HOW
DO I...
REGISTER WITH THE PRACTICE?
To register with our practice, call in or telephone reception and request to be registered. The receptionist will take your details and ask you to ring back in five days. If you are accepted you will be asked to call in and complete a brief health questionnaire and book an appointment for a health check with one of our practice nurses or the healthcare assistant. Your registration cannot be completed until after this health check, following which we can request your medical records from your previous GP via the Health Authority by secure courier.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept everyone who requests registration, as there is a limit to the number of patients to whom we can provide an effective service. We are restricted by the size of the premises and therefore the number of GPs we can accommodate. Due to these restrictions we currently limit our new registrations to 40 per month. We have a practice area boundary within which we work. If you move out of this area you must register with a practice near your new home.
HOW
DO I...
CHANGE
MY DETAILS?
It is essential that we always
have accurate information on all our patients. If we ever have to cancel
a surgery or clinic due to staff illness or any other occurrence beyond
our control, we may have to contact you quickly. If you change address,
name or telephone number please let us know immediately so that our
records are kept up to date.
HOW
DO I...
MAKE
AN APPOINTMENT?
Consultations are by appointment. As we are a group practice you may see any doctor you wish, but, to maintain continuity of care, please stay with one doctor for each period of illness wherever possible.
Please remember there will be busy times and/or emergencies when the receptionist may have no alternative but to offer you an appointment with another doctor. Urgent cases will always be seen the same day, but not always with the doctor of your choice.
To make an appointment please contact reception on 0844 477 3417 (option 1) between 8.30am and 6.00pm Monday to Friday (except Tuesdays betweeen 12.30 and 1.30pm). We now offer evening appointments; these are on Thursdays between 6.30 and 7.45pm. Please note that when all surgeries are fully booked, receptionists are instructed by the doctors that ONLY URGENT MEDICAL CASES can be seen at the end of surgery. Please understand these are NOT spare appointments. The doctors will, however, see patients who are in need of URGENT MEDICAL ATTENTION before starting their home visits to patients who are too ill to come in to the surgery.
Telephone Appointments
If you have a medical reason to speak to a doctor but feel you don't necessarily need to see him you can request a telephone appointment. You will be given a half-hour time slot in which the doctor will telephone you; the doctor will have your medical notes close at hand to refer to. Please remember to give the receptionist the telephone number where you will be at that time; the doctor will ring a mobile number if necessary.
HOW
DO I...
CANCEL AN APPOINTMENT?
If you cannot keep an appointment please let us know as soon as possible, then this time can be allocated to another patient. If you wish, you can select option 0 on our telephone menu to leave a cancellation message 24/7. Please do not use this facility to leave any other type of message.
HOW
DO I...
OBTAIN
A HOME VISIT?
If you are too ill to come in to the surgery and need a home visit, please telephone the office on 0844 477 3417 (option 2) before 10.00am.
Please describe your symptoms
to the secretary as this allows the doctors to plan their rounds according
to urgency. If you request a certain doctor to visit you please remember,
due to workloads, sometimes another doctor may have to visit you instead.
Home visits involve far more
time than surgery appointments and are mostly done after morning surgery,
so only request a home visit if it is really necessary.
If you need a visit at other
times during the day please telephone the number as above but remember,
there MUST be an URGENT MEDICAL REASON for requesting a home visit.
Simply lacking transport is not considered a valid reason. HOW
DO I...
OBTAIN
REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS?
Once your medication has
been approved by your doctor, repeat prescriptions can be obtained either
by:
a) posting in the printed
repeat list (which comes attached to your prescription) in the surgery box. Tick the items
required and allow 48 hours before collecting.
b) posting the same list,
enclosing a stamped addressed envelope for us to return your prescription.
c) requesting repeat items by telephone (but only after the doctor has approved the medication). The telephone number for prescriptions is Halifax 0844 477 3417 (option 3). This line is open between 11.00am and 5.45pm each weekday (except Tuesdays when it is open between 12.30 and 1.30pm).
Please allow 48 hours for prescriptions to be prepared and signed by the doctors. If you need a chemist to collect your prescription, please arrange this with your local chemist. We can then have the prescription ready for them to collect within 48 hours. |
