we are closed unless you have an urgent problem which can’t wait until after 1:30pm.

Chaperones

If you feel you would like a chaperone present during your consultation please inform Reception when you arrive for your appointment or your doctor/nurse during your consultation who will be happy to arrange this for you. Click here to view our Chaperone Policy.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to offer that appointment to someone else.