Appointments

The practice offers in person, telephone and video appointments via NHS Near Me.

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We offer appointments with a doctor or nurse within 48 hours of request. We also offer appointments pre-bookable up to one month in advance. Routine appointments are available every morning and afternoon.

Medical emergency appointments are available every day. If you need an urgent appointment you will be seen as soon as possible on that day. Please help the receptionists by telling them whether or not your problem is urgent.

The surgery is open for telephone calls and personal callers from 08.30 - 18:00 Monday to Friday but is closed, aside for any emergencies, between 13:00 - 14:00 on a Friday.

Appointment slots are for 10 minutes and for one person only. Please let us know if you require longer.

Please note all of our doctors and staff work part-time so may not be available every day. We work as a team, and you are welcome to consult any one of the team. However, we recommend that where possible, the same clinician sees you through the same illness episode.

Information for patients - booking an appointment

We want to improve access to appointments and services in the wider community. To help with this our reception staff will be asking you a little more information when booking an appointment. Reception will now ask you, "To help you make the correct appointment, I need to know a little more about why you need the appointment".

There are two main reasons for this:

• It may be more appropriate to see someone else in the practice other than the GP - such as our Nurse, our Healthcare Assistant Rona or our Community Link Worker.
• There are other services that can now be accessed without having to see your GP first, for example, Pharmacy First, Physio, Treatment Room, Family Planning, Money and Benefits Advisor, Link Worker, Optician, Podiatry.

All information asked for at reception will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

We very much hope that this system will make best use of the services available, both in the practice and in the wider community. And when you do need a GP appointment we hope this will mean there will be better availability.

Patient Access - Only doctor appointments are available online. Each patient can only make a maximum of 2 appointments. Please ensure you cancel your appointment online or by phoning the surgery if you no longer require it. * This service to book online is suspended at the current time *

Interpreters

We can arrange interpreter services for patients who do not speak English. Please let us know if you need this service when booking your appointment. 

Telephone Appointments

In addition we offer telephone appointments, where you will be given a time that you can speak to the doctor or nurse on the phone

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. Persistent non-attenders who do not cancel their appointments may receive a warning letter from the practice or be removed from our practice list.

Extended Hours

The practice will do an early surgery on a Thursday (this may change over holiday periods), between 07.30 - 08.15am. These appointments are hoped to be used by patients who are unable to attend during normal session times.

Video recording 

As part of their training, clinicians working in this practice might make video recordings of their consultations with patients to help them improve their consultation skills as well as their ability to talk to patients. The recording will only be used for teaching and training purposes, usually within the practice building between trainer and registrar, although sometimes teaching sessions may be held outside the practice in a group setting where the recording may be viewed by other trainers and registrars. 
Your consent will always be requested by the receptionist before your consultation is recorded. You will need to sign that consent form again afterwards to say that you are still happy. You can also withdraw your consent at any time following this, either verbally or in writing. The recording will focus on the communication between the doctor and patient and will not record examinations where your body clothing needs to be removed. 
If you would rather that your consultation is not recorded, please tell the receptionist. This is entirely your choice and will not affect your health care in any way. 
Please also refer to our practice privacy notice which tells you how we manage your personal information when you make contact with us or use one of our services.