Appointments

We offer a range of appointments to try and suit all of our patients and their requirements.

Routine Appointments

These appointments can usually be booked up to 3 weeks in advance for both the nurse or the doctor. If you require an appointment with a certain member of staff, you will often wait a longer length of time than if you saw any one.

48 Hour Appointments

These appointments are for patients who feel they need to be seen before the next routine appointment but don’t require treatment that day.

From the start of April 2013 we will be trialling a third more 48 hour appointments. Once we have completed this we hope to get patients opinions on how well it worked.

On the Day Appointments

If you feel you require an urgent appointment, you may be asked for more details from our receptionists to help them access your needs. Our nurse practitioner has on the day appointments available for most minor ailments which she can prescribe for.

If you require the attention of a doctor then our receptionists would triage the details to our on call doctor so they could access and deal with accordingly. This could be one of the following: prescription, telephone advice, an appointment or a home visit. All on the day appointments are with the doctors available and not necessarily the doctor of your choice.  

Cancellations

If you cannot attend your appointment please cancel it as soon as possible so it can be made available to someone else. Appointments can be cancelled by both the phone or on the practice website. To cancel over the phone dial the normal surgery number and choice option 2 where you can leave a message with your details and appointment time.

Home Visits

You may only request a home visit if you are a housebound patient or you are too ill to visit the practice. Please remember that in the time it takes for one home visit to be completed upto four patients could have been seen at the practice.

If possible please try to telephone reception before 11:30 if you require a home visit, to enable the doctors to plan their afternoon visits.  Non-urgent visits that are requested later in the day may have to be postponed until the following day if the GPs are too busy.

To request a home visit you will need to contact the surgery as soon as possible and will be asked for the following details:-

• Patients name
• Date of birth
• Contact telephone number where the patient can be contacted
• Address where the patient will be if the doctor visits
• Reason for request

This information will be forwarded to the doctor on call. 

If you have been ill all morning or afternoon please do NOT wait until 17.30 or later to contact the surgery as this could cause a delay in the appropriate action being taken.

Please be aware that you could be visited by any of our GPs including our trainee doctor (F2) or a community nurse. 

You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

If your employer insists on a sick note for the first seven days, a private sick note can be issued, however there will be a charge.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

Once a month the surgery will be closed for staff training, this will be from 1pm onwards. The dates of these are below.

WEDNESDAY 29^TH MAY 2013

THURSDAY 13^TH JUNE 2013

THURSDAY 25^TH JULY 2013

TUESDAY 20^TH AUGUST 2013

THURSDAY 5^TH SEPTEMBER 2013

WEDNESDAY 16^TH OCTOBER 2013

TUESDAY 12^TH NOVEMBER 2013

THURSDAY 5^TH DECEMBER 2013

THURSDAY  23^rd  JANUARY 2014

TUESDAY 18^th FEBRUARY  2014

THURSDAY 6^th  MARCH  2014