Appointments

Consultations are by appointment only. Appointments can be made either by telephone or by calling in at the surgery. Please also note: one patient. one appointment. You will normally be offered a 10 minute appointment.

It will help you make the most of this time if you think about what you need to tell the doctor in advance:

• What are your symptoms?
• When did they start?
• Does anything aggravate or help them?
• What are you really worried about?

In normal circumstances there will be free routine appointments within four working days. (There may be a longer wait if a doctor has been on holiday or unwell etc.)  

Urgent Appointments

If you feel that your medical condition needs attention before the next available routine surgery, you may be asked to discuss this with one of the practice nurse team, our nurse practitioner or the emergency Doctor. They will be able to advise you as to the most appropriate course of action e.g. book you an appointment with the emergency doctor or nurse practitioner, book you a routine appointment with your own doctor, advise you on self medication or recommend attendance at A&E etc.

Our nurse practitioner (Sam Farrow) is very experienced in dealing with urgent medical problems. She works closely with the on-call doctor. On being offered an urgent appointment you will only have been allocated a few minutes with the doctor or nurse practitioner to try and deal with your emergency.

Do not use the urgent appointment to bring up other ongoing problems. If you have an urgent problem please try and ring early in the day (before 10.00am) so that we can help you more easily.  

Appointment Times

Please be punctual for your appointment. The doctors will try and keep to your appointment time but please be patient if they are over¬running. Unexpected crises may occur and your doctor occasionally has to leave surgery to attend an emergency.

 It is difficult to deal with multiple problems in just one appointment. If you have several health worries you may need to return at a later date.

If you are waiting more than 30 minutes, feel free to mention this to the receptionist, who will explain the situation and offer a further appointment If you cannot wait.  

Telephone Advice

If you need to speak to a doctor but do not need a consultation please ring before 10.00am.

You will be asked to leave a number where you can be contacted and the doctor or practice staff will try and get back to you after they have seen the message.

Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10am if you require a home visit.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Health Centre.