Appointments

As a practice we are constantly reviewing our appointment system to ensure that we meet the needs of our patients. This has been especially important during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

So that we can get the right type of help for you our trained Patient Advisers will ask you for some information regarding the reason for your call. This information will help us to put you in contact with the most appropriate member of our team: either a doctor, nurse or other healthcare clinician such as a physiotherapist or social prescriber (see more details under services). All information is secure and confidential, and all calls are recorded.

You can request a doctor of your choice, but if that doctor is not available you will be offered another doctor/clinician. If a doctor wishes to see you for follow up of a medical condition, the Patient Advisors will pre-book you a routine appointment up to two weeks in advance, as it is helpful for continuity of care to try to see the same person.

If you are attending with more than one issue or concern, please let the doctor know at the beginning of your consultation. This will allow the doctor to prioritise which issue is of most concern in case there is not enough time to deal with everything. If you are asked to attend for another consultation to deal with further issues as there is not enough time to deal with them properly, please do not be offended. An appointment with a doctor is usually for ten minutes.

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible so that we can offer the consultation time to someone else and avoid wasting valuable NHS resources.

If you have a medical emergency and need immediate assistance you should ring 01736 710505 or dial ‘999’ and ask for the ambulance service. Please see the section entitled ‘What do I do in an emergency’ for more information.

BOOKING AN APPOINTMENT WITH A DOCTOR UP TO TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE:

Please contact the surgery by telephone, selecting option one. Try to avoid ringing first thing in the morning, as patients who need urgent on the day appointments are trying to reach us and the lines can be busy.

There are a proportion of consultations each day that can be booked for a routine appointment with a doctor up to two weeks in advance. Each day, the appointments in two weeks time are released.

The Patient Advisors will help you to decide whether you wish to arrange a face-to-face consultation at the surgery, or whether you wish to have a telephone consultation. There are some conditions, such as skin lesions and rashes that are likely to need a face-to-face consultation; however discussing test results over the telephone may be more convenient for you than having to travel to the surgery. If you opt to have a telephone consultation and subsequently need examination, it is likely that this would have to be booked on another day due to capacity in the system.

All appointments are at set times; as we are aware that this helps patients in planning work and other commitments.

Patients will shortly be able to book an appointment with a GP online. You must put in a reason for the appointment. You can either attend in person, or have a telephone consultation; please state your preference in the appointment reason text box. Please be aware that it is impossible to examine you over the telephone, if you needed an examination you would have to make another appointment on another day; so please choose carefully when booking.

BOOKING A MINOR ILLNESS APPOINTMENT ON THE DAY:

Our practice nurse has undertaken specialist training and offers minor illness appointments every day; appointments are booked on the day. She deals with the majority of presenting problems without reference to a doctor. She is able to prescribe the full range of medications. Conditions such as those listed below will be treated and prescriptions provided as necessary:

Upper respiratory conditions – coughs, colds, flu, sore throats, sinusitis, earache, hayfever, ear infections, chest infections, tonsillitis
Ophthalmic conditions – conjunctivitis, styes, sore eyes
Gynaecological conditions – thrush, vaginal discharge
Urological conditions – urine infection
Emergency Contraception, follow up for contraception and advice
Dermatological conditions – skin rash, insect bites, eczema, wounds, burns
Exacerbations –COPD, Asthma
Diabetic problems

BOOKING AN APPOINTMENT WITH A DOCTOR ON THE DAY:

Please contact the surgery by telephone, selecting option one, as early as possible on the day.

There are a proportion of consultations each day, that can be booked on the day for an appointment with a doctor.

The Patient Advisors will help you to decide whether you wish to arrange a face-to-face consultation at the surgery, or whether you wish to have a telephone consultation. If you opt to have a telephone consultation and subsequently need examination, it is likely that this would have to be booked on another day due to capacity in the system.

Once the appointments system has reached capacity, we will only be able to offer patients who require URGENT medical assistance contact with a doctor. The Patient Advisors are trained to help identify those issues that are urgent, following Practice protocols. Details of patients requiring urgent care will be taken and passed onto the doctor who is on-call for emergencies. That doctor will triage all requests and prioritise patients accordingly.

BOOKING APPONITMENTS WITH OUR PRACTICE NURSES, ASSISTANT PRACTITIONERS AND HEALTH CARE ASSISTANTS:

You can book appointments with our Practice Nurses, Assistant Practitioners and Health Care Assistants up to four weeks in advance. The majority of consultations will be face-to-face, but it may be possible to arrange some routine check-ups by telephone consultation. The Patient Advisors will advise you whether a telephone consultation is appropriate.

You can book appointments ON-LINE for blood tests (if authorised by a doctor), blood pressure checks and INR Warfarin checks. We are hoping to increase the use of on-line appointment booking as this can be very convenient for patients and easy to access.

You will need to register for 'Patient Access'; see our online services section for more details. Please contact enquiries.marazionsurgery@nhs.net with your name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address.

ONLINE REQUESTS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE AND ROUTINE MEDICAL ENQUIRIES:

You can contact the Practice using the link on our Home page. This can be for routine administrative queries, self-help information or routine non-urgent medical advice. Please do not use this in a medical emergency. All requests for sick notes should be made using this facility.

Private Medical Examinations & Paperwork

Please speak to a receptionist to arrange a private medical examination, such as for HGV or DVLA; these can not be fitted in during an NHS Clinic.

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We have received a lot of positive feedback about the new system which started on 11th April. Thank you all for your support during this transition!