Routine Appointments
Our appointment system comprises of mainly face to face appointments. Our appointments with the Doctors and Nurse practitioner can be booked up to one week in advance. Appointments can be booked in a number of ways, via the telephone, in person at reception or on-line
- Patient Partner – You can use patient partner 24 hours a day 7 days a week by contacting the surgery telephone number and selecting option one, this will direct you through to our automated appointment system which will allow you to book available appointments, or cancel any booked appointments you may have. All you need to access this service is you date of birth and contact telephone number.
- Online – You can ask at Reception for an online access form which will allow you to book appointments online. However will need proof of ID before we can provide you with your login and password details. Please contact Reception for further information on this service.
- By Telephone – You can contact the surgery on 0191 2196975 and select option 2 during our opening hours. This will connect you to one of our friendly receptionists to arrange an appointment.
- Same day help for your poorly child If your child has become unwell in the last few days and you would like urgent advice then please contact the surgery and we will arrange for a clinician to speak to you and if necessary to see your child, today – this could save you an unnecessary trip to A+E or a Walk-in Centre. Can we also make you aware of the Little Orange Book, which provides expert help for parents and carers on how to manage common problems in babies and small children – ask your GP for a copy, or view it online here
Please give the receptionist a brief idea of the problem you have so that you are booked in with the most appropriate person to meet your needs. Don’t be offended when they ask for information, they are not being nosey, they have been asked to do so by the doctors. If you really don’t want to give this information please simply say its personal and the receptionist will note that.
Please cancel your appointment if you are unable to attend, this means we can offer it to someone that needs it.
Please do not attend appointments if you think you a contagious illness/infection without informing the surgery first. This could include norovirus , diarrhoea and vomiting flu and singles. This will give us the option of providing a side room while waiting to be seen. A further list is available on NHS choices. If you are not sure, please ring and check with reception.
Please be patient. We always try our very best to keep the appointments on time but sometimes there are cases where patients are a lot more poorly than they think they are. These cases take longer for the doctor to deal with. The reception will always inform patients of delays where possible. if you feel that you can’t wait please speak to the reception staff who will re book your appointment.
We appreciate that it can be difficult at times to make appointments and so we have tried to adapt and facilitate this with a variety of approaches to accommodate individual needs.
Urgent/ Same Day Appointments
Every day we have an ‘on-call’ clinician. The on-call clinician does not have pre-booked appointments that day. All Urgent appointment requests and queries are passed to the on-call clinician. The clinician will then call you back to assess if your need is urgent for that day and whether your probe can be dealt with over the phone. If the clinician feels you do need to be seen that day they will arrange an agreed time for you to come to the surgery to be seen.
Only request an urgent appointment if your problem is clinically urgent. Sick notes, Private medical reports and medication queries can all be dealt with in an alternative way and these are not reasons to book an urgent appointment
Please read the following before you make an appointment. It will help you to decide if you need an appointment to see a doctor or a nurse, and if you so, which one might be the best choice to help with your particular problem.
Patient Signposting
Medication Reviews – Doctors tend to review patients who are on multiple drugs but the Practice Nurses can review some patients who have chronic diseases e.g. Diabetes, Hypertension, COPD and Asthma. Ask the Receptionist who you should book in with for your review.
Contraception
Contraceptive Pill repeats – Practice Nurses
Minor Surgery Clinic – Appointment only following GP Review
- For new and removal of implant and IUCD contraceptive services
- Joint Injections
- Lumps and bumps
Weight Management – Practice Nurses and Healthcare Assistant
Fit Notes (previously Sick Notes) – see Fit Note Employee Guide
Check with the Receptionist to find out if it is necessary to see a doctor in order to get a fit note. If you have recently been discharged from hospital or have an ongoing problem then you may be able to request one on the telephone.
Test Results and Hospital Letters – Please ring the surgery after lunchtime to see if it is necessary to make a further appointment to discuss the results of any tests or investigations.
To make an appointment telephone 0191 2196975 or use Patient Access to access on line appointment booking.
If you are not registered for ‘Patient Online’, you can follow the most relevant or appropriate step-by-step guide below to gain access.
Double appointments are at the discretion of the doctor. Do not make double appointments on line as they will be altered to a single appointment.
Previously we have had problems with patients who failed to attend for their appointments. This resulted in a waste of the doctors and nurses time and also contributed to a shortage of appointments. Studies have shown that patients simply forget if they make an appointment too far in advance.
As a result of this, two thirds of our appointments are released only 24 hours in advance
We appreciate that that some people like to make an appointment further in advance, to fit in with work and family, so the remainder of our appointments are released one week in advance. These are at various times of the day.
We will endeavour to give you an appointment with the doctor of your choice but due to pressure on our appointment system, this is not always possible.
Appointment reminders
The practice uses a system called Medical Messenger to communicate certain pieces of information to patients who have access to a smartphone. With your consent, we can send an automated text message to remind you of your appointment or to offer you health promotion advice such as the availability of ‘flu vaccines for those in at risk groups. To use this service to its fullest, please search for Medical Messenger’ in your appropriate app store.
The Medical Messenger service allows practices to communicate with patients through an app called the Medical Messenger, which is installed on your mobile phone. It is a free type of messaging. Medical Messenger messages are very similar to text messages.
Practice Nurse
Appointments are available every day and can be made at least 4 weeks in advance.