Appointments

Consultations are by appointment and can be booked in person at reception or over the telephone  from 8am each morning - . The duration of an appointment with your GP, practice nurse or healthcare assistant is 15 minutes. If you require a longer appointment please ask the receptionist.  We respectfully ask that if it is a routine, non urgent appointment that you are looking to book, please can you call after 10am when the lines may be a little quieter

Early morning telephone appointment slots (07:15 - 08:00) are now available on a Tuesday & Wednesday they can be pre booked any day from 8am.

A limited number of routine telephone and face to face appointments are available Monday to Friday.  These appointments are available to pre-book with the doctors who are on duty on their normal routine days of work. Booking for these appointments can be made on any day during the week.  PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ONCE THEY ARE FILLED, WE DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION OF ADDING MORE APPOINTMENTS TO THE TEMPLATES.   For medical emergency appointments it is best to call as soon as possible from 8am in the morning. Reception will ask the reason for the appointment to ensure that you given the most appropriate clinician to deal with your problem.  If you have made a telephone appointment,  please assist doctors by having your phone available as the doctor may not always have time to return calls that are not answered.

Doctor Availability

• Dr Wells consults on Monday, Tuesday am, Wednesday and Thursday.
• Dr Dennis consults on a Monday.
• Dr Chadwick consults on a Monday and Tuesday.
• Dr Moehrer-Whiteley consults Wednesday, Thursday and Friday am.
• Dr Nelson consults Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday am
• Dr Davies consults on a Tuesday and Friday
• Dr O'Neill consults Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
• Dr Stewart consults on a Monday and Tuesday
• Dr McKinty consults on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
• Dr Glass consults Thursday and Friday
• Dr Baird consults on a Monday
• Dr Bradley consults on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
• Dr Dunsmore consults on a Monday

Telephone Advice

If you need to speak with a GP for urgent medical advice, please call the surgery as early in the morning as possible and the Duty GP will call you back. Please note the doctors are busy and it is not possible for them to come to the telephone unless it is an emergency. Where possible please leave a detailed message with the receptionist.

Routine telephone advice is available in booked slots.  If you call for advice or a routine telephone consultation you will be offered the next available slot with your preferred GP.  Please note that these callbacks are not usually available on the day you call.

It is essential that you are available to answer the call when the GP contacts you- due to time pressures the GP may only be able to make one phone call.

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. We have a strict DNA policy and we will follow up non-attendance of booked appointments.

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 before 10:00.

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. You should be prepared to provide suitable details to administration staff 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)