Non-urgent advice: COVID-19
To our valued patients,
Due to the unprecedented times we find ourselves in our normal services have been suspended, but we wanted to assure you that we’re still open.
However, in an effort to safe guard you, our patients in the building and our staff, only patients with booked appointments will be allowed onto practice premises.
All members of the public are now required to wear a face covering when coming to the surgery.
For ALL queries please call the practice on 01666 825825 or for online support and access to our online symptom checker, Doctorlink.
For medication queries please email the practice on [email protected]
For other non-clinical queries please email [email protected]
Please deposit paper repeat prescription requests or samples in the post box to the right of the front door.
For the latest information and advice from Public Health England visit https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus.
Thank you for your cooperation and support in this national effort to fight Coronavirus.
General Explanation
This surgery is fully committed to achieving the ‘Advanced Access’ appointment times and is constantly reviewing our system to offer our patients the best availability possible. All our doctors have morning, afternoon appointments with sessions running at times which are most convenient to all our patients.
Each session has a mixture of pre-bookable appointments and also some ‘on the day’ appointments’. This gives patients the flexibility to either plan and book ahead, or see a GP at short notice. The pre bookable appointments allow our patients to make an appointment up to six weeks in advance, subject to availability of course.
If you need to see a doctor urgently you will be offered an appointment on the same day, but not necessarily with your own doctor.
We have made major improvements in keeping sessions running to time but occasionally due to an unexpected emergency or an unpredicted exceptionally complex consultation delays can occur. You will be informed if appointments are running more than 30 minutes late and you can expect to be seen within 30 minutes of your appointment time or offered an alternative time.
Wherever possible we will give you 24 hours notice of any cancelled surgery or clinic.
We also provide extended service* for patients wishing to see a GP or Practice Nurse outside normal ‘working’ hours. These appointments are strictly by appointment.
*Currently Suspended due to Covid Restrictions
These additional sessions will be spread over two mornings and Saturday Morning.
| Wednesday | AM (7.30 – 8.00) | 2 GPs |
| Thursday | AM (7.30 – 8.00) PM (18.30-19.45) | 2 GPs 3GPs |
| Saturday | AM (8.30 – 11.30) | 1 GP, 1 Nurse |
Evidence
2019-2020 Patient Satisfaction Survey Results ( 2018-2019 in brackets) :
77%( 85%) of patients reported that the opening times were “good, very good or excellent’ .
Of those requesting additional opening hours:
| 7% (8%) | Early mornings |
| 3% (4%) | Lunchtimes (we have been open lunchtimes for the last 5 years!) |
| 24%(19%) | Evenings |
| 50% (41%) | Weekends |
| 30% (37%) | Satisfied with opening hours |
Booking Appointments Online
We are now able to offer you a range of online appointments with different GP’s as well as for Blood Tests via SystmOnline (Nurse Appointments will come later).
SystmOnline
If you are a new user to our online services you will need to obtain a user name and password.
To obtain this please call at reception and bring some photo identification with you (such as a passport, driving licence or student card) as we will need to verify your identification. We will not be able to give you your user name and Password without this ID verification.
For security reasons we cannot give out account details by phone, email or post. If you have a condition that prevents you getting to the surgery, you may nominate a relative or carer to collect the details on your behalf (at your own risk) by adding their details to the application form.
The Online service allows you to:
1. Book or Cancel a routine appointment with a GP
This facility is only available for routine doctors’ appointments.
We would ask that you enter a reason for your appointment in the box provided when booking an appointment as this gives us the opportunity to ensure that it is appropriate for you to see a doctor rather than a nurse.
Please be assured that all details entered are secure and cannot be intercepted. Our practice has a strict confidentiality policy. All your currently booked appointments are viewable by you online. The surgery has set a maximum of being able to book no more than two appointments at any one time online.
2. Cancel appointments online
All your currently booked appointments are cancellable online.
If you fail to attend an appointment that you have booked online the surgery reserves the right to revoke the use of online booking for a period of three months.
3. Once you’ve got your login details
Once a member of staff has given you a user name and a random password, wait an hour before trying to log in to the website.
Enter your user name and password and click Login. You will then see the SystmOnline Home Page, which shows your details and our GP practice’s contact details at the top.
Note: The services available here will depend on the services we currently provide.
You can navigate to all the online services from here, and can return to the Home Page by clicking Home in the blue menu bar, or by clicking the Back button on any page.