Appointments

For an appointment please call 01702 202353.

Availability

Appointments are available every week day between 09:00 and 18:30. The surgery offers a mixture of pre-bookable, same day and emergency appointments. 

Making an Appointment

When you contact us to make an appointment, the doctors have instructed our reception team to ask you if you can tell us what the appointment is for. This information is to help you to get the right appointment with the right clinician. If you do not wish to provide this information, the receptionists will respect your decision.

Routine Appointments

Routine appointments with a doctor can be pre-booked up to 4 weeks in advance. We recommend you try and plan ahead to ensure you get an appointment with your first choice of doctor. The practice believes in continuity of care, and we encourage you to see the same doctor for your particular medical condition on each occasion. There will be times, however, when your first choice of doctor is not available, due to training or leave.

Urgent Appointments

If you have a medical problem which you feel needs to be dealt with urgently, for example an acute infection or severe pain, please telephone the practice and advise the receptionist that you would like to see a doctor urgently. If we cannot offer you a suitable appointment, the receptionist will take your details and we will return your telephone call as soon as possible. The clinician will discuss your symptoms by telephone and if he or she agrees that you do need to be seen urgently, you will be offered an appointment to be seen the same day. Alternatively, you may be given telephone advice, advised to attend your local pharmacy, offered a routine appointment, or advised to attend the nearest Accident and Emergency Department.

Please note that it is ultimately the clinician's decision whether you are given a same day appointment or not. Please do not come to the practice initially if you have an urgent medical problem, as we do not offer a walk-in service, and it may be that your problem can be dealt with over the telephone. Many infections, particularly the flu and flu-like illnesses, are due to viruses, which cannot be cured by doctors. Attending the practice with this type of illness increases the risk of infection to other vulnerable patients who may be attending the practice.

If you have a life-threatening emergency, please call for an emergency ambulance by dialing 999.

Extended Hours

Nurse/Phlebotomy appointments available from 07:00-08:00 on Monday and Wednesday. These appointments are pre-booked.

Appointment Lengths

Appointment lengths vary depending on the clinician you are seeing. Most GP appointments are 10-minute appointments- one appointment one problem. If you have a number of problems to discuss, you may be asked to come back for a further appointment at a different time or book a double appointment.

Your appointment is booked for you only, so please do not expect the doctor to deal with the problem of a relative or a child in addition during your appointment. Please make a separate appointment for your child if they need to see a doctor as well as yourself.

Telephone Consultations

If you are uncertain if you need to see a doctor face to face, need medical advice by telephone, have a query about a referral, or want to find out the results of tests, we encourage you to contact the practice by telephone first rather than book a doctor's appointment.

Please advise the receptionist of your query as they may be able to help you. If you do need to speak with a doctor then the receptionist will book a telephone consultation for you, and this may be the same day, or again can be booked in advance.

If you ask to speak to a particular doctor, regarding an on-going problem, your returned call may take a little longer depending on the doctor's scheduled working times. If your usual doctor is on leave, then they will have assigned a deputy who will try and help you in their absence.

We also offer telephone appointments and you can book a telephone consultation with a doctor. The doctor will ring you at an agreed time on the telephone number you have given. If you are only available on a mobile phone, you will be expected to ring the practice at the agreed time. 

Chaperones

We recognise that intimate examinations by health care professionals can be distressing or embarrassing for patients. Wherever possible, you will be offered the security of having a chaperone present. If you would prefer to see only a doctor of a specific gender to discuss your medical problem, then again please advise the receptionist of this when booking your appointment.

Late Arrivals

If you are late for your appointment, you may be asked to re-book your appointment for another day and time. As a general rule if you are more than 15 minutes late for your appointment you may be asked to re-book.

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.