Appointments

We operate an appointment system that has been designed to reduce backlog so that patients can receive the care they need in a timely manner, as well as allowing the system to be responsive to on-the-day emergencies.

We do this by offering the majority of our GP and Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) appointments on the day as we find that those booked in advance have a high rate of non-attendance. Our on the day system creates more capacity allowing us to see a greater number of patients than pre-booking appointments.

We also use Health Navigation, which involves asking patients a few questions to understand the nature of their medical problem using clinically designed protocols. This enables our team to offer the most appropriate professional for the patient, which may not necessarily be a GP.

Our Health Navigators are all fully trained to direct you to the most appropriate clinician for your needs and will ask for details of the specific problem to ensure that you receive the most appropriate care. All information given to our staff is treated in the strictest confidence.

How to book an appointment?

Patients can book appointments or request advice by phoning the surgery on 01803 855 897, or online Contact us about your request (Patient Triage)

We do also offer some pre-bookable appointments.  These can be booked via telephone or online through NHS App / Patient Access up to two weeks in advance.  NB: During times of reduced capacity this function is disabled. 

For all on the day appointments please try to call as early in the day as possible and provide our Health Navigators with the requested information. This means that you can be appropriately prioritised based on need that day. We are not an emergency service and calling later in the day means that we may not be able to fit you in.

What if there are no appointments left that day?

On occasions we do run out of appointments so we ask if it is non-urgent to call back the next day. Where there is an urgent need to speak to a clinician that day we will always try to provide at least a telephone appointment or may offer a sit and wait clinic at the end of the day

Nurse appointments

All Nurse and phlebotomy appointments are bookable up to 28 days in advance. When booking one of these appointments please try to avoid calling between 8-11am as we will be dealing with the on the day appointments at this time.
We also have a number of nurse telephone appointments each day that can be booked in advance online or through reception. These are for general routine enquires such as advice on inhaler usage, dressings, long term treatments, advice on chronic disease management, travel and immunisations.

Cancel an appointment

If you are unable to attend for an appointment please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer it to someone else.

Appointments can be cancelled by calling the cancellation telephone number on 01803 225 849 or online through Patient Access / NHS App / Other Online Service Providers.

We fully understand that patients will sometimes accidentally miss an appointment, but if you know that you cannot keep a booked appointment please let us know as soon as possible. This means that we can offer the appointment slot to someone else. We have hours of wasted clinical time each month through patients that “did not attend” (DNA’s). Cancelling an appointment means we can then offer that appointment to someone else and help shorten wait times to see clinicians.

Arriving late for appointments

Whilst we understand and sympathise when patients arrive late for appointments, each patient that arrives late has a knock on effect. It can cause considerable difficulties for patients booked later in the day that may have to wait longer than expected to see the Clinician and also for staff who may have other commitments.

In order to keep some consistency in our management of late arrivals, any patient running more than 10 minutes late will be referred to the clinician to see if they can still be seen but they may be asked to re-book the appointment at another time. This is so that we can be fair to all our patients that day and limit the effects of lateness.

Please note that being up to 10 minutes late for an appointment still has a knock on effect for the clinician and the remainder of patients throughout the day so please help them by arriving in plenty of time for your appointment whenever possible.