Appointments

Consultation is by appointment only, except in an emergency. Appointments can be made by telephoning (01283) 563451 or by a personal call at reception. If your preferred doctor has no free appointments the receptionist will offer you an appointment with another doctor. If you find you are unable to keep your appointment, please let us know, so that another patient can use your appointment. Please note that an appointment is for one person only.

Evening Surgeries

We offer evening appointments one night a week.  Please ask a member of the reception team for further details.  Please note that this service is only for patients with appointments booked in advance.  We regret that we will not be able to answer the telephone or give out repeat prescriptions on these evenings.  For security reasons, access to the building is via intercom at the car park entrance only.

From October 2011 there will be a Practice Nurse evening surgery running every other week.  Depending on the nurse, the following types of appointments can be booked via reception in the  evening clinic:

Asthma Checks
Diabetic Checks
NHS Health Checks
ECG's
Ear Syringing
Smears
Spirometry
Blood Pressure Checks
Minor Dressings
Suture Removal

Wasted Appointments Due to Non-Attendance

Despite the introduction of text reminders in January 2011, a large number of appointments are still not being kept - last month (September) 112 doctor and nurse appointments were not kept equating to 20 hours of clinical time.  In August there were 152 wasted appointments, 13 more than August last year equating to 23.5 hours of clinical time! 

A significant proportion of these wasted appointments were booked on the day before or the same day of the appointment that was not kept! 

This amount of wasted appointments means that we are sometimes unable to offer appointments to those patients that really need them. 

It would help us greatly if you would ring and cancel your booked appointment in advance, in order that it may be re-used. 

For those patients who persistently miss their appointments, we may consider removal from the practice list.

Number of appointments not kept by patients in:

January 2010: 143                    January 2011: 122
February 2010: 157                   February 2011: 98  (17 hours)
March 2010: 170                       March 2011: 115  (19 hours)
April 2010: 123                         April 2011: 100 (16 hours)
May 2010: 149                         May 2011: 105 (18.5 hours)
June 2010: 163                         June 2011: 115 (19.5 hours)
July 2010: 133                          July 2011: 101 (18 hours)
August 2010: 139                     August 2011: 152 (23.5 hours)                     
September 2010: 134               September 2011: 112 (20 hours)
October 2010: 121
November 2010: 161
December 2010: 133

Home Visits

If you require a home visit, please telephone the surgery before 10.30 a.m. on (01283) 563451 and give the receptionist some indication of the problem so that the doctor will know how urgent the visit is. To help you decide if a home visit may be appropriate please follow these guidelines:

GP visit recommended: When patient is terminally ill or truly housebound, i.e. unable to get to the shops.

Call 999: For suspected heart attack, sudden onset of chest pain, loss of consciousness or if having a fit for the first time.

GP visit is not usual: Common childhood complaints, fevers, cold, cough, earache, headache, diarrhoea/vomiting and most cases of abdominal pain. These patients are usually well enough to travel to the surgery. It is not harmful to take a child with fever outside. Adults with common problems, such as cough, sore throat, influenza, general malaise, back pain and abdominal pain are also readily transportable to the doctor's surgery.

Transport arrangements are the responsibility of the patients or their carers.