Appointments can be made via the telephone, in person at a surgery, or using our online system.

How to make an appointment to see the Doctor

In most cases you will be offered an appointment on the day you contact us. Sometimes when we are very busy and the appointments are gone for that day you will be offered the next available appointment. You may consult any doctor, if you wish to see a specific doctor our receptionists will tell you when they are on duty. If you feel you need an appointment on the day you make the booking please call as soon as the lines open at 8.20am, and do not leave it until midday as there could be fewer appointment times available.

We also have a number of appointments in all surgeries on Tuesday to Friday which can be booked more than 48 hours in advance with the Doctor of your choice – these appointments are known as pre-bookables.

Telephone consultations are available if you do not feel its necessary to see a doctor (e.g to discuss results or medication queries). If you have a land line the doctor will call you, an exact time cannot be given.

Please remember each patient needs a separate appointment. If you feel a 10 minute appointment is not sufficient for the number of problems you/the patient needs to discuss with the doctor please ensure this is mentioned to the receptionist so that adequate time can be booked in your appointment.

We also offer video consultations at the practice. If you wish to book one of these appointments, please contact reception for more details.

Care Navigation

Over the coming months you will notice your receptionist begin to ask for a brief outline of your problem when you ring to book an appointment.

This is because we are introducing something called "Care Navigation". It means we are training receptionists and clerical staff to help them help patients by identifying the most appropriate place for their care.

Through this specialist training, our practice team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate health clinician for your needs first.

Receptionists will never offer clinical advice or triage; this new way of working is about offering you the choice to see more appropriate professionals in the practice team or even somewhere else. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker and means you may not need to see the GP at all.

By working this way, it helps to free up time for GPs to care for patients with complex or serious health conditions that can only be managed by the GP. More importantly though, it means people are seen first by the clinician that is best placed to manage their clinical problem.

The choice is always yours though and you will never be refused a GP appointment but we hope next time you contact your GP and speak with the receptionist you will see the value of seeing another health professional if they are able to help.