*Important Information - Changes to our Appointment System*

With effect from 1 November 2020 Frome Valley Medical Centre will be operating an on-the day appointment system.  

You now need to telephone the surgery on the day you require an appointment.  There is no need to phone ahead to book routine appointments in advance.   Our trained team of care navigators will guide you through a series of questions to ensure you are given access to the best person or service to support you.    

We believe this system will be much more efficient and will allow you access to your GP on the day that you need to be seen.   It will help reduce long waiting periods of time to see a GP and prevent appointments being booked just in case symptoms do not improve.  In turn, this helps us reduce missed appointments from patients who fail to attend and ensure that all our appointments are used by patients who need them. 

Don’t forget the many other resources available to you that may be better suited for your problem than a consultation with a GP:

• Over the counter medication
• Advice from local pharmacist
• Resources available on-line from the NHS website
• Phoning 111 and asking advice from that service
• Minor Injury Clinic
• Phoning 999 in any potential life threatening emergency

For queries that are not urgent or do not need to be directed to a GP you may want to use eConsultations – available on this website.  

To aid patients needing a consultation, we politely ask all patients phoning with a general enquiry to do so after 11:00 a.m.   

We believe this new system will be welcomed by the majority of our patients.  However, in order to continually review and adapt this will be launched as a trial three month trial period.  We would welcome all feedback, good or bad, regarding how you have found the system to work for you.   Please email bnssg.feedback@nhs.net or alternatively the Frome Valley Patient Participation Group on fvmcppg@gmail.com.  

Please see Signposting Letter to Patients to help answer your questions.

Please see Care Navigators Role for information about how you will be navigated to the most appropriate care.

Please see Clinician Consulting Days to find out which days your GP/ANP is at the surgery.

Please see our Patient Information Leaflet for more information.

Emergency Calls

These will take priority. Please tell the receptionist that you consider the problem to be an emergency so that the duty doctor can be informed. Occasionally it may be more appropriate for you to ring 999 for an ambulance directly (e.g. severe chest pains) and this may be advised.

Online Patient Access

To get started...

• Tell a member of staff at Reception you would like to start using the online service.
• You will be required to fill out a short form and sign to confirm you agree with the information on the form.
• Show 2 forms of ID to check and confirm who you are: 1x Photo ID and 1x Proof of address dated within the last 3 months.
• A letter will be printed off with your unique username and password for you to log in and start using online services.

For more information about our online services, feel free to take a leaflet from reception or click the link below.

Patient Access online Information

Please note that when you are booking a GP appointment online, you are only able to book a 10 minute routine consultation.  For specialist appointments with a GP such as Coil fittings, Implant fittings or Minor Surgery, you will have to phone the surgery and speak to a receptionist.

Improved Access

We are working together with other local practices to offer more appointments in the early mornings, evenings or at weekends.

Please ask a member of the practice team to find out more.

Chaperones

If you wish to have a chaperone present during an examination, let us know in advance and we will be happy to provide one.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many conditions and you may be seen more quickly.

Telephone Advice

If you feel that your problem could be dealt with over the telephone rather than by attending the surgery you may request a telephone call from a doctor or nurse.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else. You can do this by phoning 01454 772153, going online or cancelling via text.