From 16th July 2024, the way you contact us is changing as we are introducing a new appointment system to book and request appointments both routine and on the day.

We are encouraging our patients to avoid the telephone queue and fill in our new online form for any appointment request or administrative query.

All clinical online forms go directly to a clinician for review and triage. Our team will constantly monitor and respond to online requests throughout the day and aim to respond within 4 hours for clinical queries, and within 24 hours for administration requests.

We will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable clinician, or administration team member, to help you with the problem you have described so please include relevant information.

For patients who are unable to fill out the form, our care navigators can complete the same online form for you over the phone or at reception and it will be forwarded to the on call team.

If you want to request repeat prescriptions, check test results or cancel appointments, you can do this through the online form or via the NHS App if you already use it.

Why are we making these changes?

Many patients told us in our last patient survey that they need a better way to contact the surgery than by telephone. This new system enables you to contact us online without having to wait on the phone. You can take your time to explain your needs in writing rather than feeling rushed on a short phone call and you can share sensitive information with us without having to explain it over the phone to someone unfamiliar.
For those patients who use the internet but haven’t contacted us online before, don’t worry. We are changing our website in the coming weeks to make it easy to navigate and compliant with NHS guidance on accessibility.
New NHS contract requirements that came out in the summer of 2023 mean GP practices are required to take steps to provide patients with an appropriate response each time they contact the practice and in a timely manner. To make sure that all patients are dealt with fairly and to make sure our team can manage this requirement safely based on clinical need, we have chosen to follow the same process regardless of how, or when, you contact us.

By directing patients to use online services where possible, we can:
• Make sure more patients’ needs are met in a timely manner
• Free up the telephone lines for those without internet access
• Improve our overall practice efficiency and meet our NHS contract requirements of providing a safe, responsive service to all our patients including the most vulnerable in our community

Like anything new, it can take a little while to get used to, and it’s going to be different for our team for a few weeks too as we get used to the changes outlined above.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments ahead of 16th July 2024, please contact us or talk to a member of our team.