Appointments

An appointments system is in operation and we allocate 10 minutes per patient. Some problems may require a little more (or less) time to deal with. If however you think you have a problem that definitely requires more than 10 minutes, please tell the receptionist at the time of booking.

We will try to offer an appointment with the health professional of your choice if at all possible, and at a time to suit you.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel an appointment so that it can be offered to someone else.

Please note that children must be accompanied by a parent/guardian when attending for a consultation. A signed consent form from a parent/guardian is required if a child is to be brought to the surgery by another person e.g. Grandparent, nanny. Immunisations will only be given when accompanied by a parent/guardian

Adolescents under the age of 16 may be seen without being accompanied by an adult provided the medical professional agrees the patient is ‘of sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed’.

One of the Practice Nurses is available, by appointment, at all surgery sessions. When arranging to see the nurse it is helpful to tell the receptionist whether you need a blood pressure check etc. so that appointments for the appropriate day and time can be given to you.

**NEW** EXTENDED HOURS

Please Note: This is only for pre-booked appointments. Patients with urgent medical problems should continue to ring the normal surgery number after 6.30 on Mondays for information about the out of hours service.

Patients with any other queries will be asked to call again during normal opening hours.

The Doctors and two Practice Nurses will be providing a new Extended Hours service from May 2009 for pre-booked appointments on Monday evenings from 6.30 to 7.30pm.

It is envisaged that this service will be used by patients wishing to make routine appointments but who are unable to come during the normal surgery consulting hours e.g.  patients who commute to work in London.

A mobile phone number will be given at the time of booking. Please note that this number will only be in service from 6.30 to 8.00 on Monday evenings and is provided ONLY  for the purpose of cancelling an extended hours appointment after 6.30pm.

TRAINING - Events organised by the NHS/Care Trust

None planned at present

Blood test samples are now taken by the Phlebotomist
by appointment on:

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8.45am -11.00am.

Appointments before 9.00am are reserved for patients requiring fasting blood tests.

Please note that the Phlebotomist is not a nurse and can only take blood samples as requested by your GP or another health professional eg. consultant or nurse.

The Phlebotomy service is provided by the Care Trust.

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Telephone Queries for Results etc.

Please telephone between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm for results of recent tests. These can normally only be given to the patient and NOT to relatives, except in the case of children.

Test results can take several days to come back. The phlebotomist or health professional should advise you when to ring for the particular test or tests you have had.

The receptionist may only be able to state for example that the result is normal, or that you will need to discuss the results with or make an appointment to see the nurse or doctor. Please do not expect the receptionist to have any other information regarding your test.

The doctors are usually available between 12.15 and 12.45 (after morning surgery and before home visits) should you need to talk to them on the telephone.

The receptionists have been asked not to disturb consultations with non-urgent telephone calls.

Urgent Appointments

If the patient’s health problem is of an urgent nature, an appointment will be given with a health professional the same day. Otherwise appointments are normally available with a doctor within 48 hours or a nurse within 24 hours (excluding week-ends and Bank Holidays) unless the patient requests an appointment at an alternative time.  

Requests for home visits should wherever possible be made before 11.00 am. Please give the receptionists brief details of the problem to help the doctor to decide how urgently you need to be seen.

If you have problems with getting to the surgery, this is not sufficient reason to request a home visit. The doctor may telephone you later in the morning to discuss this with you.

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 Surgery.