Appointments
Appointments can be made by phoning or calling into the
surgery during opening hours.
We offer "same day" appointments with the doctor, since
we do not believe that you should have to wait for days to be seen for medical advice. If we
are busy, we will offer you the chance to speak to the duty doctor who will make
arrangements for you to be seen as appropriate. (We do find that many problems can
be sorted by telephone.)
We will endeavour to find you an appointment with the doctor
or nurse of your choice at a time that is mutually convenience. However, depending
on availability and demand, this may not always be possible. It is preferable to
see the same doctor or nurse during the same episode of illness.
When you attend for your appointment, please inform reception as soon as you arrive,
otherwise you may be overlooked.
Please do arrive in good time. One common cause of surgeries running late is the
late arrival of patients. Patients arriving late may be seen, but this will be at
the discretion of the doctor or nurse and you may have to wait until there is a
gap in surgery so as not to inconvenience other patients.
Appointments are valuable and patients failing to attend are a big problem throughout
the NHS, increasing waiting times for everyone. If you are unable to attend an appointment,
please phone the surgery as soon as possible, so that your appointment can be given
to someone else. Patients repeatedly failing to attend appointments without informing
us in advance may be asked to find an alternative doctor.
Helping us to give the best possible service.
We would ask that you phone as early in the day as possible to make an appointment.
This will give you the widest choice of appointments. Certainly, home visit requests
should be phoned in by 10:30am.
We realise that the phone lines may be busy first thing in the morning, but please do persevere. Note that after 4pm, only
emergencies will be dealt with the same day. This is for patient safety,
allowing the doctor on call to deal with urgent problems
Pre-bookable telephone appointments are available with most doctors during the course
of the week. If you have a simple query that will take a maximum of 5 minutes, please
ask the receptionist for a telephone appointment. Same day telephone appointments
are also available, though a specific time slot cannot normally be given.
What if circumstances mean that I cannot ring for an appointment on the day?
We also offer pre-bookable appointments up to 1 week in advance.