Appointments

BOOKING APPOINTMENTS

 

HeartWood Medical Practice offers appointments with all clinicians which are available to book in advance. In most cases appointments can be booked up to 6 weeks ahead.

 

If you know that your medication review is due in the next month or so, or if you have a non-urgent medical problem for which you need advice then please ensure you book your appointments in advance.

 

Appointments for Urgent Medical Problems or Emergencies

 

·         Heartwood clinicians will always endeavour to see you as soon as possible should you have an emergency medical need.

·         We have emergency appointments available every day for EMERGENCIES ONLY.

·         We have a doctor assigned to cover for medical emergencies or urgent problems every day.

·         However we really do need your cooperation to ensure that medical emergencies are prioritised. Over the last few months we have had increasing numbers of patients trying to access emergency appointments for routine issues. This prevents us from seeing genuine emergency cases.

 

It is Heartwood policy for the clinician to inform you of other services, treatment or appointment options that may have been more appropriate if your problem is deemed to not be of an emergency nature.

 

If all emergency appointments have been filled you will be offered a telephone call from the emergency Dr who will be able to assess the urgency of any advice, assessment or treatment that may be required.

 

Telephone Appointments

 

We now offer a limited number of telephone call-back appointments each day for routine issues that not require a face-to-face appointment; i.e. for discussing test results or medical certificates.

 

Internet Booking

 

You can register on-line to book appointments and request repeat prescriptions. For more information visit the practice website below.

 

Missed appointments

 

Every day many appointments are wasted by people failing to attend. This is disappointing as those appointments could have been given to someone else. If you are unable to attend please contact the surgery in advance. We operate an automated SMS text messaging reminder service for all appointments. If you miss 3 or more appointments you will receive a written notification and warning.

 

REMEMBER:

·         Try to book your appointments well in advance. If the clinician has said “See me again in 6 weeks”, do NOT leave it 6 weeks before you try to book the appointment. Book it on your way out of the surgery.

·         Urgent same-day appointments are for URGENT MEDICAL PROBLEMS AND EMERGENCIES ONLY. Misuse of this prevents genuine cases being seen.

·         Heartwood Medical Practice will accept NO mistreatment or abuse of its staff.

 

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Book your appointments online

Before you can start booking GP appointments online (or order repeat prescriptions) you must first register your details for this service.

It is quick and easy to register. You will need to come into the surgery for an application form and then you will be given the relevant details to enable you to set up an account and use the system.

Once registered you will be able to view any appointments you have already made, cancel them if necessary, or book a new appointment with the doctor.

APPOINTMENTS - Help us to help you!

If you feel you need help with a medical problem "TODAY" please call the practice as early as possible after 8am in the morning. Our reception team will take your call and may ask a few details.Your information will then be passed to our DUTY doctor who will call you back. The duty doctor does this so that he/she can make sure you get the correct advice or see the most suitable person for your problem.The doctor has access to appointment slots, where our fascilitators don't have access. This ensures that there are appointments for very sick patients who need to be seen urgently.

In an URGENT situation it is expected that a patient can be seen by ANY GP within the practice, therefore it is not usually possible to make an URGENT appointment with a specific GP unless he/she is on call.

Do you want to make an appointment with a specific doctor?

If you would prefer to see the same doctor each time you visit the practice or would like to see one individual,we recommend you book your appointment 7-10 days in advance. This allows you to see the GP of your choice at a time which is convenient for you.

Has your doctor requested to see you in 4 weeks or less?

Please book this appointment before leaving the practice or as soon as possible after being advised to make this appointment.

Has your doctor requested to see you in more than 4 weeks time?

If this is the case please call the practie 3-4 weeks before the requested appointment time so that a suitable slot will be available for you.

Do you have difficulty remembering the date and time of your appointment?

If you have a mobile phone we now send text messages to confirm and remind you of your appointment. Please ensure we have a current mobile number on your records.

APPOINTMENTS

Thank you to everyone who DID attend their appointments during October

However, our latest dna ( Did Not Attend) rates continue to be a cause for concern.

During the month of October 218 people did not attend their appointment. This equates to 44 hours of wasted appointments in a single month.

This is one reason why you may not get an appointment when you need one!

PLEASE CANCEL APPOINTMENTS IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND.

If you are late for an appointment:

Up to 10 minutes late - the clinician will see you.

Between 10-20 minutes late - you will be seen but will have to wait until the end of surgery, or, if this is not possible you will have to rebook your appointment.

Over 20 minutes late - you will be asked to rebook your appointment as this has an ongoing effect to the smooth running of the clinic.

Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10am 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.