calendar_month Appointments

Making an Appointment

Appointments can be requested 2 weeks in advance, either by phone, econsult or via the NHS App. The phones open at 8 am and we now use a digital based phone system. This allows multiple calls to be dealt with enabling more patients to get through. This also means you will no longer hear an engaged tone. Calls will be held in a queue and you are informed of your position in the queue. You are also given the option for a call back without losing your position in the queue.

To make an appointment please call either 01245 360253 or 01376 341411.
Remember online booking is available using the NHS App and for routine appointments please use the econsult Service.

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.

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 investigation 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 telephone the surgery on 01245 360 253  or 01376 341 411 before 11 a.m.

You may receive a telephone call from the Nurse Practitioner or Duty Doctor to establish in more detail your medical need. The visit will then be allocated to a member of the team who may also contact you to gain more information as appropriate. All visits are carried out after morning surgery by a member of the team.

ambulance Emergency on the day appointments

If you require to see a Doctor urgently on the day, please phone as normal and you will be booked with the duty doctor as appropriate in the morning.
In the afternoon, you will be added as a phone call for the duty doctor and the receptionist will ask you briefly to explain why you are contacting the surgery.
The duty doctor will then contact you, so please have your phone with you and if they feel they need to see you at the surgery they will invite you to attend for an appointment. However, in some cases your issue maybe dealt with over the phone, saving a trip to the surgery. We also have a system where you may be asked for photos. If you have the technology to provide these images.

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

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.

For routine appointments or administrative enquiries please use this form to contact the surgery.

Please do not use this form if you require a same day appointment or require a more urgent response.

Please call the surgery on 01245 360253 or 01376 341411

Start now