Appointments

To request an urgent appointment for today (Monday to Friday) during opening times phone us on 01992 642446

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will use your answers to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or healthcare professional to help you.

To request a routine appointment in advance during opening times:

• contact us online
• use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS app) to book an appointment, screening test or vaccination

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will use your answers to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or healthcare professional to help you.

Whether you make your request by phone, on-line or visiting your practice, you may be asked to give your practice some details so that they can assess what is best for you based on your clinical need. The practice team will consider your request for an appointment or medical advice and tell you within one working day what will happen next.

This could be:

• An appointment that day or a subsequent day
• A phone call that day or a subsequent day
• A text message responding to your query
• Advice to go to a pharmacy or another NHS service

Your practice will decide what is best for you based on your clinical need.

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

• if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
• if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by call or by text
• if you need an interpreter
• if you have any other access or communication needs

You must give your employer a doctor's 'fit note' (sometimes called a 'sick note') if you've been ill for more than 7 days in a row and have taken sick leave. This includes non-working days, such as weekends and bank holidays.

Visit our Sickness Certificates page

Information and advice for travelling abroad.

Visit our Travel Information page

Requests for home visits should be made between 8.30am to 10am but patients are reminded that it is preferable that consultations take place in the surgery where diagnostic facilities are ideal. Emergency requests can be made at any time, but it is essential that the nature of the emergency is stated as home visits are usually restricted to Elderly, housebound, or seriously ill patient. We cannot guarantee that one of our practice GP’s will attend as we use the Acute In-hours Visiting Service (AIVS) to support the GP’s when demand is high. AIVS will visit with 6 hours of the visit being passed to them.

Due to increasing demand on primary care services and an ongoing national shortage of GPs we have had to outline a home visiting policy.

• Terminally ill
• Bedbound
• Severely ill and cannot be mobilised

Please remember that a doctor can see up to four patients in surgery in the time it takes to make one home visit. Patients can also be examined more thoroughly in a surgery environment and there is access to all your medical records including those held on computer. Please help us to help you and our other patients by visiting the surgery whenever possible.

Transport or social problems

We cannot undertake home visits for reasons of convenience, lack of transport, or because simply a patient is a resident in a residential care home, sheltered accomodation or nursing home. We will be happy to provide you with details of local taxi firms and volunteer car services. From experience, we are aware that relatives, neighbours or friends are often willing to help out. Our responsibility to you is to resolve the medical problem you have; your responsibility is to take all the reasonable steps you are able to, to enable us to do that.

If you are too ill to attend the surgery and require a home visit, please telephone before 10am, if possible. This will help the healthcare team to plan their visits for the day. Late requests often lead to disruption of the appointment system and excessive waiting times for others. A member of the healthcare team may telephone you prior to the visit to assess the need for a home visit and may decide that it would be better to see you at the surgery. Alternatively it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice and also prepares the health professional to collect some information required as necessary for the visit. We cannot guarantee that one of our practice GP’s will attend as we use the Acute In-hours Visiting Service (AIVS) to support the GP’s when demand is high. AIVS will visit with 6 hours of the visit being passed to them.

We would like to stress that no patient in definite need of a home visit will be refused.

To try and provide a better service to patients who work or find it difficult to see a Doctor during the week, we have a Saturday surgery once a month.

Please contact the practice for more information.