How to Make and Cancel an Appointment

eConsult

If you have simple and straightforward issue that can be managed without speaking to a GP please kindly use an online form via econsult.  

Minor issues can often be dealt with using an e consultation, however if you want to discuss anything or if your issue is more complex then it is best to book a telephone appointment through reception.

 

Routine appointments

In line with the national guidance, the practice is offering a mix of face to face, telephone, video consultations and eConsult. Routine telephone and face to face appointments are available 1 week in advance, same day appointments for urgent issues become available at 8:30 am and very few at 2pm (more for urgent issues). Some of these are available for online booking at 8pm the night before, same day at 8:30 am and very few at 2pm. Please note that the same day appointments for the afternoon are now released for booking from 08:30am.

'We would always encourage you to book a face to face appointment where an examination may be indicated ie for lumps/bumps/swellings/rashes/ear pain/chest/abdominal pain/or a child examination' 
If you do book the appointment as a telephone consultation, please be aware that you will need to be prepared/available to come in at short notice during that GP’s clinic for an examination if required. If this is not going to be possible for you to do, we would ask that you book an alternative appointment. 

Please note a standard total appointment length is 10minutes long for doctors, 15 minutes for Physician associates, with routine nursing appointments between 10-15 minutes (smears). We do offer double appointments for complex. multiple issues or if an interpreter is required, but this is subject to availability.  However, these appointment can only be booked via calling reception ie not online.

Clinicians can arrange a subsequent follow up appointment, including double appointment if assessed appropriate within the appropriate time scale. 

If you have a face to face appointment and any of the following apply to you on the day:

  • You have been told to self-isolate or have received a positive result in that last 10 days or anyone in your household has recent onset of the Covid symptoms

Please contact the practice to reschedule your appointment or switch to another mode of consultation (i.e telephone or video consultation) and after your initial assessment, we can bring you in for a face to face appointment if required. This is in order to limit the risk of spread to those most at risk.

Physicians Associatiates

Please note that we have 4 highly trained and qualified Physician Associates who are always supported by an experienced GP. They can see patients aged 10 years and over for urinary tract infections, coughs, sinusitis,  sore throat, back pain and muscular pain, conjunctivitis/ red eye, earache, earwax/ blocked ears, indigestion, diarrhoea/ gastroenteritis,  vomiting, constipation, dizziness / fainting, headaches, gout, eczema, chest pain, abdominal pain, hypertension, acne, high cholesterol, verruca’s, carpal tunnel.  Pre-bookable face to face appointments with the Physician Associates become available for online booking 1 week in advance.

Tele-Dermatology

Children under the age of 10years old can also be seen by a Physician Associate for any skin issues, i.e. eczema or a skin issue or rash that has been persistent for more than a week.

Your child should be otherwise well and the skin issue should not be associated with any other illness. Please speak to Reception at the time of booking to see if this is appropriate.

When attending a face to face appointment, please arrive 10 minutes prior to the scheduled time, you can use the automated self-arrival screen to check in or let Reception know that you have arrived for your appointment and they can check you in. Please notice that you might not be seen if you arrive late for your appointment.

 

Enhanced Access Appointments

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ENHANCED ACCESS

 

Urgent Appointments

A good proportion of our appointments are released ‘on the day’ to allow us to deal with your urgent issues. If you feel your issue needs dealing with on the same day please call as soon as possible after 8.30am to ensure you can get one of these appointments.

A further small proportion of same day urgent appointments are also released at 2pm each day, please call reception to access these for urgent problems.

Duty Doctor

If all the prebookable appointments for the day have gone and it is an issue that is urgent or cannot wait till the next day please request to be placed on the duty doctor list. If you require immediate or very urgent advice i.e. within a couple of hours please contact 111. If you have a potentially life threatening emergency (chest pain, severe shortness of breath) then please call 999. 

 

Pharmacy First

Any local pharmacy offering the 'Pharmacy First " Scheme has been authorised to treat for the following conditions:

If you do not usually pay for your prescriptions then your pharmacy will be able to supply the medicine free of charge under the scheme. If you usually pay for prescriptions you will be charged a fee equivalent to the cost of a prescription. The pharmacist may refer you back to your GP if they feel your illness is not treatable under the scheme. As far as we are aware all local pharmacies are participating. You can simply attend the pharmacy to receive advice and treatment. This is a national scheme launched by NHS England. There is more information under the following link: Pharmacy First - getting the most from your pharmacist

 

Home Visit Requests

Home visits are based on need and can be offered to certain appropriate immobile patients based after clinical triage/assessment. This is mostly for housebound patients. Please call in prior to 10am if you feel you may require a home visit for that day. If you are not normally housebound or immobile and are so unwell you are unable to get out of the house or very unwell and require an urgent home visit in the next few hours or  it is after 6pm then please do call 111.  

 

Cancellations

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.

Keep it or cancel it

Useful Information

The following information may be of use when booking an appointment:

  • Blood pressure checks - routine blood pressure checks do not need an appointment. Our interactive patient pod (located in our reception area) can be used to check your blood pressure. The results are entered into your medical record automatically. The pod is available whenever main reception is open. This is regularly cleaned and we provide plastic arm coverings for use with the machine. Blood pressure monitors are also available at low cost online and may be a useful way of monitoring your blood pressure during the pandemic.
  • We do recognise that not everyone is a fan of technology, and blood pressure checks can therefore also be booked with a nurse or Physician Associate - these are available by ringing reception.
  • Insurance medicals / DVLA forms or other forms of private work cannot be booked online as they are not done during normal "NHS" clinic time. Please ring reception to book in this kind of appointment or email using our dedicated 'reports.whmc@nhs.net' email.
  • Ear microsuction is available at the local hospital for those who fail to respond to over the counter treatments for removing ear wax. However, the ear in question first needs to be examined by our nurse or Physician Associates, to ensure it is safe to have the procedure. Please therefore initially book a single appointment with them. Once the ear has been examined, the referral can be made.
  • Travel vaccinations cannot be booked online as they require a longer appointment - please ring reception in order to book. Please check whether vaccinations are actually needed - we do get patients booking in for travel vaccinations when they are going to countries where no additional immunisations are required. For more Information, useful websites to visit are:  fitfortravel.nhs.co.uk and nathnac.org
  • Contraception/ pill checks can be booked with the nurse or Physician Associate. If you want advice on choosing the right contraception for you please look at the weblink 'contraception choices'.

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