Our Appointment System

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Our Doctors here at the Partnership have asked our care navigators (receptionists) to ask a number of questions when you contact the partnership to enable you to get to the right person, first time. We call this active signposting.

Arriving Late

If you arrive 10 minutes late, you have missed your appointment.This means that if you are 10 minutes late or more then you are not just late but your appointment slot has been and gone and the next patient is due. Remember the impact of being late is not just on your doctor but other patients as well. You will therefore need to re-book your appointment.

Appointments

• Our regular opening times are 8am until 6:30pm Monday to Friday.
• We do not open on Bank Holidays.

Appointments can be booked in these ways:

• Calling 023 8078 3611 and speaking with our reception care navigators
• Completing an eConsult
• Using The NHS App or Patient Access online services - Only available for selected Nurse appointments
• Speaking to one of our receptionist team face-to-face at the surgery

We offer a range of appointments with doctors, practice nurses and other visiting healthcare professionals and services.

When planning your appointment please remember that the surgery is particularly busy on Mondays and Tuesdays after a bank holiday.

Routine Appointments

Routine appointments give you the opportunity to spend more time discussing your condition and for you to see the doctor of your choice. These are usually for non-urgent or longstanding medical problems; in most cases you will have an option to book up to three weeks in advance, but should plan for a 10 to 15 day lead in for the appointment.

Before you make an appointment to see your GP, consider the alternatives. Your local pharmacist may be able to give you the help you need, so you won't have to spend time waiting for an appointment. Pharmacists are highly trained health professionals, and may offer a wider range of health services than you might think. You can find out more by clicking here.

Same Day Urgent Appointments

If you believe that you need to see a doctor due to the seriousness or severity of your symptoms or illness and you are able to come in to the surgery you can be seen as an urgent same day appointment. You will be given an appointment time to be seen. Normally you will be seen to within 30 minutes of this. Your appointment will normally be with the duty doctor in the surgery. We are not able to offer these appointments with a specific doctor as these are urgent on the day. To help the doctor review who they are seeing, the receptionist will ask if you are able to give a brief description of your problem. In addition if you telephone in the morning you will normally be offered an appointment that morning, if you telephone in the afternoon you will be offered an appointment in the afternoon, to control demand you will not be offered an afternoon urgent appointment if you telephone in the morning and vice versa.

The same day urgent appointments are not suitable for:

• Long term medical conditions
• Non-urgent problems
• Routine fit notes
• Routine results or requests
• Repeat prescriptions

This is not a walk-in service; you still need to phone the surgery as there may still be appointments available to book.

Nurse Appointments

Nurses are able to advise and treat a wide range of problems and common conditions and offer a number of different services. You can expect to have an appointment with a nurse within three to five working days.

Telephone Consultations

If appropriate you may request a telephone consultations with your doctor and will be given an approximate call window. Telephone consultations usually take place between 7:00 to 8:00am, 11:30 to 12:30pm, and 5:30 to 8pm. Please be available to answer your phone during these times. The reception care navigators will ask to confirm your contact telephone number for the Doctor to telephone you.