How to Make and Cancel an Appointment

Care Navigation (Signposting)

Over the coming months you will notice your receptionist begin to ask for a brief outline of your problem when you ring to book an appointment.

This is because we are introducing something called “Care Navigation”. It means we are training receptionists and clerical staff to help them help patients by identifying the most appropriate place for their care.

Through this specialist training, our practice team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate health clinician for your needs first.

Receptionists will never offer clinical advice or triage; this new way of working is about offering you the choice to see more appropriate professionals in the practice team or even somewhere else. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker and means you may not need to see the GP at all.   More Information...

 

Book face-to-face or remote appointments with your GP, nurse or clinician at a time that suits you.

Smarter. Faster. Better.

USE PATIENT SERVICES

 

Problems booking online appointments?

Use the Patient Services Support Centre before you call us.

 

Appointments

For doctors consultations Monday to Friday we have three types of appointment: ‘on the day’, ‘pre-bookable’ and telephone’.

On the day

These appointments are prioritised for those patients with URGENT needs. To book a consultation, telephone reception at 8.30am and you will be offered a 10 minute slot in the morning surgery. It may not always be possible to provide the time and doctor you prefer. Mondays are always very busy so please don’t attend for routine appointments. Please help us out by making your requirements reasonable when a doctor is on holiday. The doctors prefer to see patients in the mornings when all the support services are available, for example blood can only be taken early in the day.

Pre-bookable

We also allot a limited number of pre-bookable appointments which can be booked up to six weeks in advance. However, if your preference has been booked by other patients we can only offer the next available pre-bookable which may be on another day with another doctor. These appointments are intended for patients with transport difficulties who may need to make special arrangements to get here or commuters who may need to go on to work or come home early. These appointments are also available to be booked via our online service. Please note we cannot convert our ‘on the day’ slots to ‘pre-bookables' because it is important we keep a full supply of ‘on the day’ slots.

Telephone Consultations

You may ask for or be offered a telephone consultation where the doctor will telephone to assess you, give advice or arrange to see you.

 

Urgent Need

If a medically urgent situation arises during opening hours always phone the receptionist first if you can before coming to the surgery as the doctor may be out of the building. The receptionist will then be able to contact him if needed.

 

Extended Hours Service

Appointments are available between 07:00 and 08:00 on Monday and Tuesday mornings for those patients who are unable to attend during regular surgery hours. We're here longer for you and the 'Latest News' page gives details about access to evening and weekend appointments.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many ailments and you may be seen more quickly.

 

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

 

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