Our Appointment System

 

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Booking Appointments

The surgery operates a booked appointment system for all consultations with clinicians. 

 

Urgent problem?

You can be seen on the day by an on-call clinician in an emergency appointment.  If you need to use this service please contact the practice by telephone to speak to one of our reception team. Urgent, on the day, appointments you will be required to visit Station Medical Centre.

  • Medical problems that need to be dealt with on the day may be issues such as below:
  • Urine Infection
  • Chest Infection
  • Throat infection
  • Ear Infection
  • New swelling in leg/s
  • Bleeding in pregnancy (Less than 16 weeks) If more than 16 weeks contact the Maternity Unit Direct – 01432 355444 ext 5572
  • Fever in children 
  • New severe abdominal pain

We have a team of clinicians who are available on the day to deal with matters which cannot wait but we ask patients to consider whether their problem could wait until a later date as the capacity of the on-call team is limited.

 

Non-urgent or Routine Problem?

You can make a routine appointment to discuss your problem with a clinician by completing a short online form

All routine appointment requests will be triaged by a GP, and no GP appointments will be booked by our reception team unless directed by the triaging GP.

 

How does this system for non-urgent problems work?

Patients will be asked to submit requests using our online triage form via our website – Routine GP Appointments & Other Medical Enquiries, if you are unable to complete the form, don’t worry, one of our reception team will complete it with you either via telephone or at one of our sites.

The forms will be reviewed by our clinical team, and the appropriate action will be offered within 5 working days of the form being received.

In order for the GP to be able to provide the most appropriate advice, please: 

  • Be prepared to complete the form as fully as possible with details of your problem
  • Tell us if your condition may be infectious e.g. a cough which could be Covid-19

How can I make best use of my appointment?

  • Be on time for your appointment
  • Cancel unwanted appointments well in advance
  • Make a separate appointment for each person who needs to attend
  • Bring only 1 or 2 problems to each appointment (appointment slots are fifteen minutes for a routine GP appointment)

Telephone Advice
You may choose, or be offered a telephone consultation when requesting an appointment. Telephone consultations are useful for patients who find it difficult to come into the practice, and they are especially useful for:

  • Providing the results of investigations
  • Medication reviews
  • Health promotion e.g. promoting immunisation, cervical smear or smoking cessation services
  • Follow-ups of patients with ongoing medical problems such as managing diabetes and patients with some mental health issues such as depression
 

Missed Appointments

Missed appointments waste valuable resources. If you do not tell us in advance that you are unable to attend we cannot offer the appointment to someone else. Wasted appointments mean that everyone has to wait longer to be seen. If you are unable to attend please cancel your appointment. You can do this by phone, in person, by sending a text message reading CANCEL in response to your reminder text.

Cancel appointments you don't need

 

Enhanced Access

We are able to offer appointments at evenings and weekends via our GP Federation, Taurus Healthcare.

These are available at 8 hubs across the county, including our Station Medical Centre site. Please ask our reception team for more information or to book you in.

Herefordshire General Practice aims to provide 24/7 access to General Practice. Although you may not be seen at your evening or weekend appointment by your usual healthcare team, we all use the same computer system. This means that (with your permission) all healthcare practitioners can access and add to your records.

Find full details on the sites available on the Herefordshire General Practice website

If you need urgent support when the surgery is closed, please contact NHS 111 online or dial 111.