Booking an appointment
You must request an appointment online as your first method of contact for treatment & advice. Requests made online for non-urgent problems can be made during 7am to 10am Monday to Friday. If your online request is submitted before 10am you will receive a response by the end of the next working day.
For those patients who do not have access to the internet or struggle with technology. You can either telephone the surgery or call into reception, where a receptionist will complete a Patchs request on your behalf.
You can submit a Patchs request on behalf of someone you care for. To do this you will need to log into your own account and select your name in the right hand corner and then select “People I care for”
Pre-bookable appointments:
Several appointments are released up to 2 weeks in advance
24/48 hour appointments:
Several appointments are released 1-2 days in advance.
Book on the day appointments:
Several appointments are reserved for that day. This allows patients who are ill on the day to be dealt with quickly via telephone/ video consultations or face to face appointment.
Appointments are released automatically by the computer system.
When all appointments are taken, Doctors will fit in patients as an emergency if deemed appropriate.
The appointment system is constantly being reviewed.
Extended Access appointments:
We offer an “Extended Hours Service” on certain days of the week. A limited number of telephone consultations are available with our doctors. They are available between 7:30 am – 8:00 am & 18.00 pm – 19.00pm (please enquire at reception about telephone consultation access).
This service is aimed at providing access for patients who find it difficult to attend during our normal opening times. The extended hour appointments are for working people or school age children. For more information about this service please contact our reception staff. We also have appointments with our nursing team during the extended hour service.
Enhanced Access appointments:
We offer an “Enhanced Access service” available Monday – Friday between the hours of 8.30am – 9.00pm via various appointment locations including, 1 Manchester Road, Orford Jubilee, Westbrook and Culcheth Medical Centre.
Appointments offered include –
- GP
- Paramedics for acute problems i.e. sore throats/ ear ache
- Practice Nurse including chronic disease reviews, Cervical Screening, injections, Health Checks and blood tests
- Physio
- Social Prescriber
*Please note if you currently have an appointment booked with the Enhanced Access Team and are unable to attend please call 01925 387042
Should you require an appointment please use PATCHs.
PLEASE DO NOT ABUSE THE RECEPTIONISTS IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO GET THE APPOINTMENT OF YOUR CHOICE, THEY ARE WORKING WITH THE APPOINTMENTS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO THEM AND ACCORDING TO THE DOCTORS WISHES .
Home visits
If possible please try to telephone reception before 10:30am if you require a home visit.
A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.
House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.
Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Health Centre.
