Booking an appointment
Currently, most of our appointments with a doctor or practitioner are available only on the day from 8am. However, from the 21st January 2008, our appointment system will change. Instead of calling at 8am on the day you would like to be seen, you will now need to call the (working) day before from 1.30pm. Therefore, to make an appointment with a doctor or practitioner, please call in the afternoon from 1.30pm for the following working day and not at 8am.
We will still, of course, have a small number of appointments that can be booked up to one week in advance. We will also have an urgent surgery that canbe booked on the day should you need to be seen urgently.
We understand that for some people,attending an appointment between 8am and 6pm can be difficult. Therefore, from the 21st January 2007, we will be offering one early morning surgery on Wednesday starting at7am and one evening surgery on Thursday up to 7pm each week designed for patients who are working, or who find it difficult getting to the practice during the day.
The practice will now be offering an increased number of telephone consultations. If you feel that a telephone appointment would be sufficient to discuss your problem or issue, simply call the practice and ask for a telephone appointment. One of our doctors or practitioners will then call you back at home, work or on your mobile at an agreed time.
You will now be able to email a doctor or practitioner for general advice instead of having to make an appointment. We will then endeavour to reply to you within 48 hours with a full response. Email us by clicking on the `ONLINE CONSULTATION` link. Please note, we can only deal with general advice and queries. We cannot provide you with information from your medical records. All all queries must be for non-urgent items only.
Missed Appointments
The practice currently experiences over 125 missed appointments each and every month. Due to the number of patients failing to attend for their appointment, this may mean that you may not be able to see a clinician on the day that you wish to. In an attempt to try and resolve this, the practice has developed the following policy:
If a patient fails to attend 2 appointments within a twelve month period without informing the practice, the practice will write to the patient asking if there are any specific problems preventing the patient from letting the practice know why they were unable to attend.
If a patient fails to attend for a 3rd appointment within a twelve month period, the patient may be removed from the practice list and have to find an alternative GP practice.