Appointments
Who do I see?
Routine appointments
There are a variety of ways to access more routine care, often this will be by pre-booking a face to face or telephone appointment.
These can be requested by popping into the surgery, calling the practice, completing an online consultation form or by emailing over your request.
You can ask for a specific Dr and we will arrange for you to be seen or called in their next available clinic. If you have no preference we will will arrange for you to consult with the next available appropriate clinician.
We will advise you on the day you contact us of when you might expect to have an appointment and how we will inform you of the details of this appointment.
It is helpful if you will tell the receptionist why you require an appointment 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 appointments if you are not comfortable with this.
For telephone appointments 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. Wherever possible patients with an urgent concern should try to attend open surgery.
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 patients 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 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.
Cancel your appointmentConsult with a Doctor online
We ask there patients only use the online consulting tool for routine or administrative matters including requesting prescriptions. We will respond to your request on the same day to outline what will happen next.
For urgent care requests please attend open surgery between 8.30am and 11am or contact the surgery by telephone for timely advice.
Start hereExtended access
The surgery offers some evening appointments for routine issues 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. Only Dr Shevket and Dr Scott-Cook offer appointments after 6.30pm.
West Heath Surgery Hub
Patients also have access to extended access appointments via our hub at West Heath Surgery
Monday – Friday 6.30pm – 8pm,
Saturday 9am – 5pm and
Sunday 8am – 12noon.
Availability for the weeknight and routine weekend hub appointments should be booked via your own GP practice during their usual opening hours.
If you become acutely unwell at the weekend and require medical attention of a non-urgent nature, please call the hub on 0121 476 1135 to enquire as to availability for an acute appointment.
Telephone lines are open 9am – 2pm Saturdays and 8am – 12 noon on Sundays.
Please note, that appointments during these times are limited as this is an enhanced access service. Calling the hub will not guarantee you an appointment with a GP and you may be sign posted to a more appropriate care provider if there are no appointments available.
Whilst the GP can support you with most of your healthcare needs there are some limitations in place. The Hub practice are not able to provide medication reviews for any patients on ‘controlled medications’ and do not have the facilities to process urgent prescription requests for repeat medications.
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.
