Appointments

We are currently only booking face to face appointments on a doctors request.  If the doctors feels that you need to be seen at the surgery then a member of the reception team will contact you to arrange this.

Due to the unsustainable pressure that we are currently facing within general practice and for the safety and well being of all of our patients and staff we have taken the decision to alter our appointment set up.

Each telephone call will be triaged in the first instance by a member of our highly trained reception team, who have been requested by our doctors, to ask certain questions to ascertain where best to place your query.  Your call will then be placed on either a triage call list for an emergency call that same day or a routine call back appointment booked for when a doctor will call you at an arranged date the near future.  If a doctor decides that you require a face to face appointment at the surgery, then a member of the reception team will contact you to arrange this.

A call back appointment is 10 mins, and a face to face appointment will now be approximately 15 minutes.

We will continue to monitor the demand, sustainability and progress of this system and make any necessary adjustments that we feel are required.

Please contact reception to book an appointment.

Telephone Consultations

Telephone consultations can also be booked for patients who would like to speak with the doctor but who cannot get to the practice for a face to face appointment.

Urgent Appointments

We recognise that illnesses are not predictable and so there are urgent appointments available each day. These appointments are for acute conditions that have just arisen and not for the treatment of ongoing conditions.

For a new or emergency appointment we use a telephone triage system. A GP will phone you back and discuss your problem with you. They will try and help guide you to ensure the most effective outcome for you. This may involve arranging investigations prior to the appointment or signposting you to the GP who has a specialist interest in your problem. We obviously understand it’s not always convenient to be phoned back if you’re working so if necessary please leave a time window when you can be contacted. We will endeavour to phone you back during that time but please be aware that sometimes the volume of contacts we get may mean it is not always possible to keep to this.

These appointments are only five minutes duration and therefore the Doctor will only be able to discuss the urgent problem. Please call as early as possible and provide the receptionist with some details of your condition.

Consultation Times – Parkwood Drive Surgery

Monday – 08:30 – 12:00 then 15:30 – 20:00
Tuesday – 07:00 – 12:00 then 15:30 – 18:00
Wednesday – 07:00 – 12:00 then 15:30 – 18:00
Thursday – 08:30 – 12:00 then 13:30 – 18:00
Friday – 08:30 – 12:00 then 13:30 – 18:00

Alternate Saturdays: 09:00 – 12:15 (pre-booked appointments only)

The Surgery is closed from 12:30 to 13:30 every Thursday for staff training.

Carers

We understand how difficult it is being a carer and how awkward it can be arranging appointments to fit in with your caring duties.
Please complete our Register a Carer form. When making an appointment please mention that you are a carer and we will be as flexible as we can to try to help you.

Cancel Appointments

Each week, an average of fifty appointments are wasted as a result of patients failing to notify the Surgery of their inability to attend a booked appointment. If you are unable to attend your appointment, or no longer require the appointment, please let us know if you need to cancel an appointment.

If the appointment that you wish to cancel is within the next 48 hours, please phone the surgery to cancel this appointment.

If a patient regularly fails to attend booked appointments, or fails to advise the Surgery that they are unable to attend, consideration will be given to removing that patient from the Practice list.

Changes to booked appointments

We will endeavour to notify you of any changes that we need to make to your appointment, or the appointment system, as soon as reasonably possible.

This may be via a phone call or a text message.