Appointments

Appointments for the surgery and clinics may be made by telephone or by calling at the surgery during opening hours.

Appointments can be face to face or by telephone. 

Appointments are for 10 minutes only, if you feel that you need longer please tell reception. Please also advise reception if you require an interpretor. 

Emergencies

Patients requiring emergency appointments and children will be triaged the same day by the duty doctor as below. If you have a genuine medical emergency that cannot wait for the doctor to ring, please call 999.

Duty Doctor

Each morning there is a duty doctor available between 08:30 and 10:30 to deal with acute medical problems. Please phone the surgery within this time to avail of this service. A doctor will return your phone call and discuss the next appropriate step e.g. an appointment or a prescription. 

Telephoning the doctor

Patients can telephone the doctor by phoning 90458103 between 08:30am and 10:30am, doctors will not take calls outside of this time unless it is a medical emergency. The doctor will return your call when possible. Some calls may be recorded. 

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many conditions and you may be seen more quickly.

Practice pharmacist

You may also contact our practice pharmacist with any medication queries you may have.

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.

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. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception as early on the day as possible.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls.

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. 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.

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)

Students

From time to time the practice has attached students training at the surgery. You will be  informed by the receptionist if one is present with the doctor.

If you don’t want the student to be present at your consultation please do not hesitate to tell us. Please do not worry about asking the student to leave.