New Appointment System
The surgery is now using a new triage system (Rapid Health) which has lead to a change in the way most appointment requests are dealt with. For more information please see our dedicated Rapid Health FAQ page.
Appointment Information
- Urgent Appointments
- GP Appointments
- Nurse Appointments
- HCA Appointments
- Cancelling / Rescheduling Your Appointment
- Enhanced Access Appointments
- Late Arrivals
- Home Visits
Urgent Appointments
Our urgent appointment (often referred to as 'Duty Appointments') are reserved only for the most urgent cases that do not meet the criteria for A&E or an Ambulance but still require seeing that day.
All requests for urgent appointments now go via Rapid Health.
When a request is submitted we will assess the urgency of a case using your reported symptoms and medical history.
GP Appointments
All requests for GP appointments now go via Rapid Health.
The form will ask a series of questions related to your symptoms. You will be offered an appointment in the appropriate time frame for the symptoms and medical history provided. If no appointments are available your request will be sent to our inbox to be reviewed by a clinician.
Nurse Appointments
Nurse appointments can be requested in four ways:
- Using the NHS App by clicking book an appointment > Ask about a health problem.
- Calling the surgery directly
- Coming into the surgery
- Using the Rapid Health form by selecting Question & Admin Requests > Ask a question > Ask the Nurse a question
We offer nurse appointments up to six weeks in advance. Some conditions can be reviewed by the nurses over the phone, please ask when booking if you would prefer this.
Our Nurses can see a wide variety of conditions such as:
- Wound Care
- Diabetes Reviews
- Cardiovascular Reviews
- Asthma and COPD reviews
- Smears
- Contraception advice & Injections
- Injections such as Zoladex and Denosumab
- Vaccinations such as shingles and B12
Sometimes you may ask for a GP appointment but we recommend that you see one of our nurses. This will only happen when we have a nurse with specialised knowledge in the field relating to your condition. This often leads to a better service for our patients.
Health Care Assistant Appointments
Our HCA appointments can be requested in three ways:
- Calling the surgery
- Coming into the surgery
- Via a link we text out when inviting you for your initial annual review
We offer HCA appointments up to 8 weeks in advance.
Our HCAs can see you for conditions such as:
- Basic wound care
- Blood Pressure checks
- Preliminary Annual Review checks (by invite only)
- B12 injections
- NHS Health Checks
Cancelling / Rescheduling your appointment
We know plans change so we want to make it as easy as possible for you to cancel your appointment so it can go to someone else.
You can cancel your appointment by:
- Filling out this contact form
- Using the NHS App's appointment section
- Calling the surgery and selecting option 5 to leave a voicemail with your appointment details
- Coming into the surgery
- Responding to your reminder text message
If you have been offered an appointment via Rapid Health and wish to reschedule please use the link in your confirmation message as each request is triaged and only offers appointments that are available based on the urgency of your request.
Late Arrivals
Please note that, if you arrive up to 15 minutes late for your appointment, you will still be seen but may have to wait for a suitable gap in the GP's surgery. If you arrive over 15 minutes late for your appointment, you have effectively missed it. You should then speak to the Receptionist who will see if they can rebook your appointment or ask the GP if they can still accommodate you. There is no guarantee that you will be seen and if you are it may entail waiting until the end of the GP's surgery.
Home Visits
In cases of severe illness, infirmity, or emergencies, the GP or Paramedic Practitioner will visit the patient at home. However, where possible patients should make their way to the Surgery to see their GP or Health Professional as for every home visit a health professional makes they could see several patients in the surgery.
If you are too ill to attend please call the surgery on 01403 782931 before 11.00am if possible, as rounds have to be planned. You will be asked for a reason for the Home Visit so we can judge the urgency of the call. The doctor may phone before visiting to assess the urgency of the visit.
