How do I...
Make An Appointment?

The doctor will see you in surgery by appointment.

An appointment can be made by phone or in person. At busy times you may be asked to speak to the triage nurse who will assess the urgency of your need. If your need is truly urgent, you will be seen that session but not necessarily by the doctor of your choice.

Routine appointments can be made up to five days in advance. Each day about half the appointments are set aside for booking on the day; you usually need to ring early to get these. Each partner has a 'Follow-up Surgery' which may be booked up to a month in advance; he / she will tell you if you need to be seen in these clinics. There are also a small number of early morning and late evening slots for those that are unable to get here during the day. A leaflet is available from reception showing when each individual doctor is available.

Appointments are for 10 minutes but, if you feel you need longer, please ask the receptionist. Please do not ask the doctor to check other members of your family during your consultation but make a separate appointment.

When you arrive for your appointment please check in at the reception desk so the doctor knows you are here. If you arrive more than five minutes late you may be asked to wait until the end of surgery to be seen or to rebook your appointment.
The doctors try to keep to time but inevitably sometimes run late. Reception will try to keep you informed where this occurs. Please bear with us if you are kept waiting; on another occasion it could be you who needs extra time.

If you are unable to keep your appointment, please inform reception so that the time can be made available for someone else.

How To See A Nurse

You can make an appointment to see the nurse in surgery up to five days in advance. The doctor may ask you to make an appointment to see the nurse but you can go directly to the nurse for the following: diabetes, asthma or hypertension reviews, travel advice, wound care, ear syringing, flu vaccinations, childhood immunisations, cervical smears and family planning. When you make the appointment, it would be helpful if you could indicate what you need to see her for so that an appropriate length of time can be allocated.

How do I...
Obtain Telephone Advice?

If you need to speak to the doctor or nurse personally please leave a message with reception. Please give sufficient details so that the doctor or nurse can prioritise the calls.

If it is vital that you are contacted the same day please call before 1.00pm.

How do I...
Obtain A Home Visit?

If you can possibly get to the surgery, please do so. For those too ill to come to the surgery home visits can be arranged. Please telephone requests by 10.30am if you can, and be prepared to give our staff some idea of your symptoms to help the doctor to put the visits in order of priority. The triage nurse may phone you to discuss the urgency of your visit.

How do I...
Obtain Test Results?

Please call between 12 noon and 1.00pm for results. Results can only be given to the patient themselves, not to relatives or friends. Doctors check all the incoming results daily. If your result is normal one of the receptionists will tell you so; if the doctor needs to see you he/she will write to you to request that you make an appointment to see him/her. The receptionists will only convey the doctor's comments on the computer screen; they are not able to interpret the results for you as they are not medically trained.