Appointments

The practice operates an appointment system for all consultations and the receptionist can make these for you. A range of appointment times are offered..

The idea is to spread the work over a week and to ensure that patients are seen as quickly as possible after their arrival at the health centre.  In urgent cases patients will always be seen the same day.

You may make an appointment with the doctor of your choice but if you wish to be seen quickly then you may have to accept an alternative doctor.

Please remember to make an appointment for each person to be seen and please do not make an appointment to order a repeat prescription. 

GP Locums

To ensure sufficient medical cover, we frequently employ the services of Locum GPs. They are fully accredited GPs with extensive experience and they have full access to necessary notes.

Telephone Access

Interruptions during surgery times are upsetting for both doctor and patient.  If you call, you may be asked to ring again at an alternative time.  If you wish to speak to a practice nurse, contact the receptionist who will advise you of a time.

Chaperone Policy

We operate a policy of offering a chaperone to patients during an intimate examination.  This will usually be a nurse in the treatment room. If you are not offered a chaperone but wish to have a chaperone present during any examination please ask the doctor or nurse.

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 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. 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)

Training Practice

GP Training

As an accredited GP training practice we will from time to time have a registrar and/ or doctors from the hospital.

A GP Registrar is a doctor with extensive experience in hospital positions and is completing their training with us for the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Videotaping of Consultations

For teaching purposes some consultations will be videotaped but only with the patient’s prior consent.  Patients’ participation in this will contribute to teaching, learning and assessment in medical education.