Alert: Important Update - Routine Appointment Availability

Due to high demand, we have no new routine appointments available from Monday 14th April until further notice

All existing pre-booked routine appointments will still go ahead as planned, unless we have individually contacted you to reschedule.

General medical advice is always available via your local pharmacy or via 111. You can also use 111 online and complete a form which will tell you what you need to do next.

Further updates will follow. Thank you for your understanding. 111 Online

Appointments

How to request an appointment:

For a new or ongoing medical issue

Contact us between 8:00am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday

You can always contact us for urgent / same day medical advice in the following ways:

Outside of opening hours, please call 111 or in an emergency dial 999.

You will be asked the same questions whichever way you contact us.

The questions we ask you have been written by GPs to gather the information needed to assess you. Your answers will be sent directly to our Total Triage Team, which is led by GPs. We will use your responses to determine the most appropriate health professional, advice, or service to help you.

Same day / urgent medical advice

For urgent medical issues which require same day medical advice, please contact us during our opening hours. If you require same day medical advice, please be prepared to be available for a consultation on the day of your contact.

Our GP-led Triage Team will use the information you provide to determine the most appropriate health professional or service to help you, or will provide direct clinical triage advice and guidance.

We will contact you by telephone, text, or email, to provide this advice or arrange an appointment.

If you are unsure if your symptoms require urgent advice, 111 online can help you.

Routine GP appointments

As we continue improving access to our services, we are currently trialling new ways to contact us. The best way to request routine medical advice is online via Anima on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday from 11am. How long we can offer routine appointments for is directly driven by our clinical capacity on the day, and we will offer routine appointments until we reach our safe daily threshold.

Routine GP appointments are released weekly, and availability is limited by our overall capacity, and patient demand.

Many symptoms can easily be managed at home, without the need for a GP appointment, or with advice from your local pharmacy.

If our routine GP appointment book is full when you contact us, please visit 111.nhs.uk (or for children visit the Healthier Together what0-18.nhs.uk website) for expert medical advice.

Your local pharmacy may be able to help you and offer treatment without the need for a GP appointment. Find out about Pharmacy First here.

Other types of routine appointments

When our routine GP appointment book is full, you can still contact us to book:

  • a routine nursing appointment (e.g. for wound care, vaccinations, health reviews and smear tests)
  • a blood test when a healthcare professional has asked you to arrange one

Availability of online requests via Anima

anima

Anima medical requests can be submitted Monday to Friday, pending capacity

We accept urgent requests online from 8am, Monday to Friday, until the online limit is full.
We accept routine requests online from 11am, Monday to Wednesday.

If your condition is not listed, please select ‘my problem isn’t listed above’ at the bottom of the screen.

Please do not use admin request to submit medical request information, as this will likely result in your request being rejected.

You can always contact us for same day advice by phone or visiting the practice during opening hours.
Alternatively, visit 111.nhs.uk or call 111 outside of our opening hours, or 999 in an emergency.

Anima admin requests can be submitted Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm

Use an Anima admin request to ask for sick notes, medical forms, health records, or travel advice, etc.

Please do not use admin request to submit medical request information, as this will likely result in your request being rejected.

How to use Anima

You will need to sign up or login to your Anima account to start your request. You will then be able to submit medical and admin requests, track the status of your requests, and view our responses.

If you need help with Anima, our team will do our best to help. Alternatively, please use Anima support.

Using Anima for a child or dependant

First, you need to add your children and any adult dependants to your Anima account. You can do this in settings, and then selecting ‘dependants and children’ when signed in to your Anima account.

When submitting a request on behalf of a child or dependant, please ensure to select their name/Anima account at the start of the request.

More information and help using Anima

What will happen with my medical request?

Your request will be assessed by our GP-led Total Triage Team for next steps.

We aim to respond to all urgent medical requests by the end of the next working day.

If you contact us for routine advice, we aim to respond to you within one full calendar week.

We may offer you:

  • a same-day appointment
    with the most appropriate healthcare professional either by telephone or in person at the surgery.
    This could be with a GP, nurse or another health professional.
    If you think your problem needs same day advice, please be available on the day you contact us.
  • a ‘self-book’ appointment for another day
    with the most appropriate healthcare professional either by telephone or in person at the surgery.
    This could be with a GP, nurse or another health professional.
    We will send you a text message or email with a ‘self-book’ link, or call you to arrange an appointment. 
  • a new prescription or a change in your medication.
  • a test for further investigation, e.g. a blood test.
  • a referral to another specialist
  • details of other NHS services who can assist you, e.g. your Community Pharmacy if suitable.
  • advice about self-care actions you can take to aid your recovery.

Consultations by phone or by text can be more flexible, and often mean our healthcare professionals can help you sooner.

Text and telephone consultations also enable us to help more patients get quicker access to medical advice.

We may ask you for more information

We will contact you if we need further information to help us to assess you. We will either send you a message via email and/or text. You will be able to view messages and directly respond in your Anima account. We will call you if you cannot receive emails or texts.

Non-urgent advice: Unsure if your issue is urgent?

Visit our self-help or NHS 111 to get help for your symptoms. If you are advised to contact us at the Practice, please do.

Blood test appointment

You must be invited to book a blood test to make an appointment.
We can only provide blood tests for patients aged 16 years and older:

Patients aged 16 years and over

Patients aged 16 years and over can book a blood test appointment if this has been requested by us or the hospital. 

Contact us between 8:00am – 6:30pm, Monday to Friday:

If the hospital has requested the test, you must bring the blood test request form with you.

More information about blood tests

Patients under 16 years

We are unable to provide blood tests for children aged under 16 years.

Patients under the age of 16 need to arrange a blood test appointment at the hospital. 

If we have requested the blood test, we will provide you details of how to book a test appointment for a child. 

If the hospital has requested the blood test, please contact them directly to arrange the appointment:

Children aged 0-13 years: Appointments must be made over the telephone by calling 07707 296876. Phone lines are open Monday to Friday, between 9am and 4pm.

Children aged 14 year and over: can use the hospital’s adult blood taking service. Further details are available at: Blood Testing (porthosp.nhs.uk)

Nursing team appointment

Appointments with our nursing team can be made for issues such as wound dressings, removal of stitches, travel immunisations and advice and other nursing team clinics.

Contact us between 8:00am – 6:30pm, Monday to Friday:

  • phone 01329 845777
  • come into the surgery
  • You can use your NHS App or Patient Access account if you have been invited to book a cervical screening or B12 injection.

Health review, cervical screening or vaccination appointment

You will be contacted when it is time to book your:

If you have a question about these appointments or think you are overdue, please do contact us.

Cancel an appointment

If you need to cancel your appointment, please make sure you let us know in good time so we can offer it to someone else.

If your appointment date is in the next 3 working days

  • phone us on 01329 845777, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm
  • or visit your surgery reception.

If your appointment date is in more than 3 working days

Help with your appointment, home visits and more

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