Making an Appointment
Click to Make/Cancel an Appointment Online
Download the SystmOnline app for your phone
If you want to see a doctor
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all our reception team are trained care navigators, they will ask you a series of questions in regards to your appointment requirements. This is not to be nosy or to stop you seeing a doctor, this is purely to help you to see the right person the first time.
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we offer 14 day pre-bookable appointments, on the day routine and urgent on the day appointments. our telephone lines open at 8.30am. the reception staff are unable to book anything prior to this for same day appointments.
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We always have a certain number of appointments available every morning. sadly Once these are gone, they are gone! if, following care navigation you need to be seen you may be offered an extended access appointment. please see below for further details.
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remember that the surgery is BUSY and we do not like to keep our patients waiting but often, it cannot be helped because there are lots of patients wanting to see us. So please do not moan about the waiting time when you see the doctor. It wastes further time and the doctor already has enough on their plate. Please do not add to it. Treat the doctor with respect. Remember, we have squeezed you in today so be kind and fair in return, despite the wait.
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Please do not keep going up to the reception desk and asking when you will be seen. Please sit down and be patient. We are trying out best and it does not help if patients add to the workload by intermittently going up to the reception desk.
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If you have been booked in successfully, you will be seen. Please sit down and relax.
If you want to see a doctor at any other time…
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If you’ve registered with online access – why not book the appointment online. It’s dead easy and our reception staff will show you how to do it.
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Alternatively, you can ring the surgery and book an appointment over the phone.
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If the doctor or nurse has asked to see you again, please try to book it before you leave the surgery. We are able to offer upto 3 weeks in advance. Don’t leave it til the last minute because the chances are that doctor will be fully booked up by then!
There are other alternatives…
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Ask yourself – does your problem really need to be sorted by a GP? Can the practice nurse help? What about your local pharmacist? How about our in-house pharmacy team (if it is something to do with your medication).
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You can alway call 111 on the phone and ask those qualified health professionals for advice. They are open 24 hours a day.
And don’t forget
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On Thursdays we are closed for training from 1-3pm
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We are also closed during weekends and Bank Holidays
To help us…
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If you are wanting to book an appointment with the doctor or nurse, and it is NOT for the same day, please ring after 11am when are phones quieten down a little.
- If it is for the same day, remember you have to pop down and see us in person first. Get here around 8am. By 10am, often everything for that day is gone.
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Although we are open until 6pm, please do not leave everything until the last minute. We often get surges of patients ringing at 5.45pm when they could have called earlier (and the doctor was more available). The earlier you call, the better.
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Book routine appointments online. It’s easy and you don’t have to wait for us to answer the phone! Ask at reception for more details.
- We usually have 3 weeks worth of appointments available in advance. If your doctor asks to see you within 2 weeks – book it BEFORE you leave the surgery. In that way, you are more likely to secure the appointment. If your doctor asks to see you in say 4 week, then wait one week, and then ring the surgery to book an appointment in 3 weeks time. You may need to put a reminder in your diary, but this method gives you the best chance of getting an appointment for when you need it.
These are appointments where you feel you do not need to be seen on the same day. In other words, the issue for which you require help can wait a little.
Routine Appointments
- Can be made by telephone (ring after 11am) or the web (through our online access service)
- Appointments can be booked up to 3 weeks in advance.
- Please make a separate appointment if more than one member of the family is to be seen.
- Appointments for minor surgical procedures and joint injections will need an appointment with the nurse and the doctor for 20-30 minutes depending on the nature of the procedure being performed.
- Please generally stick to one problem per 10 minute appointment. Otherwise doctors run late, each problem might not get the attention they require, and other patients unfairly kept waiting. (Thank you xxxx)
For consultations that cannot wait for a routine appointment, we will try to give you an appointment on the same day.
Same Day Appointments
- As you will be calling to see the doctor at short notice, please accept that you will probably not see the doctor of your choice.
- If all the appointments for the day are booked up you will be asked to attend the following day and try again.
- The emergency surgery is for patients who are really unwell and need to be seen ASAP. Please do not book into this service if you do not have a medical emergency – it’s unfair on our patients who are very ill. Remember, the emergency surgery is NOT for things that you think are urgent to you but are not in fact medical emergencies. Neither are they for things that are important to you but again are not medical emergencies. In a nutshell, it is for proper medical emergencies.
- Please also help us and other patients needing emergency attention by not requesting repeat certificates, repeat prescriptions, signing of passports or referrals and long standing medical problems in the same day surgeries
Please try not to demand to be seen the same day if you medical problem is not urgent.
Look at this…
Over a WEEK: the number of patients who do not turn up for their appointment
Over a MONTH: the number of patients who do not turn up for their appointment
Over a YEAR: the number of patients who do not turn up for their appointment
If these patients had cancelled, we could offer another nearly 500 extra appointments per month to other patients who are desperate to see us. Remember – you can cancel by ringing us or via the web. And try and give us at least 3 hours cancellation notice.
Are you new to online booking?
You can also book and cancel appointments online through this website. If you haven’t done this before then you will need to obtain a pin number/password from reception. Click here to learn more…
Our medical computer system is called SystmOne – note the absence of an e in the word Systm. If you know your username and password and wish to log in, please go to the following link… https://systmonline.tpp-uk.com
Try to see the same doctor for the same health problem
You do not have to see the doctor that you are registered under; you can see any of the doctors working in our surgery. However, for a particular problem, we suggest you keep seeing the same doctor so that they can build up a better picture of what is going on through repeat consultations and therefore help you better. Please don’t hop around from one doctor to the next about the same problem unless you’re not happy with the first doctor you saw. The consequences of this are
- You have to keep re-telling your medical story right from the beginning each time – and that can be frustrating.
- The previous doctor you saw would have had a plan to follow you up. If you see a new doctor, they have to start from the beginning again because it will be difficult to pick up from where the last doctor left off.
- Yes, our doctors do keep medical notes and you might wonder why a new doctor can’t just pick up from where the last doctor left it. The reason is that not everything that had been discussed in the last consultation can be captured in a few lines of text.
- And finally, with the new doctor having to start all over again means time just gets wasted, you feel stuck, the doctor overruns and other patients are kept waiting!
So, please try and see the same doctor for the same problem. By all means see a different doctor for a new medical problem.
How can I get to see the same doctor? It is difficult!
Sometimes patients say that they find it difficult to see the same doctor twice at our surgery – in fact this is a common complaint made against most surgeries in the UK. However, it is possible to see the same doctor in our surgery providing you book in advance – we can book patients up to 4 weeks in advance. Patients who complain about not being able to see the same doctor have usually left things until the last minute and have wanted to see the doctor there and then (or during the week in which they have called). They fail to realise that the doctor may be full up with our other patients or have other medical activities scheduled in.
But we have a great suggestion for you….
- If you have seen a doctor and you have been told to see them again in say 4 weeks’ time, then please make an appointment to see that doctor BEFORE you leave the surgery (rather than leaving it until the third or fourth week).
- We can almost always offer an appointment this way.
- By all means, go home and book it online – BUT the key point is to do it straight away and in advance.
Why does my doctor always run late? It really annoys me.
Appointments are booked at intervals of 10 minutes. Every effort is made to keep to these times. However, it is not uncommon for the doctor to start running behind schedule because the nature of our work is such that we cannot predict what a patient will bring to us to discuss.
Yes, sometimes a patient might come with something trivial like a cold or runny nose. But more often, patients bring in more complicated things, like going through a divorce, being depressed, feeling anxious or unhappy with life. And sometimes we have to tell patients bad news (like telling them they have diabetes or cancer) – which is always difficult to do and requires patience and sensitivity. The point is that these things require time. Imagine if you were in one of these positions and the doctor said after 10 minutes ‘I am sorry your time is up’, wouldn’t you feel that we didn’t care? In fact, isn’t that the time you would hope someone would get the greatest support from us?
We hope you can see how difficult the job can be for anyone working in the medical return. Don’t get us wrong – we love doing our jobs because we love helping people. And of course, we will tell you if a surgery is running terribly late. But please – in return, we ask for patience and understanding – to both the medical professionals and the reception staff.
We really appreciate it x
What if I turn up late for my appointment?
Please try and arrive a little earlier than your scheduled appointment. You need to arrive on time otherwise the surgery will have to ask you to re-book your appointment. The main reason is that other patients would otherwise have to be kept unfairly waiting – they will have turned up on time, but will end up seeing the doctor late because the doctor is now dealing with you. We would politely like to ask if you would be happy if you were the other patient in this situation?
We do appreciate that our surgeries often run behind and we keep you waiting – but this often because of a variety of reasons (outlined below). If we allow patients to start turning up late for their appointments, this will only make the surgeries run even more behind. We are sure that as our patient, you would not want that. Thank you for your understanding.
Why doctors run late….
Appointments are booked at intervals of 10 minutes. Every effort is made to keep to these times. However, it is not uncommon for the doctor to start running behind schedule because the nature of our work is such that we cannot predict what a patient will bring to us to discuss.
Yes, sometimes a patient might come with something trivial like a cold or runny nose. But more often, patients bring in more complicated things, like going through a divorce, being depressed, feeling anxious or unhappy with life. And sometimes we have to tell patients bad news (like telling them they have diabetes or cancer) – which is always difficult to do and requires patience and sensitivity. The point is that these things require time. Imagine if you were in one of these positions and the doctor said after 10 minutes ‘I am sorry your time is up’, wouldn’t you feel that we didn’t care? In fact, isn’t that the time you would hope someone would get the greatest support from us?
We hope you can see how difficult the job can be for anyone working in the medical return. Don’t get us wrong – we love doing our jobs because we love helping people. And of course, we will tell you if a surgery is running terribly late. But please – in return, we ask for patience and understanding – to both the medical professionals and the reception staff. We really appreciate it x
I need to get a form filled in or make an appointment to for a medical examination. What do I do?
An appointment for an official medical (like a HGV renewal license, or application to the army or health insurance) usually requires a half hour slot. Appointments for medicals are performed in the afternoon only and will need to be pre-booked in advance.
- Please ring us or call in.
- Tell the receptionist that you wish to have an appointment for a medical.
- Please remember to bring any documentation you have with you.
- Also note that there will be a charge for medicals performed in the surgery. Please check with the receptionist. We charge because this type of work is not covered by the NHS.
- A full list of our fees can be found here…