How Do I...
Make An Appointment?

The practice can be contacted from 8.00 am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday for emergencies and general enquiries. The appointment lines open from 8.15am to 12 noon and 2.00pm to 6pm.

We offer a range of appointments throughout the day including urgent appointments for the same day, telephone consultations and routine appointments which can be booked up to six weeks in advance. When calling the appointment line, please choose from the following options:

• OPTION 1: URGENT appointments for today or medical advice and you will be connected to the triage team. The triage team consists of doctors and nurses who are trained to assess your problem, give advice and arrange prescriptions or an appointment as appropriate.
• OPTION 2: ROUTINE appointments for not so urgent or ongoing problems. These appointments can be booked up to six weeks in advance.
• OPTION 3: MEDICAL EMERGENCY connects you directly to the EMERGENCY desk where urgent advice or assistance will be arranged.

Appointments can be made by telephone or in person at either surgery. A single appointment is for 10 minutes. Should you wish to have a longer consultation, please ask the receptionist when making the appointment as this will help avoid delays for other patients.

You may be accompanied by a relative or a friend at any consultation, but please introduce them to your doctor at the beginning of the consultation. If you would like a chaperone to be present during any intimate examination, please ask the clinician before the examination commences.

Practice Nurses

Park Surgery Monday to Friday 9.00am - 12 noon
St Francis Surgery Monday to Friday 9.00am - 12 noon and 2.00 - 5.30pm

The practice nurses specialise in asthma, diabetes, family planning and travel. They are also available for enquiries by telephoning 0844 477 8957 option 4.

How Do I...
Obtain Telephone Advice?

Medical advice can be obtained at any time by telephoning NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or by visiting their website at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

Telephone Consultations

If you feel your problem might be resolved by a telephone call, an appointment time will be given and the doctor will ring the patient.

How Do I...
Obtain A Home Visit?

For other emergencies please telephone the surgery option 3 and speak to a receptionist. A doctor will contact you to assess the problem and the best way forward.
For housebound patients, requests can be made by telephoning the surgery between 8.00am and 6.30pm. We ask that requests for non-urgent emergency home visits are made before 10.00am.

Please call 0844 477 8957 option 4 or 5 to talk to a receptionist. You will be asked for some medical information at this time, which will help us to prioritise the visit.

How Do I...
Obtain Test Results?

You may phone for the results of tests on 0844 477 8957 option 4 or 5 but please remember the following points:

1. Results will only be given to the specific patient to whom they apply. In the interest of confidentiality please be prepared to identify yourself. Please do not phone for results for friends/relatives without prior arrangement (written consent may be required).
2. The surgery tends to be at its quietest after 2.00pm and the receptionist will have more time then to deal with your enquiry. Checking results is time-consuming and requests at other times may result in you being asked to call back later.
3. You will need to know the specific test results that you require. Some tests take longer than others to process. If you have had several tests the receptionist will not necessarily know whether all the results are back unless you can identify them.
4. Please do not expect the receptionists to have any medical knowledge. They are only instructed to tell you if your test is normal. If any test is abnormal or you require further discussion or interpretation then please refer to your doctor.

We do hundreds of tests and we cannot contact you all with your results, so we leave this responsibility with you. We do, however, ensure that all test results are seen by a doctor.