Appointments

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Booking an Appointment

Please telephone 01279 814730 for appointments with the Doctor or Practice Nurse.

During the Covid-19 period all appointments will be triaged either by phone or by text.

Please see the Meet the Team pages for information on the skills of each Health Care Professional.

Please ask the receptionist who the best person might be to meet your needs if you need contraceptive advice, a hearing test, ears syringing etc. This will ensure that we can manage your problem effectively and that you do not need to return to see another member of the surgery team at another time which we appreciate can be irritating.

If you would like more time with the Doctor or have a number of issues to discuss, please ask the Receptionist for a double appointment.

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DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS BOOKED ON-LINE

Elsenham Surgery has a facility which allows patients to book routine appointments with their doctor over the Internet. Patient Access will allow patients to book and cancel appointments at a time to suit the patient, thereby avoiding busy phone lines.

The service is only available to patients aged 16 years and over.

Or Download the New NHS APP to your computer or smartphone from www.nhs.uk/nhsapp and follow the registration details provided.

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OUT OF HOURS AND EVENING APPOINTMENTS

This GP surgery now offers evening and weekend GP and nurse appointments at a local healthcentre.

Please contact the surgery to book an appointment.

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ROUTINE AND URGENT SAME DAY APPOINTMENTS…

In order to maximise the efficiency of our surgeries and to provide our patients with the option of booking the type of appointment most appropriate for their condition, our appointments are divided into TWO types:

There are “routine” 10-minute appointments available where we have your full records available and can discuss in detail any type of problem. These can be booked up to 3 – 4 weeks in advance, and we encourage you to use these if possible. Please do not make an appointment just for yourself and then expect your Doctor to take a look at a child or another family member as well. Make separate appointments. The doctor will ask you to make another appointment if this occurs as it is not safe to try and squeeze patients in and it causes delays for other patients. If you need to discuss more than one issue or if you feel your problem needs more time with the Doctor please book a double appointment.

In addition to the above, we run “urgent on the day”  appointments for medical emergencies or troublesome problems which need to be quickly assessed and treated. These can be arranged on the same day, and are added to the end of the normal morning and evening surgery.

With “urgent for the day/emergency” appointments, please be prepared to see any Doctor who is available. Due to the nature of these appointments we are unable to offer you a choice of Doctor or time. Please also be aware because the nature of the issue being discussed is “urgent” patients are expected to take the next available appointment slot. 

Although we try to minimise delays, doctors often run late especially if patients have complex or emotional problems or if they need emergency care and admission. We appreciate your understanding in this respect. It helps us to run on time if you can try and bring only one new problem to the appointment and this ensures that we can look at this problem thoroughly. Our receptionist will keep you advised of the situation should the doctor being running late.

Helpful Hints

• You do not need to tell the receptionist why you need to see the Doctor, but it helps to make her job easier by helping her to work out obvious priorities. It also helps us to ensure you are seen more quickly by the person who can best meet your needs.
• Please always inform the receptionist whenever you are unable to keep an appointment, so that it may be given to another patient.
• If you are unavoidably delayed for your appointment please inform the surgery. If you are more than 20 minutes late for your appointment we cannot guarantee that you will be seen during the surgery. You may be asked to re-book your appointment or, if you need to be seen urgently, you may be asked to wait until the end of the appointments.
• Keep us informed if you change your address or telephone number.
• Plan ahead and book appointments well in advance for holiday jabs, smear tests and check-ups.
• Please be aware that paperwork cannot be completed in a 10 minute appointment. Please advise reception if  paperwork needs completing when booking an appointment.

Speaking to your Doctor or Practice Nurse

If you have a problem which you feel does not require seeing a Doctor or Practice Nurse in person or involve a physical examination, the Receptionist will be happy to arrange a time for a telephone consultation with your Doctor or Practice Nurse.

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APPOINTMENTS FOR SPECIALIST REFERRALS

Choose & Book is an NHS service that allows you to choose your hospital or clinic and book an appointment direct. If you need referring to a specialist, the Doctor will tell you what to do and will give you paperwork which will include a password and a reference number.

Fast Track Clinics are clinics that you may be referred to in order to be seen urgently within 2 weeks. All breast lumps are referred through this process.