Appointments

You can book an appointment in person at the surgery or by telephone. We offer several ways of booking appointments

Advance appointments

We have a number of appointments available up to 3 weeks in advance. If you require a routine or follow-up appointment for an ongoing problem, or for a review, it is advisable to book in advance.

'On the day' appointments

The remainder of appointments are available on the day you wish to be seen and are available to book from 8.15am. As there is a high demand for these appointments, it is advisable to contact the surgery as early as possible. All appointments for the doctors on Mondays are available to book 'on the day'.

Telephone Consultations

It may be more convenient for you to speak to a doctor or nurse rather than visiting the surgery. If so, please ask for a telephone appointment.

Nurse Practitioner

You can request an appointment with our Nurse Practitioner, Paula Dumolo. Paula can help with:

• Sore throats/coughs/colds/'flu like illness
• Allergies/hay fever/conjunctivitis
• Cystitis/urinary tract infections
• Musculoskeletal pain/sprains
• Skin problems – rashes/impetigo
• Emergency contraception

This is not a complete list – please ask if you are unsure.

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General Appointment Information

The standard appointment time for the doctors is 10 minutes and is for one person only, but if you think you may need extra time with the doctor please tell the receptionist when booking your appointment. Appointments with our GP Registrar or Junior Doctor may take 20-30 minutes.

We are a group practice and you may see any of the doctors, not just the one you are registered with. Wherever possible we will try to offer an appointment with the doctor of your choice, however details of your medical record are available to all doctors, so we would ask for your co-operation in seeing any of our doctors.

Occasionally we may get behind with our appointments, usually because someone has needed more time than was booked. Please be patient and understanding if this is the case. If you are unable to keep your appointment, please let us know with as much notice as possible, so we can offer this appointment to someone else.

Home Visits

If you are unable to get to the surgery and request a home visit, please try to phone before 10.30am. Our staff may ask if the patient can come to the surgery and will also ask the reason for the visit.

Before the doctor visits, they may telephone you to clarify the situation. Most visits are done after the end of our morning surgery, after 12.30pm.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Health Centre.

Since our telephones are very busy in the early morning, please telephone or call into the surgery after 10am for results of any tests.

Note that the practice has a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection and we will only release test results to the person to whom they relate unless that person has given prior permission for the release of this data or they are not capable of understanding the results.

When you take your test you will be told how long it will be before the results are returned to the practice.

It is your responsibility to check your results and to make an appointment to discuss them with your doctor if your are advised to do so.

PATIENTS WITH PARTICULAR NEEDS

The surgery has access and facilities for disabled patients. We also have disabled parking spaces which are reserved for patients displaying a disabled sticker/badge.

For patients with hearing problems we have a loop induction kit – please inform the receptionist if you require this service.