Appointments

Appointments can be made in person or by telephone. We operate a 4-week booking system with the doctors to help prevent long waiting times.

GP Appointments

• Patients are now registered with the Practice rather than individual doctors.
• There may be a longer wait for an appointment if a specific GP is requested.
• Appointment slots are 10 minutes long
• If you feel you may need more time please ask for a double appointment.
• There should only be one patient per appointment.
• Please ensure that you arrive for your appointment on time.
• Late arrival may mean that you will be asked to re-book.

Nursing Team Appointments

• Appointments with the Practice Nurses and Healthcare Assistants can be made at any time in advance.
• As the Nurse Practitioners deal with urgent problems their appointments are usually only booked on the day itself.

Please do not walk in without an appointment, as we do not have the resources of a Walk-in Centre. 

Holidays, sickness or study leave will inevitably place extra strain on our appointments system. Nonetheless, we try hard to give you convenient appointments.

Our Practice has a very large list size of 14,400 patients. We need your co-operation and understanding for things to run smoothly.

Urgent Appointments

Please ring before 10 am for emergency appointments on the day

• We run daily 'emergency' clinics.
• These operate in the mornings and are a joint Doctor/ Nurse Practitioner service.
• Nurse Practitioners are qualified to offer help and treatment to patients whose conditions fall within their area of practice.
• All Nurse Practitioners are Independent Nurse Prescribers which means they are able to sign their own prescriptions.

By seeing patients with less complex problems the Nurse Practitioners are:

• promoting better access to the doctors' appointments
• allowing the doctors more time to care for patients with more complicated and serious conditions.
• able to give advice to patients over the phone if all that is required is reassurance, and perhaps self-medication, which again may save an unnecessary visit to the doctor.

Telephone the Surgery between 8:00 am and 10:00 am and, if the Nurse Practitioner thinks it appropriate, an urgent appointment will be given for the same day. Abuse of this facility will lead to considerable inconvenience to other patients.

You will be given a slot to attend the clinic, e.g. between 9:00 am and 10:00 am. This is not an appointment time, but you should normally be seen within this timeframe.

Please do not walk in without an appointment, as we do not have the resources of a Walk-in Centre.

Do I Need To See A Doctor?

You may need to see a health professional but there are several options within the Surgery to access treatment of problems or conditions as well. Your problem may be dealt with more appropriately and more quickly by a member of our clinical team other than a doctor.

We have a range of staff for you to see as an alternative to a doctor: 

• Nurse Practitioners 
• Practice Nurses 
• Healthcare Assistants 

Our clinical team works closely together; any causes for concern are passed on to the doctors. When you make an appointment, please discuss with the Receptionist the most appropriate person for you to see. This will probably help us to give you quicker access to an appointment.

We would encourage you to provide information to our Reception staff as they will be able to assist in offering quicker alternative appointments.

Clinics & Services

The link to Clinics and Services (top right of screen) gives more information about the services available.

Home Visits

• Any request for a home visit should be made before 10:00 am wherever possible.
• Please be prepared to give some details of the symptoms since this will help decide the urgency and priority of visits.
• All requests for a home visit are dealt with by a Nurse Practitioner.
• She will normally speak to you on the phone, or return your call if she is not available at the time.

Most patients requesting a home visit will be urged to come to the Surgery. 

• Home visits are intended only for those people who are too ill to be transported to the Surgery.
• Attending the Surgery can reduce the length of time waiting to see a clinician
• It can allow any appropriate tests to be performed straight away and treatment started.

Missed Appointments

If you cannot keep your appointment please contact the Surgery as soon as possible so that the time can be used for someone else.

Missed appointments and late cancellations can waste up to 150 GP appointments each month.