calendar_month Appointments

Appointments

We will now be using Anima for all Clinical Requests, including:

Appointment Requests with a Clinician including Advanced Nurse Practitioners and the First Contact Physio
Administrative Queries
Medication requests and or queries

If you have an accessibility need our reception team will assist you by completing an Anima form in person or over the phone. (Please see news page Total Triage for criteria)

Please use the Anima link which you can find on every page of the website.

What to expect after submitting a request

All requests are reviewed by a Healthcare Professional.

You may receive advice electronically or be offered an appointment with the most appropriate clinician. (THIS WILL BE MAINLY VIA TXT SO PLEASE KEEP YOU PHONE WITH YOU)

If an appointment is clinically indicated, we aim to offer an one on the same day or the next working day.

You may also be referred to Pharmacy First and will receive a message with instructions on how to book with a pharmacy nearby.

You may also Self Refer to Pharmacy First please go to https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/pharmacy-services/pharmacy-first/ for information on conditions that apply.

Please also be aware that Pharmacies now also offer contraception services free of charge for repeat prescriptions and for those wishing to start on the pill.

Reception and phone lines remain open for patients with accessibility needs and to book routine appointments with the nurses including:

Smear tests
Long term conditions reviews e.g. Blood Pressure, Asthma, Diabetes etc
Blood tests
Dressings
Injections
Baby IMMS

Please call the surgery on 01245 360253 or 01376 341 411 if you have accessibility needs and are unable to access Anima or need to book a routine apt with one of our nurses.

How to Cancel an Appointment

If you are unable to keep your appointment, please give us as much notice as possible so that your appointment can be offered to someone else.

If you are cancelling please telephone us on 01245 360253 as soon as possible, and at least 30 minutes before your appointment time. This will enable us to offer your appointment to someone else.

Cancellations notified less than 30 minutes before the appointment time will be recorded as failure to attend (DNA).

Repeated failure to attend booked appointments is a significant waste of NHS resources

cottage Home visits

Where possible we encourage patients to come to the surgery when they are ill as we have full facilities for investigations and treatment and can therefore provide better care than in the home.

If you are too ill to attend the surgery or housebound and require a home visit please submit a request via ANIMA before 11 a.m.

If you have accessibility needs please telephone the surgery on 01245 360 253 or 01376 341 411 and our reception team will assist you by completing the Anima form with you over the phone. Following submission of your request, the triage clinician will contact you to establish any further detail of your medical need and a visit will be allocated if necessary.

All visits are carried out after morning surgery has finished by a member of the clinical team.

ambulance Emergency on the day appointments

Please submit an Anima request and this will be triaged by a clinician who will offer a same day emergency appointment if needed.

Submit a request →

The NHS app

If you are a patient at our practice, you can use the NHS App to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet. It doesn’t replace existing services. You can still contact us in the usual ways. Once you have verified your identity in the app, you will have easy, 24/7 access to a growing range of health services and information. You can:

order repeat prescriptions
access NHS 111 online
find NHS services
view your health records
and much more…

If you have any problems using the NHS App, you can select ‘help’ in the top right-hand corner of the app or visit nhs.uk/helpmeapp. PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO DOWNLOAD THE NHS APP: www.nhsapp.service.nhs.uk/login

forward_to_inboxHelping you manage your Specialist Referrals

What You Need to Know

From October 2025, there will be a small change to how you manage your hospital or specialist referrals. You’ll now be supported directly through the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS), which gives you more control and flexibility when booking your appointment.

What happens if I’m referred?

If your GP refers you to a specialist, you may be asked to book your own appointment using the NHS e-Referral system.

You’ll receive a letter within a few weeks explaining:

What you’ve been referred for
The hospital or clinic options available to you
How to book your appointment

How to book or manage your referral

You can book or manage your appointment in a way that suits you:

Online at www.nhs.uk/referrals
By phone via the National Booking Service on 0345 608 8888 (Textphone: 0345 850 2250)
Open Monday–Friday: 8am–8pm
Weekends and bank holidays: 8am–4pm

If you have a question about your appointment or referral, please contact the hospital or service provider directly.

Additional support while you wait

We understand that waiting for specialist care can be difficult. There are local services that can help support your health and wellbeing during this time:

Essex Wellbeing Service

Offers practical, emotional, and health support.
Call 0300 303 9988 or visit the Essex Wellbeing Service website

My Planned Care

Visit www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk for estimated hospital waiting times and local support options.

Patients Know Best

If you live in Mid and South Essex, you can access your hospital information (appointments, test results, letters) through the Patients Know Best portal. Find out more here.

NHS App

Download the NHS App for quick and secure access to your referrals, prescriptions, and health advice from your phone or tablet.

assignment Tests and results

Results

Please call after 15:00 to enquire about your test results, as our reception staff will have more time to deal with your request. You can also access your results via the NHS app or online access.

Note that the practice has a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection. We will only release test results to the person to whom they relate unless that person has given prior permission for the release of this data, or they are not capable of understanding the results.

When you have your tests you will be advised roughly how long it will take for the results, blood tests are usually a week; other investigations may take longer as we have to wait for reports to be sent to us.

It is the patient’s responsibility to check their results and make an appointment with the clinician who requested the tests to discuss them in further detail, if needed or requested.

If you are registered for online access with the surgery, you can request to have full access to your medical records. This can take up to 28 days but once granted you will then be able to see your results online.

contract_delete 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.

7 days off sick or less

If you're off work sick for 7 days or less, your employer should not ask for medical evidence that you've been ill. Instead they can ask you to confirm that you've been ill. You can do this by filling in a form yourself when you return to work. This is called self-certification.

More than 7 days off sick

If you're off work sick for more than 7 days, your employer will usually ask for a fit note (or Statement of Fitness for Work) from a healthcare professional. Fit notes are sometimes referred to as medical statements or doctor's notes.

How to count sick days

When you work out the number of days that you've been sick, you need to count all the days in a row you've been sick, including days you do not usually work, such as weekends and bank holidays.

How can I get a fit note?

If you need a fit note, contact the healthcare professional treating you.

Your healthcare professional will assess you, and if they decide your health affects your fitness for work, they can issue a fit note and advise either that:

You are "not fit for work",
You "may be fit for work taking into account the following advice".

Your healthcare professional will choose the "may be fit for work" option if they think that you are able to do some work, even if it is not your usual job, with support from your employer.

Discuss this advice with your employer to see if you can return to work. For example, the healthcare professional treating you may suggest possible changes, such as:

returning to work gradually, for example, by starting part time,
temporarily working different hours,
performing different duties or tasks,
having other support to do your job. For example, if you have back pain, avoiding heavy lifting.

If your employer is unable to accommodate the changes advised by a healthcare professional, then the fit note is treated as though it said "not fit for work".

If you require an extension for you fit note please remember that this cannot be forward dated and must be done when the old note expires.
Please note that certificates can be sent via e-mail or text messages.

Self Help & Wellbeing

NHS advice when your child is unwell

Help and support for parents and carers who look after their children’s health and recognise when they are unwell.

Mental Health

It's not just your body that needs to be looked after.

Addictive Behaviour

Practical help and support to help with addictive behavior.

Travel

Health and vaccination advice when traveling outside the UK.

General Health & Conditions

Help and addvice about general health and wellnes.

The getUBetter app

A free and easy-to-use tool helping you to self-manage your muscle, bone, and joint (MSK) injuries and conditions.

NHS Screening

The NHS offers a range of screening tests to different sections of the population.

Submit a medical, admin or medication request to get the help you need.

If an appointment is clinically indicated, we aim to offer one on the same day or next working day.

Our phone lines & reception will be used for those who cannot access Anima due to accessiblity needs and or to make routine nurse appointments.

Please call the surgery on 01245 360253 or 01376 341411.