Make an appointment
Appointments
Appointments are made by ringing the surgery from 8.00am for an appointment. We have introduced a system which means that you are not able to pre-book an appointment any further away than 2 weeks, apart from exceptional circumstances but this ensures that everybody who needs an appointment is seen, even if you are not able to see the doctor of your choice.
Nurse Triage
Requests for urgent appointments are triaged by our experienced nursing staff so that you see the most appropriate healthcare professional for your problem. Our Practice Nurses are fully trained in this area of work.
Telephone Consultations
If you feel that your problem or enquiry could be dealt with over the phone rather than face to face, then you need to book a telephone consultation. These are 5 minutes at the end of the surgery and you will be given a time when the doctor will phone you. Your doctor may arrange a telephone consultation for your follow-up when you are seen in surgery, if that is most appropriate.
Phone in Time
If you need to speak to your doctor they are usually available after morning surgery around 11.30 am to 12 noon. If your doctor is busy the receptionist will take your number and the doctor will ring you back. Please note that the doctor can only deal with a certain number of calls on any one day due to other commitments so on occasions your call may be deferred to the next day.
Double Appointments
Please remember that a routine appointment with the doctor is only 10 minutes long. If you know that your problem is complicated or you have more than one problem to discuss, then please ask for a double appointment, i.e. 20 minutes.
Duty Day Appointments
When you are allocated a duty day appointment it usually means that you will have spoken to our Triage Nurse and she feels you warrant an appointment on that day. These appointments are for URGENT problems and are only 7 minutes long. The doctor will only be able to deal with the urgent problem and not any of your ongoing problems. In particular we cannot issue routine prescriptions in an emergency appointment.
Cancellations
We regard the relationship between the Doctor and Patient as important. We try to inform you if for any reason there is a change to your appointment. Similarly if you cannot keep your appointment please ring and cancel with as much notice as possible. This frees up the appointment to be used by someone else and keeps our waiting times for appointments to a minimum for everyone.
If you are late for your appointment for any reason then we regret that there may be occasions when you cannot be seen and you will be asked to make another appointment.
Please do not be offended if you are asked to come back to discuss other problems at another time, as the doctor has an obligation to other patients to try and run on time.
Extended Hours Surgeries
We are able to offer a number of appointments outside normal working hours, i.e. from 7.30 am to 8.00 am and 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm. Please check availability with Reception and bear in mind that you may not be able to see your usual doctor during the evening or early morning appointments.
