Appointment Guidance

People with complex needs will be assigned a Usual GP (or other clinician) who will offer continuity and coordinate your care. 

This includes people with learning difficulties, with severe mental health problems, who are housebound or who have complex health needs. 

Where appropriate our appointments are by telephone, but you will be offered a face-to-face appointment if you need specific tests or examinations.

Our telephone clinics are run flexibly, to allow us to call more than once, if you miss the first call. It is also more important than ever that we use interpreters when required for telephone calls, and their availability can cause delays.

So for a telephone appointment, you will receive an SMS text reminder advising that you will receive a call either in the morning or the afternoon, rather than at a specified time. 

Please let us know if you need your telephone appointment at a specific time, and we will try to accommodate your request.

We are able to send you a free SMS text appointment reminder to a mobile phone. Please make sure we have the correct and most up-to-date mobile number for you!

Please make sure you arrive on time for your appointment. Late arrivals cause delays for clinicians and other patients. If you come late you may not be seen and may be asked to re-book for another day.

We understand that it can be embarrassing or difficult to see the doctor or nurse alone for many problems. A chaperone can be provided by the practice to:

• Provide support, comfort and reassurance to patients
• Assist in the examination of patients
• Act as an interpreter
• Provide protection to healthcare professionals

If you feel you would like a chaperone present at your consultation with a Doctor or Nurse, please inform Reception who will be more than happy to organise one of our specially trained members of staff to support you.

We understand the importance of interpreters but due to the very high demand, we cannot guarantee that they will be available for every contact.

We aim to have Arabic and Slovak interpreters in the building when we are seeing patients but we cannot always ensure their availability.

The Staff and Clinicians also have the use of DA Languages telephone translation service when a face to face interpreter is unavailable.