Appointments

If you have an urgent problem you should phone us as early as possible as we always release some appointments for patients who need medical attention on the same day. We ask you not to arrive unannounced at the health centre unless the matter is extremely urgent.

Please note that if you are requesting an emergency call please contact us before 11:00 as we cannot guarantee a same day response after this time.

If your call is a life-threatening emergency, please hang up and call 999.

EBOLA - DO NOT COME TO THE SURGERY IF YOU HAVE RETURNED FROM UGANDA OR WEST AFRICA IN THE LAST 21 DAYS AND HAVE DEVELOPED ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS:

• Temperature of 37.5, headache, body aches, diarrhoea, vomiting, rash

CALL 111 OR THE SURGERY FOR ADVICE BUT DO NOT ENTER THE SURGERY

To make an appointment to see a doctor or nurse you can book online via the link at the top of this page from 7.45am (requires registration). If you cannot see any bookable appointments, this means the slots for the day have already been taken so please log in the following day from 7.45am.

You may also telephone 0118 987 4551 from 8am. 

IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND AN APPOINTMENT FOR ANY REASON PLEASE INFORM US AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT TIME IN ORDER FOR US TO GIVE THE SLOT TO SOMEONE ELSE

The reception team are trained to ask you for details about the reason for your call today. They will then book you an appointment with a member of staff who can best manage your query. This may be with the a paramedic, pharmacist or nurse or a member of the admin team.

Minor Illness Appointments

Antibiotics are no longer routinely used to treat infections because:

Many infections are caused by viruses, so antibiotics are not effective.
Antibiotics are often unlikely to speed up the healing process and can cause side effects.
The more antibiotics are used to treat trivial conditions, the more likely they are to become ineffective for treating more serious conditions.
 
Both the NHS and health organisations across the world are trying to reduce the use of antibiotics, especially for health problems that are not serious.

For example, antibiotics are no longer routinely used to treat:

chest infections
ear infections in children
sore throats
 

Please do not expect to be issued an antibiotic for a cough as it usually clears up in 3- 4 weeks

Cough - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Sore throats are very common and usually nothing to worry about. They normally get better by themselves within a week. Please click on the link for advice when to contact the GP Practice

Sore throat - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

You can often treat a cold without seeing a GP. You should begin to feel better in about 1 to 2 weeks.

Common cold - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Sinusitis is swelling of the sinuses, usually caused by an infection. It's common and usually clears up on its own within 2 to 3 weeks. But medicines can help if it's taking a long time to go away.

Sinusitis (sinus infection) - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Earache and ear pain is common, particularly in young children. It can be painful but is not usually a sign of anything serious.

Earache - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

The paramedic team are fully trained in Minor illness. At all times they have access to the Duty Doctor who is able to provide advice and sign off prescriptions for the paramedic team. For minor illness appointments, for conditions such as a chest infection, urinary tract infection, tonsillitis, sinusitis etc please book online or call the surgery on 0118 9874551 to arrange an appointment with a member of our minor illness team. Please note that our appointments are monitored to ensure they are booked in with the appropriate clinician. If you book an appointment with a doctor and the condition is deemed to be minor illness, we will make every effort to contact you to advise you when your appointment has been re-booked with one of our highly trained clinicians but please bear in mind, that we may not always be able to contact you to let you know we have done this before you arrive for your appointment.

Doctor's appointments are available for more complex, ongoing conditions only.

The practice is fully open and offering face to face appointments for all clinicians as required. Online bookable appointments are a mixture of telephone and face to face. If you book an on-line appointment and you wish it to be changed to a face to face or video consultation, please call reception and this can be changed for you.

Please continue to wear a mask in the practice.

Exclusions include rashes, coughs and fevers which remain telephone only initially however the clinician will bring in any patients who require a face to face assessment and on discussion with the patient. We have a specific infection control room, so if you have a fever or rash and have been asked to come in by a clinician, you may be asked to wait there or outside rather than sitting in the waiting room.

There are now a limited number of on-line pre-bookable appointments for each GP. These appointments are are mixture of telephone and face to face to face appointments. If you would like to convert a telephone appointment to a face to face appointment, please call us to arrange. 

If you are unable to get through to the practice, please call NHS 111 for medical advice.

Online booking is also available for: 

• Smear tests in the practice
• Medication reviews with a member of the pharmacy team by telephone appointment only 
• Blood tests
• A limited number of minor illness appointments
• Annual diabetic reviews
• Physiotherapy appointments

We would kindly ask that these slots are not booked for any other reason. For inappropriate bookings, the appointment will be cancelled and we will inform patients by text message to re-book with the appropriate clinician. 

In general a GP can only deal with one problem in a standard 10 minute appointment. If a patient needs to discuss more than 1 problem they should book a double appointment to allow time for this. If there are no double appointments available, you may have to book 2 separate appointments. If you have 2 small issues the GP may be able to deal with these in a standard 10 minute appointment but please mention this at the start of your consultation.

If you arrive late for an appointment, where it is by more than 10 minutes, it is the clinician's decision as to whether they can see you or you need to rebook. This is because they will already be seeing their next patient and will not be able to delay their clinics for late patients.

When you book you will be asked to state briefly the nature of your appointment to enable us to direct you to the most appropriate member of the health care team.

Important information for telephone consultations during extended hours

If your telephone appointment is after 6.30pm Monday to Friday or on a Saturday morning and you miss the call, you will not be able to phone the practice back as the switchboard is closed during our extended opening hours so please ensure you are available to take the call. 

Antenatal and Midwife Appointments

Antenatal care is no longer provided by GP practices, the community midwife team will provide antenatal care. To arrange your first 'booking appointment' with your community midwife: 0118 322 8964 and select option 1. To contact your named community midwife please use the mobile phone number given to you at your booking appointment. If you are unable to contact your community midwife please leave a message on 0118 322 8059.

Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS)

NHS England has commissioned a new service called the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service. This service's aim is to improve access for patients with minor illnesses by being referred for a formal consultation to a community pharmacist of their choice. Community pharmacists are highly skilled clinicians with at least 5 years of training and are very experienced in providing healthcare advice to the community. When calling the practice, if you have a minor ailment, you will be offered this service. The receptionist will ask a few questions to establish whether the minor illness meets the criteria for referral. Once the referral has been made, the community pharmacist will contact the patient the same day or the next working day for a clinical consultation and provide appropriate advice or signposting. Click here for more information

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.