Appointments

Urgent appointments

To request an urgent appointment:

  • Contact the surgery on 01772 285540, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm

Please avoid using online services for urgent appointments.

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or health professional to help you.

Routine appointments

To request an appointment: ·

  • Use our online form. (Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 6:30pm)
  • Phone us on 01772 285540 (Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 6:30pm)
  • Visit us and speak with a receptionist

When you get in touch with us, we will ask what you need help with. Our reception team will ask why you are contacting us. This is so we can make sure you get the right care from the right person, at the right time.

Everything you tell our staff is private. They follow the NHS rules on confidentiality, so you can speak to them safely and in confidence.

We will use the information you give us to decide what care is best for you. This might be an appointment with a doctor, nurse, or another healthcare worker, or we may suggest another service that can help.

Appointments usually last 10 minutes. If you have more than one problem to talk about, or think you may need more time, please let us know on your online form or tell the reception team when you speak to them. Longer appointments may be given depending on your needs.

Requesting help using the NHS app

You can also use the NHS app to request help. Using the services option once you have logged in, directs you to our online form.

How to access the form to contact us – 1

Tips for Submitting Your Request

To help us understand your needs and provide the right care as quickly as possible, please follow these simple steps when submitting your request online or by phone:

1. Be Clear and Specific

  • Describe your symptoms:
    Include a clear and detailed explanation of your symptoms. Let us know:
    • When they started
    • Whether they are getting better or worse
    • Any other relevant background (e.g. recent travel, contact with illness)

2. Provide Relevant Information

  • Preferred clinician:
    If you would like to be seen by a specific doctor or nurse, let us know. We’ll do our best, but this may not always be possible.
  • Contact details:
    Make sure your phone number and email address are correct, and include your preferred method of contact (text, call, email).
  • Availability:
    Let us know if there are specific times when you can’t take a call. This helps us avoid delays in getting back to you.

How we contact you about your appointment

We may get in touch with you in different ways. Sometimes we will call you on the phone. We may also send you a text message with a booking link. This link lets you choose an appointment time that works for you.

We might also contact you by email or by letter to your home address if needed.

It is very important that we have the correct phone number, mobile number, email address, and home address for you. Please check your details with us and let us know if anything changes.

Your appointment

However you choose to contact us, we may offer you a consultation:

  • by phone
  • face to face at the surgery
  • on a video call
  • by text or email

Appointments by phone, video call or by text or email can be more flexible and often means you get help sooner.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

IF YOU CANNOT KEEP AN APPOINTMENT PLEASE LET US KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

To cancel your appointment:

  • use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)
  • phone us on 01772 254484, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm. There is no need to wait to speak to a receptionist. Press 1 for our automated system to cancel or check your appointment time. The automated service is also available when we are closed.
  • use the link in your appointment reminder text message

If you need help when we are closed

If you need medical help now, use NHS 111 online or call 111.

NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

  • if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
  • if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email
  • if you need an interpreter
  • if you have any other access or communication needs

Home visits

We operate a home visit service which is reserved only for patients who are too ill or frail to come to the surgery.

We ask that where possible, all home visit requests are made before 10.30 am. This allows staff to prioritise work and make sure that patients get seen as quickly as possible.

An individual will not be eligible for a home visit if they are able to leave their home environment on their own or with minimal assistance to visit public or social recreational public services (including shopping).

We will pass the details to a clinician, who will assess priority on the basis of need. Either a visit will be arranged or an appointment will be made at the surgery.

We cannot guarantee that the patient’s usual clinician will attend.

Please remember that home visits are very time consuming for doctors. Four patients can be treated at the surgery in the time it takes to carry out a home visit. Examinations are always better conducted in the modern and well-equipped surroundings of the surgery. We therefore request that patients make every effort to attend the surgery.

Frequently asked questions

I had to wait half an hour, why?

We never know what kind of problem is going to come through our surgery door. Some can take a lot of sorting out and require longer than the allotted time.

Please be patient and remember that one day it may be yourself or a loved one who needs that extra time.

I was asked to make another appointment for some of my problems

We try and deal with matters as comprehensively as possible within each appointment but if there are an undue number of different issues, dealing with everything at once may cause us to miss something. 

I never see my named GP

As Dr Wijethilleke is the sole “partner” at the surgery he is officially everyone’s “named GP”.

You can of course see any doctor you please subject to availability. There might be one you feel more comfortable with than another and this is absolutely fine.

I was made to come to the surgery

With modern transport it is possible for most people to come to the surgery; a far greater number of patients can be given quick attention in this way.

With better facilities in the surgery, we can provide you with a higher standard of care than at home.

The house call service is solely for those who are medically housebound.

 I had to make an appointment; all I wanted was a prescription.

By issuing a prescription we have to be satisfied that what is written on it is safe and correct for you. The doctor or nurse signing the prescription is fully responsible, even if a consultant has recommended a particular treatment.

Problems can arise when hospital discharges or clinic letters are delayed in reaching us, or if we are asked to prescribe something very new, expensive or not recommended by the CCG.

Unless fully satisfied, we are required by law to obtain further information – please do not think we are meaning to be obstructive.

I had to pay!

Most services offered carry no charge. But some do involve a fee as set down by the BMA.

These include private medicals, private certificates for eg holiday cancellation, some vaccinations and vaccination certificates, passports and various other documentation not covered under NHS contracts.

Any payments to the practice will go directly to the practice itself and not to any one individual.

I wanted antibiotics and the doctor wouldn’t give me any

Antibiotics are issued on prescription to Patients with bacterial infections. When used properly they can save your life.

If used repeatedly for more minor ailments, resistance becomes more common making them less effective for all when they are really needed.

I can never get through.  They won’t answer the telephone

However many telephone lines we have, however many receptionists, there will never be enough for the busiest times of the week and we cannot always tell when those busiest times will be!