Urgent appointments
If you feel that you require to see or speak with a Clinician urgently ie that day, you should contact the practice between 8am to 11am and between 2pm to 5:15pm. The reception staff will ask about the nature of the problem and pass this on to the urgent care team. You will then receive a callback or text message and will be given advice or allocated an appointment as appropriate.
Our Urgent Care Team is made up of Advanced Nurse Practitioners and Urgent Care Sisters who are senior healthcare professionals with additional training, qualifications and experience allowing them to undertake tasks once performed by doctors. They are experienced at taking a patient history, assessing symptoms, making a diagnosis and instigating treatment or referrals as required. There is a daily duty doctor who works alongside the urgent care team.
Routine appointments
- Complete an eConsult between 8am to 3pm Monday to Friday to request an appointment or for medical advice.
- If you are unable to complete an eConsult please, phone us Monday to Friday, 8am to 3pm. The phone lines are closed from 1pm to 2pm.
- If you are unable to complete an eConsult or struggle using a telephone, please visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist.
When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.
We will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable health professional to help you.
Nurse appointments
Our nursing team appointments are released 2 weeks in advance and bookable by calling the practice Monday-Friday 8am to 1pm and 2pm to 6:30pm.
Why use eConsult?
Picture this: You need a new prescription, so you ring the surgery to schedule a doctor's appointment. Meanwhile, your neighbour contacts the surgery for an insurance form completion and requests a GP appointment as well. Now, imagine this happening hundreds of times every day, with each patient wanting to see a GP. Unfortunately, there's a nationwide shortage of GPs, exacerbating the issue.
To address this, the government has allocated funds for additional healthcare roles such as pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, care coordinators, and social prescribers, in addition to traditional nurse practitioners, all available at our surgery.
However, the challenge arises when patients aren't familiar with these roles and don't know whom to ask. While some surgeries leave it to the receptionists to decide, this approach has its pitfalls as they lack clinical training to assess medical histories and interpret problems.
Enter eConsult, our solution to this dilemma. You describe your concern, and we match you with the appropriate clinician, ensuring a prompt resolution. This efficient matching process, combined with utilising our diverse staff, enables us to handle your eConsult either the same day or the next day. Moreover, the comprehensive questions in the eConsult ensure a thorough understanding of your issue, optimising our triage process.
Behind the scenes, we've developed a specialised system where every eConsult is reviewed and assigned to the appropriate Clinician or administrator for non-medical inquiries. Subsequently, you'll receive a callback, text, email, or face-to-face appointment as necessary.
This system streamlines your experience. For instance, if you only require a blood test for your thyroid, we can swiftly arrange it or if a clinical assessment is deemed necessary after reviewing your eConsult, we'll promptly schedule a face-to-face appointment.
Recognising that not everyone can access or use eConsult, our reception staff are trained to assist over the phone, ensuring no one is left without support.
Your appointment
We may then offer you a consultation.
- Face-to-face at the surgery
- By phone
- By text or email
- On a video call
Cancelling or changing an appointment
If you cannot make your appointment let us know as soon as you can so another patient can book the appointment time. You can cancel or change your appointment:
- Use the NHS App to cancel an appointment.
- Phone us Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 6.30pm
- Visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist. We are open Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 6.30pm
- If you have provided us with a mobile number, you will be sent a text message 24 hours before your appointment, on the text you are given the option to cancel your appointment if no longer needed.
If you need help when we are closed
- Use NHS 111 online (111.nhs.uk) or call 111. 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.
- If it’s a life-threatening emergency call 999.
If you need help with your appointment
Please tell us:
- If there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond.
- If you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email.
- If you need an interpreter
- If you have any other access or communication needs.