Our Appointment System
We endeavour to provide all our patients with an appointment to have most appropriate contact with the most appropriate clinician (GP or a Clinical Practitioner or other newly established additional roles in General Practice such as a First Contact Physiotherapist, a Clinical Pharmacist, First contact Mental Health Practitioner, Physician Associate, Paramedic) within a 2 week period.
In most situations, all above practitioners are skilled to be able to offer initial assessments and either seek advice from the GP if needed or organise for a second opinion by a GP.
Our Care Navigation Programme provides tailored training for your staff to signpost people to local community resources, empowering them to manage their personal needs and reducing their reliance on GPs. The three main aims of the programme are to:
- Reduce unnecessary GP appointments
- Increase patient wellbeing
- Maximise resources already in the system
Care Navigation is a tried and tested model of care that improves access to primary care services for patients and reduces GP pressures all in one. It allows front line staff to provide patients with more information about local health and wellbeing services, both within and outside of primary care, in a safe, effective way.
Watch this video: Focus on Receptionists and Care Navigators
Making An Appointment
Appointments can be made by phone or in person at the reception desk or online. You can speak or see the clinician of your choice but on occasions when it is not possible, another clinician will always be available for consultations.
Please remember that our GP appointment times are ONLY 10 minutes long. Therefore, if you have a long list of problems it may not be possible to deal with all of them in one consultation. If you have more than one problem to discuss with the doctor, please make a double appointment.
Same day / within a 48 hr period appointments
These appointments are released daily to be booked at 08:00 every day on a “Acute Needs” basis. The reception team will need some details from you to book you into an appointment at the shortest length of time.
All patients are advised to fill the AccuRx TRIAGE Questionnaire that is sent when you are booked in for a callback without fail. This will help our clinicians to prioritise caseload and also enable them to still advise you if you have been unable to answer their calls.
Always think before requesting an urgent appointment and ask yourself, “does my problem need to be seen today or do I want it to be seen today?” Someone else may be in greater need of the appointment. If in doubt ask to speak to a doctor or a practitioner.
Non-urgent advice: Cancel an Appointment
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.
– Call the practice to cancel your appointment:
01429 838217– Use SystmOnline to cancel an appointment online.
– Or complete our online form
Chaperones
IF YOU WOULD LIKE A CHAPERONE PRESENT DURING YOUR CONSULTATION,
THEN PLEASE ADVISE THE RECEPTIONIST WHEN BOOKING YOUR APPOINTMENT OR WHEN CHECKING IN.
You will automatically be offered a chaperone for any intimate examination required as part of your assessment. All our admin team are trained and DBS checked to be chaperones.
Home Visits
Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 11:00 am.
You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP or other appropriate clinician from the practice will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls. We do not routinely offer home visits to children under the age of 16.
You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.
Late For Your Appointment
Please attend your appointment on time, if you are late you may not be seen. If you are not seen you will not be able to rearrange your appointment until the next working day-except in the event of an medical emergency that requires immediate attention.
Text Reminder Service
We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.
To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.
Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.
SMS / Text Message Consent
On The Record Communication Card
RNID has produced a communication card which patients’ can download and print, fill in, and hand to the GP receptionist, so that the GP surgery meets their needs as required under the NHS Accessible Information Standard.