To make an appointment you can either ring the surgery on 0845 674 0072 or use our online facility. Using this facility you can both make and cancel your appointments.

Do I need to see a doctor?
As always there is pressure on getting appointments with GPs and sometimes people book appointments for problems that can be dealt with in other ways. Ultimately, the decision to book a doctor's appointment rests with you but have you thought about following:

If you need a sick note - for the first 7days you need to fill out a self certificate sc2 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/sc2.pdf that can be collected from reception. If you are going to be off for more than 7days (including weekends) then you will need to see a doctor.

If you need a form filling out or simply a letter from the doctor, please speak to reception first to find out if you need an appointment. Please note that many forms and letters may incur a charge.

Do you have a cold/flu or other self-limiting illness?
It might be worth checking out your symptoms on NHS Direct or accessing patient.co.uk for lots of useful information about lots of conditions that might help you to 'self manage' your condition. Pharmacists are often able to give advice on a range of health conditions.

Are coming for a check up for your blood pressure, weight or asthma? Our nurses would normally deal with these conditions and we would recommend you book a nurse appointment. Please speak to reception about the range of conditions that nurses are trained to deal with.

 

Waiting to see a doctor
We are very aware of the length of time that people often have to wait for their appointment. We are constantly looking for ways of improving how we work but there some things you also could do to help.

Remember that appointments are only 10minutes - try not to bring a long list of problems to cram into 10minutes. We generally are only able to deal with one or two problems within 10minutes and we would rather try to deal with one problem properly than four problems inadequately. Sometimes even one problem takes much more than 10minutes. If you have a list of problems it would be wise to spend the first minute or two of your appointment deciding with the doctor what is realistic to tackle at that time and be prepared to book further appointments to cover everything

Remember that health care is unpredictable and that the doctor does not know what each person is coming to see them about. It could be a complex problem and this may take longer to sort out.

Bring something to read! This may help the time to pass and reduce your level of stress if the doctor is running late.

Types of Appointments

There are 2 main types of GP appointments: routine appointments (available 4 days in advance) and emergency appointments. Emergency appointments for people who have an urgent need for medical attention that cannot wait until a routine appointment. Note that these are shorter appointments for one problem only. Please think carefully before using these appointments!

Remember there are some evening and early morning appointments to help those who find it difficult to see a GP during the normal working day - see "opening times" for more details

Remember you can call the surgery for advice, if a face to face appointment isn't available