Reception is open Monday – Friday from 08:00 to 18:30. The reception staff are available for face-to-face or telephone contact throughout these times.

We close on Wednesdays from 13:00 – 14:00 for staff training, but will be available by phone for urgent calls. 

Please telephone the practice (01305 251128). The receptionist will guide you through some of the options: 

• a routine appointment with the practitioner of your choice.  The time limit for advance booking is unrestricted.
• an urgent appointment or visit the same day - you may be passed onto the triage doctor or nurse to assess your case.
• a message to call you back. These are easily passed on using our computer system. 

For patients who are not able to come to the surgery in normal opening hours we offer a booked appointment service on Wednesday evenings.  Please ask reception when booking your appointment.

The purpose of ‘Triage’ is to ensure that all patients are dealt with appropriately and that problems are dealt with urgently if necessary. Every morning we run a service for patients who request an urgent appointment or home visit.  When you request such an appointment the receptionist may tell you that you will be placed on the Triage list and that one of the medical team will call you back. You will be asked for your name, telephone number and a brief description of the problem. We will ask you to remain available until the doctor or nurse calls you back. If your condition deteriorates you should telephone the surgery again.

If you need to book a routine follow-up appointment with a particular GP, you may make an appointment several weeks ahead. Many routine appointments are for patients who have long-term conditions that require monitoring on a regular basis.  You may well be sent a letter advising that a check is due; quite often this is with the practice nurse but you will be advised within the letter which clinician you should see.  You should continue to take any usual medication while you are waiting for your appointment.

All GPs and practice nurses are available for telephone advice during surgery times or pre-booked telephone consultations.  If the clinician is  unavailable when you telephone, the receptionist will make arrangements for them to return your call.

We are working to improve access to appointments for our patients, in particular at evenings and weekends. If you would like to be offered one of these appointments, please ask. These appointments are at a different site e.g. DCH.

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.

If English is not your first language and you will have difficulty with comprehension during consultation, we have a language line service available which is strictly confidential.

We appreciate things out of your control may make you late for an appointment. If you think you are going to arrive late, please telephone ahead to the surgery. If you arrive late for a routine appointment it may not be possible to see you and you may be asked to reschedule your appointment - depending on the number of patients waiting to see the doctor or nurse for his/her remaining surgery.

The doctors and nurses try to keep to time, but this is not always possible due to the complexity of some conditions which patients present with. We would request your patience in such circumstances.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

We are sure you understand patients who fail to attend their appointments and do not inform the Practice incur significant cost to both the Practice and other patients in terms of lost appointments. We are committed to providing appointments to meet the needs of our patients but cannot replace appointments lost due to failure to attend.

Please help us to help you by always cancelling an appointment you are unable to attend or no longer need.

Patients that do not keep appointments and do not cancel them cost the NHS millions of pounds, they also waste the doctors time and deprive another patient of an appointment.

We all accept that people can forget appointments. However patients who DNA frequently will receive a letter. This letter explains that if a patient should continue to DNA without contacting the practice, they may be removed from the practice list. Should this occur, a discussion will take place with the GP whom the patient consults mostly. The decision whether to remove the patient will be taken on a case by case basis. If the decision results in removal:-

A letter will be sent informing the patient that he/she is being removed from our list and detailing the reason.

The practice has a parking area that includes spaces allocated for those with disability next to the front entrance. The building is designed to assist those with disability and there is a patient lift for those patients who are unable to use the stairs. All patient areas, including the toilets, are wheelchair accessible. We also have a ‘hearing aid loop’ facility. If you require any assistance with this please ask at reception.

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

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 am.

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 which are usually made between 11:00 and 15:00 depending on the level of urgency.

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.

We are now offering patients the facility to book appointments online. In order for you to use this please follow the following instructions:

1. Bring one of the following forms of ID into the surgery - passport, driving licence, any other photo ID (eg bus pass).
2. You will be given an Application for Online Access to My medical Record to fill in.
3. The Receptionist will then generate a letter for you which will show you your log-in details.
4. At home - when you next go into our website, click onto the link below and follow the instructions:
   https://SystmOnline.tpp-uk.com/Login?Practiceld=J81082

Using your mobile or tablet device:

Download the SystmOnline app for free from your App store. (Available for IOS and Android phones). Login using your username and password provided.

GP Registrars

We usually have a GP Registrar with us in the practice. The GP Registrars are doctors who have spent considerable time working in hospital and who are now completing their preparation for work as a GP. Sometimes you may be offered an appointment with our registrar as an alternative to your usual doctor. We hope you will find this acceptable but there is no obligation to agree.

As part of their learning and to complete their accreditation as specialist GP the registrars sometimes videotape consultations. These tapes are only viewed by other doctors and are then destroyed. You will always be informed in advance if a doctor wishes to videotape a consultation and asked to give consent in writing. At the end of the consultation the doctor will again ask if you are happy for the recording to be kept - if not it will be erased immediately.

From time-to-time our registrars also do 'combined surgeries' with one of the partners. You will always be informed about this and can say if you want to see the doctor alone.

The partners too, from time to time, may video their consultations to help them maintain and improve consulting skills.

F2 Foundation Year Doctors

The Foundation Programme is a two year programme designed to help bridge the gap between medical school and speciality training. During these two years, foundation doctors will regularly be assessed against the competences in the Foundation Programme Curriculum.

From time to time students from other healthcare professions spend time in the practice and observe all members of the team working.

Research

At times research may be undertaken in the practice, usually to answer questions about which treatments work best. Full ethical approval is always sought according to NHS guidelines. You will never be involved without being fully informed. Your records will not be released to any researchers without consent. You are absolutely free not to participate, and the care you receive will not be any different because of this.