You make an appointment to see a doctor, nurse practitioner, nurse or healthcare assistant by telephoning the receptionist at your local surgery on the day that you wish to be seen. It is not necessary to book in advance to see any of our clinical team.

Consultations are by appointment only at all surgeries and it helps us to allocate sufficient time if you are able to give some indication of your problem when you book. We normally allow 8 minutes for an appointment. It is often difficult to effectively manage more than one problem at each consultation, but if you feel you will need more time, please tell the receptionist.

Telephone lines are open at 8am, closed for lunch between 12pm and 2pm and close at 6pm each evening. If you telephone after 4pm you may not receive a same day appointment.

Pre-bookable appointments

A number of appointments can be pre-booked. The Healthcare Assistant appointments can be booked 2 weeks in advance and a number of GP and Nurse appointments can also be pre-booked for your convenience - please ask a member of reception for more details when telephoning.

Booking Doctor Appointments using Patient Partner our Automated Telephone Booking Service

You can book an appointment to see any one of our doctors using Patient Partner anytime, day or night. You do not have to wait until 8am to ring the surgery, you can now book an appointment whenever you want to do so.

If you want to book an appointment in the future, or your visit is not an urgent one and you are happy to be seen in a day or two, Patient Partner is the best option for you to use to book an appointment.

It’s easy to use – all you need to do is select ‘1’ when you ring the surgery and then follow the prompts to book an appointment. You can select if you want to bee seen at West Quay or at Rhoose; if you prefer to see a male or female doctor or if you want to be seen in the morning or afternoon. It’s as simple as that.

There are some limitations. What you can’t do is pick a specific day or time to be seen or which particular doctor you want to see. We also do not offer nurse appointments using Patient Partner although we will be looking to offer this option in the future.

You can also change an appointment, or cancel an appointment using Patient Partner

If you feel you do not need an appointment or visit, then you may request telephone advice.

The doctors/nurses can respond to telephone messages at the end of morning and evening surgery.
 

Doctors' Telephone Consultation Service

The Practice has a doctor's telephone consultation service at Barry. One of the main aims of the service is to provide an additional booking choice to our patients. We recognise that sometimes it is difficult for people who work, parents with young children or those who are carers to get to the surgery for what are often minor or routine ailments which require some form of medical advice but not necessarily an appointment at the surgery. Secondly, we want to reduce the number of these appointments with doctors which can be better dealt with over the telephone. This frees up our doctors' time to spend with those patients who need longer consultations than we can offer at present. By providing telephone advice for minor ailments and seasonal illnesses, the doctors have more time to see those patients who have more urgent needs.

We appreciate that you may not be sure what this service means for you. It WILL NOT mean a reduction in service and you will still be able to see a doctor if you wish. However, we would prefer it if you would agree to speak with the doctor in the first instance. This will enable the doctor to assess your symptoms and provide you with the most appropriate advice.

If you are unsure if you are suitable for a telephone consultation, please speak with the doctor. It may mean that you will be told that you do not need to see a doctor and will be given advice on how to treat your illness over the telephone. You may be offered medication which means that the doctor will prepare a prescription for you which you will be able to collect from the surgery that day. Alternatively, the doctor may decide that you will need to be seen in person. If this is the case, the doctor will book you an appointment for that day.

To ensure that your health remains our priority, we have limited the number of telephone consultations you may have to three. Once you have had three telephone consultations, you will have to be seen by a doctor to satisfy us that you are fit and well. Once you have been seen, then you may have a further three telephone consultations if you wish.

When you ring up to book an appointment in the future, the telephone operator will ask you if you want a telephone consultation with a doctor rather than making a trip to the surgery to see him or her. We would be grateful if you would agree to a telephone consultation in the first instance as it will assist the Practice in continuing to provide you with the highest standard of health care possible at all times.

If you want to take advantage of this service, please ask for a telephone appointment when you next have to ring the surgery.

If you are still unsure if or how this service may benefit you, then please ring the surgery on 01446 722 792 and speak to Janice Watts, Information Data Systems Officer, Carol Bates, Patients Service Manager or Colin Blackwell, Business Manager.
 

Nurse Appointments

If you require advice regarding the following matters please make the receptionist aware when booking the appointment with the nurse in order for more time to be allocated:

• Complex travel advice
• Smears and Vaginal Swabs
• Family Planning Clinic
• Complicated dressings
• Ear Syringing

If you were unable to obtain an appointment this week, one of the reasons could be that the number above is the amount of failed attendance for booked appointments.

JANUARY - 457 MISSED APPOINTMENTS

If you are unable to attend for your appointment you must contact the surgery in advance to prevent receiving a letter and to allow other patients the opportunity of an appointment.