Pharmacy First

Before making an appointment please consider if your local pharmacy can help first. Community Pharmacists are highly trained experts and can help with common illnesses as well as medication queries. Your pharmacist can normally see you without an appointment and could help a lot faster than a GP.

GP Appointments

From 2 September 2026, requesting a GP appointment at Elm Lodge Surgery means completing a short consultation form first. One of our GPs reviews what you've told us and decides the best way to help, rather than appointments being given out in the order calls come in.

This means you no longer need to call right at 8am for a same-day appointment, and it helps make sure patients with the most urgent needs are seen soonest.

We are fortunate to have regular male and female doctors. If you would like to discuss an intimate matter please let us know if you would prefer to see a GP of a particular gender. We are also happy to arrange a chaperone for any consultation if this would help put you at ease.

Please click here for more information about how to use our new GP appointment system.

Home Visits

We know that some of our patients are housebound and unable to visit the surgery. Please let us know as early in the day as possible if you need to request a home visit.

Avoiding A&E

Our local hospital A&E departments are very busy. Please use them when you have an accident or an emergency, but not for more minor medical problems. Please call for advice if you have a medical concern.

Minor Eye Condition Scheme

You do not need to see a GP about many eye conditions. You can book directly to have a free assessment with a local optometrist through the Minor Eye Condition Scheme.

Antenatal Self-Referral

Our local hospitals ask that you self-refer for antenatal care: Kings College Hospital and Guys and St Thomas Hospitals. There is no need to see a GP unless you have a specific concern.

Waiting

Some problems take longer to sort out than others and surgeries may run late. Please do bear with us. We do try to keep our waiting times to a minimum.

Unhappy With Your Last Appointment?

Our clinical team try to treat all our patients with care and professionalism. A good GP-patient relationship is a human interaction built on trust and respect in both directions. However sometimes consultations do not go as well as we would like.

If you are dissatisfied with your last appointment at the surgery and your medical condition is not getting better please do book another appointment either with the same clinician or another member of the team.