Our normal On the Day appointment system has been amended during the Covid19 Pandemic..  GP's are triaging all appointments by telephone and if they decide that they need to see you face to face they will arrange the appointment for later in the day with you.

Please telephone the surgery between 8 and 10 a.m. Your name will be added to the telephone list and one of the GP's will telephone you to triage your call, if at all possible they will deal with your query without a face to face review, but if they feel that this is necessary they will arrange a time convenient to both you and them. You will realise that if you call later in the day, we cannot promise there will be appointment availability to see you if necessary.

It is helpful if you can give the Administrator answering the telephone some information regarding your problem, this is not for their information and they do not need intimate details, but some information enables the GP's to prioritise their calls, to ensure that those patients who may require a face to face appointment are dealt with promptly.  We will accept photographs via our email if you feel this is appropriate (catherinehousesurgery@nhs.net)  We also have some Clinical Members of staff who may be able to help you more quickly, we now have access to a Physiotherapist and a Pharmacist, so calls regarding sports or muscle injuries, or medication queries, could be dealt with by one of these.

 Please keep your telephone near you, or stay near your telephone, as we cannot give precise times when the GP will call you.  The Administrator will make a note if you have asked for a specific GP to return your call, but this is not always possible - in order to deal with requests efficiently and as quickly as possible, it may be wiser for another GP to call you.  

RE-BOOKED APPOINTMENTS

Administration staff are currently not pre-booking appointments, but GP's may do this if necessary.

EXTENDED HOURS (Wednesday evenings until 8.00pm)

These appointments are reserved for those patients who have difficulty attending the surgery during normal opening hours (for example, due to working far away). These can be arranged by either telephoning the surgery, and are currently also telephone calls unless otherwise specified by the GP.

We do also have a Nurse on duty every other Wednesday, so if you need your appointment outside of normal working hours this can be arranged, Due to the Pandemic our appointments are limited currently to necessary blood tests, and blood pressures, immunisations and cervical smears.

ONLINE BOOKING

This is currently suspended due to the Pandemic but we normally offer the facility to book and cancel appointments over the internet. You will need to register for this service at the surgery.

TEXT MESSAGE REMINDERS

We now send out text message reminders for booked appointments to those patients with a mobile number recorded. Feedback on this service has been incredibly positive but if you prefer NOT to receive such messages please let us know and you will not be sent any.

CANCELLING APPOINTMENTS

Patients do occasionally miss appointments and as we run 15 minute consultations this can be frustrating. If you feel that you no longer need to see a doctor or nurse or are unable to make an appointment, then please let us know however near to the appointment it may be, so that the slot can be allocated to another patient.