Appointments

We offer the following types of appointment for our registered patients:

• If you need urgent medical attention, then we will offer the first available appointment with a doctor, or one of our nurses who have been specially trained in diagnosis and treatment. These appointments are booked on the day from 8.00am
• Pre-bookable - If you need to make an appointment for a specific day, then we try to offer appointments up to six weeks ahead.
• Nurse / HCA appointments - We run various nurse led clinics such as asthma, travel immunisations etc. These appointments can be booked up to six weeks ahead.
• You may want to speak to a doctor or nurse for some advice but not need to do this face-to-face, in which case we can book a telephone consultation. The receptionists will ask you for some details and check the phone number that you wish the doctor or nurse to use in returning your call.
• Your doctor may ask to see you again for a follow up appointment – these are bookable in advance.

Please do not be offended if you are asked the reason for your appointment. This is to ensure you are booked in with the most appropriate clinician. A GP appointment is not always necessary and you may be seen earlier by another member of our experienced team. Of course if you would prefer the reason for attendance to be kept personal just inform the receptionist of this when asked.

Appointments can be made:

• In person at the practice
• By telephone on 01782 615367
• For patients that have registered with our online service, via the link at the top of this page. In order to register for our online service you will need to call at the practice in person with proof of identity.

Please remember that each appointment is for one person only.

Chaperones

If you wish we are happy to provide a chaperone during physical examinations. Your doctor may offer this or you may request it yourself.

Cancellations

Your appointment will be confirmed by text message (if you have registered a mobile number with us) 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. You can use our text message facility in order to do this. Patients who repeatedly fail to attend a pre-booked appointment and do not cancel beforehand may be asked to find a new GP.

Missed appointments are costly to the NHS and are closely monitored by the surgery. 

Thank you to all those patients who cancel their appointments giving us plenty of notice.

Home Visits 

Are you housebound or too ill to leave home?

Ring the surgery before 10:00am and we can offer you telephone advice or a doctor, nurse, health visitor, district nurse or paramedic may come to visit you at home. In all instances your need for a visit will be assessed by a clinical member of staff.

Remember if you can come to the surgery please do so as we can then have time to visit those who are too ill to leave home.

Most children can be quite safely be brought by car/taxi. Remember that we have better facilities for examinations and treatment in the surgery.

Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule home visits.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

We do not have these in practice as they are a government document or a document specific to your own workplace.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

A 'fit note' cannot be provided in advance as this would be predicting a date when you will be unfit to work however a 'fit note' can be backdated.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

The Practice does carry out video consultations. The consultation is not stored or recorded within the systems used, the clinical staff member is required to record observations and outcomes of the consultation directly into patient records in the same way as a face to face consultation.