SURGERY APPOINTMENTS

Tel: 7635 7100

All consultations are by appointment. To make an appointment telephone 7635 7100 between 8.00am and 12 noon or 1.30 and 6.00pm Monday to Friday.

We feel continuity of care is important and would like you to choose one doctor to be your usual doctor. Please state who your usual doctor is when making an appointment.

It is advisable to ring in the morning to make an appointment to see your doctor. Most appointments are available on the day, so we ask patients to telephone on the day they wish to be seen.

We do have a limited number of appointments that can be booked in advance for those whose work patterns do not enable them to book on the day.

URGENT APPOINTMENTS

Tel: 7635 7100 If you need to see a doctor for an urgent problem, please tell the receptionist when making the appointment. The receptionist may need to consult a doctor before giving you an appointment time so please be ready to give some medical details

LATE /MISSED APPOINTMENTS

If a patient arrives more than 10 minutes late for their appointment, they may be asked to rebook for another day. It is important that patients keep their appointments. Missed appointments are wasteful and represent a significant loss of doctor and nurse time. If a patient regularly fails to arrive for their appointment then we reserve the right to request that they register with another practice.

TELEPHONE ADVICE

Tel: 7635 7100 To arrange a telephone appointment with your doctor please speak to a receptionist. Your doctor will try to take your call as close to the appointment time as possible. You may be asked to "hold the line" while the doctor finishes an ongoing consultation.

Home Visits

 Please telephone 7635 7111 before 10.30am if you require a home visit.

Home visits are for patients who are too ill to come to the surgery. The doctor can see three or four patients in surgery in the time it takes to do one home visit.

The surgery contains better facilities for examination and treatment than are available in your home, so it is better to come to the surgery if at all possible.

In order to help the doctor, brief details of the illness is required in order to deal with your request appropriately.

The doctor may telephone you beforehand to discuss the visit.

Emergencies

A receptionist will answer between 8.00am and 12 noon and 1.30 and 6.30pm on weekdays.

At other times a recorded message will tell you what to do, please wait and listen to the WHOLE message.

When you ring the out of hours doctor please give the following details:

1. Name and age of the patient.
2. Address of the patient or address where the patient can be found.
3. Telephone number if possible.
4. Brief details of the problem, eg severe chest pain, sweating and breathlessness.

If the call is after dark leave the lights on so that the doctor can find the house easily.

NB: Please only call the doctor outside the surgery hours if you consider the problem is so urgent it cannot wait until the surgery reopens.