Alert: Protected Learning Time (PLT)

We wish to inform all our patients that all GP surgeries within the Northwich Primary Care Network (PCN), including our practice, will be closed for Protected Learning Time (PLT) on Wednesday, 12 March 2025, from 13:00 to 18:30.

We will resume normal operating hours on Thursday, 13 March 2025, at 08:00. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation during this period.

If you need medical assistance during this period, please follow this link.

Appointments

Appointments

Access Our Digital Front Door

Click the button below, navigate to the help you want and PACO GP will get you help quickly

Click Here

How do I make an appointment?

  • Visit our digital front door (DFD), and request an appointment online
  • Use the NHS App/ NHS Web
  • Phone us on 01606 544850
  • Visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist, in person

Types Of Appointments:

When you request an appointment, our signposting/ triage team will review your request and may offer you an appointment with any of the below clinicians:

  • General Practitioner (GP)
  • Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP)
  • Nurse
  • Healthcare Assistant (HCA)
  • Pharmacist
  • Pharmacy Technician

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you for your full name, date of birth, address and what you need help with.

We will use the information you give us to signpost you to the most suitable clinician to help you, this may involve an appointment outside of our surgery.

For more information on the DFD visit: PACO GP

For more information on the NHS App visit: Online Services – Witton Street Surgery

Managing and cancelling your appointment

To change or check the time of your appointment:

To cancel your appointment:

Please be aware that we only accept appointment cancellation requests made more than one hour in advance. If you exceed this timeframe, we will mark you as a DNA.

Specialist Clinics

Some of our GPs have taken extra training to allow them to run specialist clinics, these clinics are listed below:

  • Minor Surgery Operations
  • Family Planning / Contraception

To be placed on the waiting list for either of the above clinics, please call us on 01606 544850. The reception team may ask you to book a GP appointment first before going on the waiting list

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

  • If you need an interpreter
  • If there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
  • If you have any other access or communication needs

Enhanced Access Appointments

Witton Street Surgery is part of the Northwich Primary Care Network (PCN), which is a collaboration of seven GP practices across the town working together to enhance services for our patient population.

Our PCN now offers additional GP appointments during Friday evenings and on Saturdays:

  • Friday: 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM (held at Firdale Medical Centre)
  • Saturday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (held at Firdale Medical Centre)

These appointments are available to patients registered at all seven GP practices, so you may be asked to attend a different GP practice if necessary.

Additionally, our PCN provides appointments with Emergency Care Practitioners (ECPs).

Please note that the PCN ECPs also conduct home visits. If we arrange a home visit for you, it may be an ECP who comes to check on you, instead of one of our GPs.

If you need help when we are closed

  • If you need non-urgent medical help now, use NHS 111 online or call 111.
  • NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.
  • Call 999 in a life-threatening emergency.

Home Visits

Home visits are conducted based on nationally endorsed guidance from the Royal College of GPs for the following three reasons:

  • The patient is terminally ill.
  • The patient is housebound.
  • The patient has a severe learning or physical disability.

    Whenever possible, requests for visits should be made before 10:30 am.

    We always encourage individuals to visit the surgery because it is the best place for receiving quality care. The clinical rooms are equipped with specialised equipment, making it easier to perform further tests.

    In most cases, if a patient has a temperature or a rash, visiting the surgery will not cause harm and will not endanger others.

    Many patients believe they have an automatic right to a home visit from their GP, but this is not the case. The decision to provide a home visit rests solely with the GP, not the patient or an Allied Health Professional, as stated in Schedule 6, Regulation 26 Part 1 of the GMS Contract Regulations 2004.

    The regulations do allow a GP to override a request for a home visit and advise the patient to go to A&E instead, provided that the patient’s medical condition makes this course of action appropriate.

    The role of NHS 111 is not to determine whether a GP visit is necessary, but to recommend that the patient contact their own GP services.

    Furthermore, it is not the responsibility of the surgery to arrange transportation to the practice. This aligns with local and national guidance from various healthcare providers and GP professional bodies.