Appointments
Routine appointments
There are a variety of ways to access more routine care, this could be by pre-booking a face to face or telephone appointment.
As well as the traditional face to face consultations we also offer telephone consultations. These can be requested by calling the practice or by emailing over your request. You can ask for a specific Dr and they will call in their next available clinic – we will advise you as to when you can expect the call. It is helpful if you will tell the receptionist why you require a Dr to telephone just in case they can resolve your issue, arrange a prescription/Dr’s note or signpost you to a more appropriate service. You can always refuse to disclose the nature of the problem for these routine call backs if you are not comfortable with this.
We will ask you to confirm your current telephone number and we do not always have a caller display so you will need to have your number to hand.
We cannot promise a same day call back for more urgent issues – we will if we can but this depends entirely on the number of GPs available and what other clinics are already booked that day.
As well as GPs the surgery has a variety of other clinicians who you might be booked to see dependent on the nature of your problem. It is always our intention for you to see the right person at the right time so please follow the guidance of our reception team who are all trained to provide care navigation advice.
Urgent appointments
Urgent, same day consultations are for problems that will not wait – please do not use them for medication, sick notes or ongoing problems that can safely wait.
At Woodland Road Surgery we like to make it as easy as possible for our patient to see a GP. To achieve this we operate morning walk in clinics. You will often hear this referred to as ‘Open’. However to keep these clinics running we do have a few rules –
Open Morning Rules –
- Attend in person with a new problem or symptom – no 8am calls needed
- Arrive any time between 8.30am and 11am – it actually works better if not everyone arrives at 8.30am so consider if you might be able to come in later in the session
- Book in at reception and give the staff your personal details and the nature of the problem
- One patient with ONE problem
- NO requests for medication or sick notes – use the separate processes available
- No minor illness that can be treated at the pharmacy – we can and will refer you to a local pharmacy instead
- We will on occasion arrange for you to be seen by a clinician who isn’t a GP – for example we might have our first contact physio available to see you. Please understand you will be seen by the most appropriate clinician for your problem.
- You will see the next available clinician when it is your turn – you will be able to specify a preference (and you can still request male/female clinician) but we can’t always guarantee you will see your preferred clinician particularly if open is very busy or a lot of patients want to see the same person
- If you are taking time out of work or school then we can provide you with an appointment card as evidence that you were attending an appointment
We understand that not everyone likes this system however we do also offer appointments that can be booked in advance, although there may be a wait of several days. We have asked previously tried an appointment based system and the feedback was very negative and most patients wanted us to bring back open surgery as soon as possible. We are a small team and we can only deliver one type of service.
OPEN SURGERY WILL NOT BE OPERATING IN THE AFTERNOON
Cancelling your appointment
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.
Extended access
The surgery offers some evening appointments so that patients can be seen after 6.30pm, these must be booked in advance. Please speak to a receptionist should you wish to arrange an evening consultation with one of our GP’s.
In addition we offer early morning telephone consultations, again these have to be booked in advance and are arranged by speaking with a member of our reception team.
You might also be offered an appointment to speak to a clinician based at our local hub (West Heath Surgery), this will be arranged for you by one of our receptionists and they will advise whether the appointment is on the telephone, by video call or in person.
Home visits
If possible please try to telephone reception before 10:30 if you require a home visit.
You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed.
If you request a home visit and are not housebound then a GP will call you to assess whether a one off visit is appropriate.
You can be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.
