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The Practice employs three
sorts of staff to provide healthcare: doctors,
nurses and healthcare assistants. You can
make appointments to see any of these people.
If you are uncertain who is the most appropriate
person to help you with a particular problem
our receptionists can advise you. The purpose
of this leaflet is to provide you with some
advice on the ways in which you can get
the help of these people.
Doctors
There are four ways that you can get the
help of the doctor. You can:
- make an appointment
to be seen at the surgery
- make an appointment
for a home visit
- talk to the doctor
on the telephone without an appointment
- contact a doctor
by mail, email, fax or using our online
services
To ensure you get help in a timely way
we organise our doctors and staff to respond
to your requests in one of three ways:
- immediately in
the case of a medical emergency
- on the same day
in the case of a problem you feel to be
urgent
- on a future day
if your problem is not urgent.
If you have an emergency…
call an ambulance!
If you want to see or speak to a doctor
today…
Please telephone us first, ideally at
the beginning of the day. Each one of our
doctors will be available to take your call
for the first hour of their day. As the
doctors start work at different times of
the morning there will normally be a doctor
available to talk to you between 8.30am
and 10.30am Monday to Friday. By talking
to one of the doctors on the telephone they
will be able to find the best way to help
you. They can:
- sort out your problem
immediately over the phone
- arrange for an
appointment or home visit with a doctor
‘today’
- arrange for an
appointment or home visit on a future
day
- arrange for an
appointment with a nurse ‘today’
or on a future day
Our experience is that as many as 40% of
all patient contacts with doctors can be
dealt with effectively over the phone. Our
experience is also that doctors can deal
with problems more quickly when using the
phone. By using this system therefore you
should not only get your problem dealt with
more quickly but help ensure more appointments
are available for people who need to be
seen here at the surgery.
If you come to the surgery or telephone
for help ‘today’ after 10.30am
then our receptionists will make appropriate
arrangements for you to be seen.
Whilst we will always ensure you are able
to speak to, or see, one of our doctors
‘today’, we are not able to
guarantee you will be able to make an appointment
with your own doctor ‘today’.
We hope that the new direct lines to the
doctors will overcome this by allowing you
to speak to your doctor even if they personally
do not have an appointment available on
that day.
If you want to see a doctor on a future
day…
You have a number of options for making
an appointment: using our online service;
telephoning
the surgery and speaking to a receptionist
at any time; or visiting the surgery and
making an appointment.
Nurses
You can see a nurse here at the surgery;
at home; speak to a nurse over the phone;
or contact a nurse by email or fax. As with
the doctors many of the problems nurses
help with can be dealt with safely over
the phone, so we are setting up a direct
line for patients to talk to a nurse between
8.30am and 10.30am each morning without
an appointment.
To make an appointment to see a nurse at
the surgery ‘today’ or on any
future day please contact reception by phone
or in person. If you need the help of a
nurse at home please discuss this with your
doctor or contact our District Nursing team
on 860301.
Who else is available to help me at the
surgery?
There are a number of other staff who
can be contacted directly to help you with
certain things. They are:
-
Health Visitors who
principally provide a service to young
children and their families who can
be contacted on 860303
-
Midwives who can
be contacted on 860302
-
Administrators who
deal with appointments for chronic disease
clinics such as Diabetes, Asthma and
Heart Disease who can be contacted on
860312 between 9.00am and 10.00am
-
Secretaries who can
help with regard to hospital appointments
or the completion of medical reports
for insurance purposes and so on can
be contacted on 860313 between 10.00
and 11.00am
Finally, if you are in any doubt who is
the best person to help you, please contact
reception on our main surgery number 862671.
What sort of problems can doctors and
nurses deal with over the phone?
We are very keen that as many people as
possible will try to use the new systems
we are creating. To help you decide whether
or not you have a problem that can be dealt
with in this way we have listed below some
of the areas that are appropriate.
The doctors can deal
with:
- recurrent infections
such as cystitis and thrush
- minor, short term
illnesses such as coughs, colds, sore
throats, diarrhoea and vomiting, and many
child hood illnesses
- enquiries regarding
prescriptions including unexpected side
effects of new medication
- repeat prescription
reviews
- enquiries about
contraception
- administrative
matters such as the issuing of sick notes
- Our nurses can
deal with:
- travel, childhood
and other immunisation and vaccination
advice
- general advice
on healthy living
- enquiries about
contraception
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