Appointments
If you need the help of a GP, practice nurse or other health professional that works in our surgery, we are here for you. GP practices are busier than they have ever been, and we want you to know how to get the help you need from us.
In order to provide urgent access we have a duty doctor clinic each morning and afternoon.
To ensure that the duty doctor is only dealing with a safe number of patients each day, we only have a certain number of these appointments available. You should only ask for one of these appointments if your problem is too urgent to wait until the next available pre-bookable appointment and we would advise contacting the practice as early in the day as possible. Please note that only 1 problem can be discussed, and no routine problems will be dealt with during the duty doctor appointment.
We will continue to offer telephone appointments initially as we can usually do two to three telephone consultations in the time it would take to do one face to face appointment. If the clinician feels a face to face appointment is clinically appropriate, you will then be invited to attend the practice at an appropriate time. There are a number of 'routine' face to face appointments available to book but please note these do tend to get booked up quickly. There are also 'routine' telephone calls available for non-urgent concerns and there is currently a 2-3 week wait for these.
During the pandemic, the use of our online system “e-consult” increased. It is a great way to get clinical advice for your condition, however, it is worth remembering that each consultation takes a significant of time to review and there are lots of other ways to get advice. Also, you will not get an instant response to these so if it is urgent, please call the surgery or contact 111.
Making an appointment to discuss minor illnesses, which are often self-limiting (i.e. they tend to get better on their own without a prescription), means that people who really need an appointment struggle to get through. The following are common examples of things which we often find you don't need to speak to a clinician about unless your symptoms are particularly severe, they aren't settling, or you feel really unwell. If you are not sure, please check out the NHS links below before you contact us.
Please also go to www.nhs.uk which is a as a source of trusted health advice about your or your child’s condition. Your local pharmacist is also there for you as an expert in medicines. They can offer advice for certain ailments. They will also know when you need to contact a GP or another more urgent service. Many pharmacies are open in the evening and at weekends, you can find them here.
Remember if the situation is urgent, you can contact NHS 111 by visiting www.111.nhs.uk or by calling 111. They can also support with a mental health crisis if you select option 2.
You do not need to see a GP to refer yourself for some mental health services. Find out more at Steps2Wellbeing. If you are worried about your mental health and any harm you may cause yourself please contact the surgery. More information can be found on our Services page here.
Remember to always dial 999 straight away when it is a real emergency, for example if you think someone is having a heart attack or a stroke.
Thank you for your support.
Patients should be aware that we record all incoming and outgoing telephone calls to and from the practice for training, compliance, fact finding, quality assurance and medicolegal reasons.