Appointments

If you require an appointment or wish to talk to a medical professional, please phone the surgery on 01388 817777 or alternatively, use eConsult. 

Consultations with doctors are available by appointment between 8:30 am and 11:30 am and between 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm, Monday to Friday.

Consultations with ANPs and nurses are available with a mixture of pre-bookable and same day appointments between 8:30 am and 12:30 pm and between 2:30 pm and 6:00 pm Monday to Friday.

Please call 01388 817777 to make an appointment.

Standard appointments are for a maximum of 10 minutes.  Please let the receptionist know if you will require a double appointment.  Medicals or longer appointments will be by special arrangement.

You may choose to see any of the doctors or a practice nurse, subject to their availability - but see the tab above entitled Care Navigation.  The receptionists will try to give you a convenient appointment with the doctor or nurse of your choice, but if unable to do so they will suggest an alternative time or another doctor or nurse who is available.   Pre-bookable appointments are available with the doctor or nurse of your choice up to two weeks ahead.

If you need to see a doctor urgently, make this clear to reception and you will be added to the triage (call back) list.

If you have more than one problem to discuss, please tell the doctor this at the start of your appointment so that the most important problem can be dealt with first.  If it is not possible to deal with several complex problems during a single consultation you may be asked to make a further appointment(s) to deal with less pressing issues.

We do try and run appointments to time but you will appreciate that we have no way of knowing in advance what problems will be presented during a surgery.  Some problems do require immediate attention and may result in subsequent appointments running late.  Your understanding when this happens is appreciated.

Updated:  19/03/2024

Children

If your child is of school age, you will be able to obtain an appointment after school (during term time).

If your child is under five and you think their need is urgent, we will ensure that you have contact with a health care professional.

Telephone Appointments

Do you need to see the doctor or nurse or just talk to them?

If you think that your problem can be dealt with by phone without face-to-face contact, please call 01388 817777 and ask for a telephone appointment.

If a doctor or nurse is not available when you call, the receptionist will ask you for:

• your full name, address and date of birth
• contact telephone number on which to call you back
• brief details of illness or reason for your call
• times when it will be convenient to call you back

The receptionist will then arrange for a Doctor or Nurse to call you back at a mutually convenient time.

If the doctor or nurse feels you need to be seen, they will arrange a surgery appointment or home visit with you.

Telephone Advice

Telephone advice is available every day.  If you feel that your problem can be dealt with over the telephone then we have GPs available Monday to Friday who will telephone you.

These appointments can also be used for medication queries and sick note requests.  You can also request sick notes via eConsult either here or on the NHS App.  

Updated:  05/07/2023

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason, please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

Updated:  20/08/2021

Fit to Fly Letters

The practice does not issue fit to fly letters.

Updated:  05/07/2023

Online booking of some appointments

The Practice are releasing some appointments which can be booked up to two weeks in advance using your SystmOne online account, the Airmid App or the NHS App.

Appointments may be available to book online with

• Dr Elizabeth Logan
• Dr Yehya Ghonem
• and the Nurse Practitioners

These appointments will be released to online booking at the same time they are released to Reception for booking by phone or at Reception. 

Please note that appointments may be at either St Andrew's or Oxford Road.

When booking the appointment please enter a reason for the appointment as Reception may need to contact you to change your appointment if there is a more appropriate clinician to deal with your issue.

Updated:  07/04/2023

What is Care Navigation

When you contact the Practice for an appointment you will speak to a Receptionist.  Our Receptionist have been specifically trained to provide “Care Navigation” locally which means we can improve access to appointments and can deal with your medical needs quickly and efficiently.

The receptionist will ask for a brief outline of why you’re contacting the Practice and will then be able to offer potential choices regarding appropriate services.  You may be provided with a choice in relation to an appropriate member of staff you can see within the Practice.  The choice may also involve an alternative service which can meet your needs for example:  community pharmacy, stopping smoking, Minor Eye Condition Service.

This is not clinical advice or triage.  It’s your choice, you do not have to accept the choice provided by the Receptionist and you can still request to see your GP if you wish.

Please be aware that if you do not accept the recommendation of the Receptionist or feel uncomfortable in giving a brief outline of why you’re contacting the Practice, the Receptionist is unable to book an appointment with a doctor.  They will ask the duty triage doctor to ring you to assess your requirements.

Our clinical staff now undertake some of the routine work previously undertaken by a doctor. 

Reviewed:  03/09/2022

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible.

Home visits on weekdays should be requested by telephoning the practice on 01388 817777 between 8:30 am and 10 am whenever possible.

Home visits use up our most valuable resource - time -and should only be requested when the patient is unfit to attend the surgery where we have better examination and treatment facilities.  If in doubt please ask to speak with the duty doctor.

When you request a home visit the Receptionist will ask you for:

• brief details to assess if the visit is urgent
• confirmation that the patient is housebound
• patients full name and date of birth
• patients home address and the address to be visited, if different
• contact telephone number

This information is required to help the doctor plan and prioritise the home visits and will be treated in confidence.  You will then be added to the triage list and the duty GP will ring you to assess your problem.

After assessment the GP will allocate either the Advanced Paramedic Practitioner, a Foundation Doctor, or a GP to carry out the visit. 

On weekend and bank holidays when we are closed you should phone NHS 111 or NHS online at www.111.nhs.uk

Updated:  11/12/2018

Chaperones

There are occasions when patients need to be assessed by a doctor which might involve intimate examinations.  We are committed to putting patients at ease whenever possible and if you wish a chaperone to be present during your examination, please ask the Receptionist when booking your appointment or your doctor.

A chaperone is designed to protect both patients and staff from abuse or allegation of abuse and to assist patients to make an informed choice about their examinations and consultation.  It may not be possible for a chaperone to be provided immediately and you might have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

Reviewed:  26/0382023