Appointments
There is an appointment system for
seeing both doctors and nurses on a routine or emergency basis. You should telephone the surgery on 020 8680 2588
to make an appointment. The telephone lines are open from 8.30am to 12 noon and
from 2.00 to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The reception is open from 8.00am to at
least 6.30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and from 9.30am until 6.30pm
on Wednesday. Between 8.30 and 9.30am on Wednesday morning the practice is closed
for in-house training.
It is the policy of the practice that patients may
see whichever doctor they choose, subject to availability and suitability. Most general appointments are between 8.30 to 11.00am and 3.30 to 6.00pm
although there are some general and clinic appointments outside of those times.
A considerable number of the patients at this practice either commute to London or other long distances and would therefore prefer routine appointments at the beginning or end of the day to minimise disruption. You should bear in mind that the number of these appointments is inevitably limited and you may have to wait some time for one of these.
If
you would like a chaperone when being examined by one of the doctors please ask
the receptionist to arrange this.
Doctors will not take telephone calls during surgery but if you wish to speak to a specific doctor you may be given a time to ring back when the doctors may be available to speak to you. Alternatively the receptionist may take your number to pass to the doctor to ring you if time permits
Emergency
Appointments
There are a number of urgent appointments
available each day and every effort will be made for patients to see or speak
to a doctor on that day if necessary. However, this may not be at the time or
with the doctor of first choice. There is a duty doctor available to speak to
on the telephone with urgent medical queries each morning between 10.00 and 10.30am
(Wednesday 10.30 to 11.00am) and each afternoon between 5.00 and 5.30pm. If you
wish to speak to the duty doctor you may be asked to leave a contact number so they can
call you back. This telephone time should not be used for requesting the continuation
of sick certificates or repeat prescriptions in a very busy surgery. The duty doctor may not be able
to take all calls during that time but will offer to return the call later.
If
you are confronted by a serious problem such as severe chest pain, severe bleeding,
collapse or unconsciousness CALL 999 for an AMBULANCE before contacting the surgery.
If
you are unable to keep your appointment you should contact the surgery to cancel
it as soon as possible. A very large number of appointments are lost each year due
to patients' non-attendance.