The practice is made up of medical, nursing and administrative staff (doctors, nurses, health visitors, district nurses, midwives, administrative and clerical staff) who are committed to giving you the best possible service. This is achieved by working together as a team and with you as a partner in the care you receive.

The Practice will ensure that patients will be able to see a primary care professional within 24 hours and a doctor within 48 hours.

Surgery times for the doctors generally will be 9.00 am – 12.10 pm and 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm. Practice Nurse appointments will be available throughout most of the day; we have four Practice Nurses, in addition we have three Health Care Assistants available in the morning to take blood. We also have a Nurse Practitioner who can deal with minor ailments.

When making an appointment please be prepared to let the receptionist know why you need it. The doctors and nurses work as a team, not all problems have to go a doctor, it may be more appropriate to see one of the nurses. The practice nurses will be taking on more of the routine checks for patients with diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, HRT and contraception. In order to facilitate this, the receptionist may need to take some details.

If you want an urgent appointment or want to speak with a doctor it is important to give some idea of the problem so that the doctor can prioritise his work. If you give no information your problem may not be given a suitable level of priority. All the staff are bound by the same confidentiality rules.

If you need to contact a doctor outside of surgery hours, telephone 01235 639521. You will be connected to an answering machine and this will direct you to the Practice ‘out of hours’ service or the duty doctor.

The telephone number for the out of hours service is 111.

We will provide you with a repeat prescription within three working days of receiving your request. Attached to your prescription will be a slip with your drugs listed and you can bring this to the surgery with a request for a repeat. You can have the repeat prescription sent to a chemist of your choice or choose to collect it from the surgery. You can also order your repeat prescription via the Practice website.

We prescribe generically which means that we use the name of the drug rather than the brand name given to it by the company which made it (e.g. paracetamol rather than Panadol). Generic  rescribing saves the NHS money without affecting the quality of your care.

If we have arranged for you to have tests, you should ring the surgery after 5 working days to discuss with the doctor/nurse the test results, unless advised differently by your doctor. The doctor/nurse will be please to explain the reasons for the tests and what the results mean.

There is a doctor on duty each day, but all doctors will take telephone enquiries. When possible, avoid Monday morning, as this is usually our busiest day. If you cannot be put straight through to a doctor you will be asked to leave your telephone number. Your call will be returned as soon as possible but possibly not until surgery has finished.

You can see your medical records written since November 1991 provided the doctor does not think it will affect your physical or mental well being. Talk to your doctor about your request. You may be asked to come in to the surgery at a separate time in order to read them.

We run several clinics for patients with certain conditions. These clinics help us to monitor your health more efficiently. If you are diagnosed with a new condition, we may have a leaflet, which describes the condition and gives other sources of advice. Ask the doctor, nurse or health visitor for more information.

Most of these services are provided under the National Health Service. If the NHS does not pay for the service, you will be told what the charge is likely to be.

How You Can Help

We need your help in providing services to you as a patient. Without your help we cannot maintain our standards. Time and services are also limited and we all wish to make the best use of them. To help us can you:

• Please give all the information about your illness when you consult the doctor or nurse. Something, which seems unimportant, may be vital. If you wish, make a list of things to ask or say to the doctor or nurse.
• Please provide us with any change in your address, telephone number or name so that our records are kept up to date.
• Please come to the surgery to be seen whenever possible because then we have your medical records and all our equipment available to treat you. The doctor can also see many more patients in the surgery. Home visits are for the housebound and those too ill to travel to the surgery.
• Please treat our staff politely. We know you often feel unwell when you visit us and we do our best to help you.
• Please cancel any appointment you no longer need, so that someone else can take your place. If you don't attend booked appointments, we may talk or write to you about this.
• Please tell us your views on the services that we provide. Sometimes we have questionnaires, which we hope you will fill in. If you have a complaint, our practice manager.