Appointments

We will not tolerate any abuse, verbal or physical, directed towards our staff.

Doctors Appointments

In order to best manage the medical needs of our community, it is vitally important that we have an efficient appointments system.

Our aims for you:

1. If you have a medical problem that NEEDS to be seen that day, because a delay to assessment could lead to a significant worsening of your condition, then you will be offered an appointment that day.
2. You will have a choice about seeing your doctor in person or receiving a telephone appointment.
3. You will be offered the option of booking an appointment for a future date.
4. You will not be asked to call back to make an appointment.

Ways to achieve these aims:

1. There are only a limited number of appointments that can be offered for patients to be seen on the same day they contact us. We therefore must make sure that those who need those appointments due to clinical urgency, receive them. Please only request same day appointments if you are concerned that any time delay could result in harm.

If you think your problem is urgent for today, then a doctor will assess the clinical urgency of your problem that day using the information you have provided to the receptionist along with your medical notes. If the doctor deems that this problem is not clinically urgent for today then you will be contacted back and offered a future appointment:

• This will be in the form of a text message which will contain a link that will give you a list of available future appointments you can book into.
• If you do not have a mobile phone then someone from reception will contact you to arrange another appointment.

2. It is important that you see the most appropriate person for your condition. You may be directed towards other healthcare providers by reception.
   Eg.  pharmacists, opticians, dentist, A&E
    
3. For certain conditions there will not be an option for a telephone appointment. This is because examination is an essential part of the assessment.

4. Technology. In order to manage the increasing workload we rely more and more on the use of technology. We will be contacting you via email and text message for certain things. You will sometime receive a text message that contains a link that will allow you to very easily book an appointment. This will also reduce waiting times on the phone lines. You are always welcome to contact reception to clarify any information you receive or if you want to make an appointment with a Doctor to discuss further.

It is important therefore that we have your up to date mobile and email addresses.

If you have any objections to being contacted via email/text messages then please contact us.We 

Nurses Appointments

Appointments with the Nurse are varying lengths depending on the nature of the appointment. Please tell the receptionist what your Nurse appointment is for to ensure adequate time is allocated.

Are you sure it’s us you need?

When you contact us to request an appointment, our reception team will always ask you the nature of the problem. This is so they can direct you to the best person to deal with it.

Sometimes there are services outside the Health Centre that can deal with your problem better and quicker than we can.  For example: The local pharmacy can deal with lots of minor ailments - hay fever, nappy rash, mouth ulcers, cold sores, indigestion, head lice, diarrhoea, worms and much more. They will also be able to provide you with medications free of charge should you need them.  

Access Standards

A set of standards were announced by the Minister for Health and Social Services in March 2019 that are aimed to raise and improve the level of service for patients in Wales from their GP practices.  The standards are:

• People receive a prompt response to their contact with a GP practice via telephone.
• Practices have the appropriate telephony systems in place to support the needs of people avoiding the need to call back multiple times and will check that they are handling calls in this way.
• People receive bilingual information on local and emergency services when contacting a practice.
• People are able to access information on how to get help and advice.
• People receive the right care at the right time in a joined up way which is based on their needs.People can use a range of options to contact their GP practice.
• People are able to email a practice to request a non-urgent consultation or a call back.
• Practices understand the needs of people within their practice and use this information to anticipate the demand on its services.