HOW DO I MAKE AN APPOINTMENT ?
ROUTINE APPOINTMENTS
These may be made at the surgery or by telephoning (024) 7622 4640 (HARNALL
LANE) or (024) 7641 8841(GREEN LANE). Alternatively, you can now
register to make appointments via the Internet. Please read the
Net
Booking page on the left.
For routine appointments allow approximately 10 minutes. Please ask for
more time if you need an examination or have several problems to
discuss, or arrange a second appointment for other minor concerns.
All patients that telephone on the day that they wish to be seen will be offered an appointment within two working days, depending on the time that the appointment is requested. If deemed urgent the patient will be seen as soon as possible, usually on the same day.
Each surgery consists of a mixture of appointments, some can be booked
in advance (pre-bookable), and others, which are not released until the
morning of that day. Morning surgeries also include telephone
consultations, which are used when a visit to the surgery is not deemed
necessary.
When
you telephone the surgery asking the receptionist for an appointment
please explain which of these types of appointments you require:
Telephoning
before 10.30am:
-Triage Telephone Callback FOR URGENT “on the day”
problems only - a GP calls you usually before 12 noon AND sees you at
the surgery if necessary.
-Callback Telephone Consultation NOT URGENT - for the afternoon
or the next day, and usually doctor of your choice
-Urgent appointment at the surgery (if no readily available
appointments slots, you will be put on the
Triage
Telephone Callback List)
-Non-Urgent appointment at the surgery (for routine issues you
will be given the soonest available pre-bookable appointment with the
doctor of your choice)
-Test
Results (You will be asked to ring back after 2.30pm or given an
estimated time when a GP can ring you back in the afternoon AFTER the
urgent morning work has been completed - Generally, the day we receive
any abnormal results you will be telephoned or a letter sent to your
home if results need action)
Telephoning
anytime between 10.30am - 4pm:
-Callback Telephone Consultation NOT URGENT - for the
afternoon or the next day, and usually doctor of your choice
-Urgent appointment at the surgery (if no readily available
appointments slots, you will be put on the end of the afternoon surgery
as an EXTRA* or the GP will Call you back.)
-Non-Urgent appointment at the surgery (for routine issues you
will be given the soonest available pre-bookable appointment with the
doctor of your choice)
-Test
Results (You will be asked to ring back after 2.30pm or
given an estimated time when a GP can ring you back in the afternoon
AFTER the urgent morning work has been completed - Generally, the day we
receive any abnormal results you will be telephoned or a letter sent to
your home if results need action)
Telephoning
anytime after 4pm:
-Callback Telephone Consultation (NOT URGENT - for later that
afternoon or the next day)
-Urgent appointment at the surgery (if no readily available
appointments slots, you will be put on the end of the afternoon surgery
as an EXTRA* or the GP will Call you back. Occasionally nearer
closing time, the best advice for urgent problems may be to attend the
Walk-in Centre or A&E or if the problem improves ring before 10.30am the
next morning asking for a
Triage
Telephone Callback)
-Non-Urgent appointment at the surgery (for routine issues you will
be given the soonest available pre-bookable appointment with the doctor
of your choice on a different day)
-Test
Results (You will be given an estimated time when a GP can ring
you back in the afternoon - Generally, the day we receive any abnormal
results you will be telephoned or a letter sent to your home if results
need action)
*Urgent appointments as an EXTRA at the end of a surgery or end of the day are shorter and the doctor only has time to deal with a single complaint.
Once registered with the practice you can choose to see any of the
doctors in the partnership, with all doctors working at both sites. If
you wish to see a particular doctor we will endeavour to do this,
however it may not always be possible.
URGENT APPOINTMENTS
Should you need to see the doctor for an urgent condition on the same
day as you call, you will not be able to request a specific doctor and
you may have a wait, but you will always be seen. Emergency appointments
are available each day or you may be invited to come and wait until the
end of surgery to be seen.
DOUBLE APPOINTMENTS
Please help us to help you by providing clear information regarding your
requirements to ensure adequate time with the doctor. Double
appointments are sometimes needed for Women’s Health Examinations & Coil
fittings, complicated psychological or social problems, diabetes
reviews, annual mental health care planning reviews & antenatal care.
Please remember that if you cannot keep an appointment for whatever
reason please telephone the surgery and let us know.
Please always report to reception on arrival, so that the doctor knows
you are waiting.
Should more than one member of your family need to see a doctor at the
same time, please make this clear when booking your appointment. This
enables us to ensure that each family member has a separate appointment
thus allowing the doctor time to assess each person's medical needs.
Separate appointment systems operate for additional services such as
minor surgery, liquid nitrogen clinics, child health surveillance,
antenatal and postnatal consultations.
We are committed to giving the best possible service to our patients
and so in summary we ask that you:
- Arrange appointments for as far in advance as is appropriate.
- Please help other patients by not requesting an urgent appointment for a problem that can wait a day or so (Mondays are especially busy).
- If you cannot keep your appointment please let us know as soon as possible as it can always be used by someone else.
- Please report to reception on arrival for your appointment.