You are able to book an appointment in the following ways:

• At the main surgery in person
• By telephoning 0844 477 3612

We work as a team at the surgery, offering the first available appointment with the most appropriate clinical professional (for the problem you are presenting with at the time you request the appointment). This may not always be a Doctor. Genuine emergencies and patients who need immediately necessary treatment will always be seen on the same day.

Making an appointment with another clinical professional such as a Health Care Assistant, or Nurse does not mean you are unable to see, or are being prevented from seeing a Doctor. If the problem or request you are presenting with needs GP investigation or input, this will be available.

Patients are registered with the practice and assigned to a GP within the practice. Whenever possible if your care requires you see a Doctor, we will try to make sure that you see the Doctor you are assigned to ensure continuity of care. 

Appointments for Test Results

You do not normally need to make an appointment to discuss test results unless you have been explicitly told by your Doctor to do so. 

Need to be Seen on the Same Day

For a majority of patients requesting to be seen the same day we operate a Duty Doctor triage system.

If you are requesting to be seen the same day and do not have a pre-booked appointment we strongly recommend you call the surgery first on 0844 477 3612 after 8.30am and you will be added to the Duty Doctors list.

It helps us to route your call to the most appropriate person if you can tell the person taking the call some brief details of the problem you are calling about today. All staff in the surgery whether administrative or clinical are bound by confidentiality. However, if you don't feel comfortable discussing this with the person taking your call, you may say it is personal, and we will put your request in the queue for a call back where you can discuss directly with the Duty Doctor.

The Duty Doctor will normally return your call within an hour, and often more quickly. During busy times such as Monday mornings, just before/after public holidays, or in rare cases where we have an emergency the wait for a call back may be longer, we try to keep any delay to a minimum.

You will be called back on a telephone number of your choice, and the problem you are presenting with assessed by the Duty Doctor. Wherever possible we request that we can speak to the patient requesting the appointment, as we cannot discuss medical or personal details specific to the patient with anyone other than the patient themselves, unless we have their prior written consent.  

There are a number of outcomes from this:

• Advice over the phone meaning you don't need to come into the surgery
• A prescription issued that you can collect later in the day (although please note we don't take repeat prescription requests over the telephone)
• Advice to contact A&E/999
• A Nurse appointment
• A Doctors appointment
• A Health Care Assistant appointment

Please note that if the outcome of your telephone triage assessment is that you are offered a Doctor, Nurse, or Health Care Assistant appointment, it may be on the day, within a few days, or a routine appointment which may be longer depending on the outcome of your telephone assessment.

If you need to be seen the same day by a Doctor, you will see the Emergency Doctor. This is the Doctor that sees patients who need to be seen the same day, this may not be your regular assigned Doctor, and is not necessarily the same Doctor each day, or each session.

If you are requesting, and are offered an appointment on the same day, you will be offered the first available appointment in the morning or afternoon session that is available that day. This is to allow us to see as many patients as practically possible.  

Please advise of unwanted appointments by telephoning 0844 4773612.