The NHS is currently under extreme pressure due to a reduction in funding and hospital backlogs. To keep patients safe, when there are no more appointments at the surgery, our care navigators will help direct you to other available NHS services. This may include NHS 111, walk-in centres or joining the waiting list for a routine appointment. If you are unsure if your problem is urgent, please contact us and our care navigation team can assist you.

We are pleased to offer online, telephone and face to face appointments with our GPs every weekday at our practice. We do not offer a walk in service - we are by appointment only.

We try and limit the number of patients sat in our waiting rooms at any one time to reduce the transmission of infectious illnesses. That means you can choose the type of appointment, but in order to stagger the times of patients attending the practice, you may be offered a sooner appointment if this can be done safely by telephone. 

If, after speaking to the GP by telephone or video call, they wish to see you urgently face to face, they will arrange that with you.

For new problems we ask patients, who are able, to use our online contact feature which asks you questions about your problem, offers advice, allows you to add a photograph and gives the Doctor more information about you and your needs. You can complete this at your own pace and submit it to the practice who will respond as needed and arrange further treatment or investigations for you. 

Where you are asked to attend the surgery in person, please remember to wear a face covering. Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection during your visit to the surgery.

111 online is a fast and convenient alternative to the 111 phone service and provides an option for people who want to access 111 digitally. 

Your needs will be assessed and you will be given advice about whether you need:

• Treat yourself at home
• Go to a Primary Care Centre

If you need face to face medical attention you may be asked to attend a Primary Care Centre.

Click here to access NHS 111 online or call 111 to speak to a staff member.

We now offer GP & Healthcare Assistant appointments here at the surgery between 18:30 - 20:00 on Tuesday evenings. These can be booked by the usual means.

There are also appointments with GPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Practice Nurses, Physios, Pharmacists and Healthcare Assistants at other local health centres each weekday evening until 8pm and also on Saturdays.

Please contact the surgery as normal on 01484 500921 to book one of these extended hours appointments which may be phone or face to face at one of our partner practice's sites.

The other practices in our Network who host these services are; The Unversity Health Centre, The Whitehouse Centre, Greenhead Familty Doctors, Almondbury Surgery, Junction Surgery, Dalton Surgery or the Waterloo Practice.

It is important that you inform the reception staff if you are unable to attend your appointment, this will allow that appointment to be offered to another patient. If you fail to notify the Practice that you are unable to attend, you will be sent a letter informing you that you have defaulted from your appointment. Persistent defaulters maybe removed from the list.

To cancel an appointment

• Use the Airmid or NHS app
• Ring us 24 hours a day on 01484 500921 and choose option 2.

Please give us as much notice as possible.

Patients are expected to arrive in good time for their appointments, taking into account journey times when booking appointments. We offer a 10 minute consultation time for each booked appointment. We do understand that an occasional delay is unavoidable therefore if a patient arrives within a reasonable time then the clinician will see them.  If patients arrive more than 5 minutes late, they have missed their appointment and will need to rebook. This is to prevent delays to the GP sessions and to ensure fairness for patients who have arrived on time.

We appreciate the effort our patients make to attend on time and therefore do our best to run as close to booked appointment times as possible. Adhering to a Late Patient Policy assists us in doing so.  However, due to the nature of a GP surgery, sometimes the doctor or nurse may be running behind. This is generally because the clinician has needed to spend longer with a patient, for example if a patient presents with complex issues or there is a medical emergency.  We continually monitor this and where a patient regularly presents with complex issues, allowances are made and extra time given to the consultation at the time of booking.  We do ask that patients bear this in mind when waiting, as there may be an occasion in the future where they themselves need to spend extra time with the doctor.

When a patient is less than 5 minutes late:

The receptionist will book the patient in, but advise them they are late for their appointment and remind them that they must attend on time in the future.  If applicable, the receptionist may advise them that the doctor is now seeing the next patient and that they may have an extended waiting time, as the doctor will see patients who arrived on time first.

When a patient is more than 5 minutes late:

Patients who arrive 5 or more minutes late have therefore missed their appointment. The receptionist will advise them to rebook a new routine appointment.

If the patient indicates that there is a medically urgent reason or it is for an unwell child seeing the Doctor, the receptionist can ask the reason and may message the clinician, depending on the circumstances.

New Patients

If the appointment you are late for is a new patient health check (registration appointment) you will not be able to register with the practice after missing or being more than 5 minutes late for this appointment. Patients who miss their new patient health check appointment will not be able to register with this surgery.

Further information:

If a patient calls ahead to say they will be late, this does not alter the policy. If they are going to be more than five minutes late, the receptionist will advise them on the phone that they should book a new appointment, rather than waste a journey.

Receptionists are not permitted to interrupt clinicians during surgery to request them to see late patients, so to avoid disappointment, please do not ask them to do so.

We now have Saturday morning Cervical Screening appointments available at the University Health Centre. Appointments are with a female Practice Nurse fully trained in cervical screening. It's natural to be nervous about attending an intimate examination so please find attached a link with tips on how to make it as easy as possible and also a bit more about the process if this is new for you. Book these Saturday appointments through your usual practice.

Cervical screening: support for people who feel anxious about attending - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We have a texting service which allows you to receive confirmation and reminders about your appointments.

To have this service you will need to register by completing a consent form. You may have done this at your initial registration.

Please remember to update your contact details with us when you change address, telephone numbers and email address.

Home visits are made to those who are too ill to attend the surgery. Whenever possible these should be requested before 10.30am by telephoning 01484 500921.

We adopt a policy of encouraging attendance at the surgery unless you feel this would seriously aggravate your health condition.

When a visit is requested the receptionist will ask the nature and duration of the illness. This helps the Doctor to plan the appropriate order of the visits. He may call you for more information before visiting.

The Doctor's ability to assess and treat patients in their own home is often hindered by the lack of facilities that are normally available in the surgery. The number of patients that a Doctor can see and treat in their own homes in one day is restricted because of the traveling time involved. It makes more sense for the patient to come to the doctor.

Visiting is not normally required for common symptoms of childhood such as fevers, cold, cough, earache, headache, diarrhoea/vomiting and in most cases abdominal pain. It is perfectly safe to bring a child to the surgery with a fever. Car transport is sensible and is always available from friends, relatives, neighbours or taxi firms. The clinical need, and not transportation issues, necessitate home visits.

IT IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DOCTOR TO ARRANGE TRANSPORT TO THE SURGERY.

Adults with common problems of a cough, sore throat, flu, back pain, and abdominal pain should also not require home visiting. Home visits are made at the discretion of the doctor.