USING THE SURGERY

The reception

GENERAL INFORMATION

We are an NHS family practice, providing general medical services to our registered population. To register, come in and ask at reception if you have recently moved into our practice area (for information, go to Practice Area). If you already have a local GP and want to change doctors, you may make an appointment to come and discuss this. Alternatively, use our Online Registration service.

NEW PATIENTS

We ask new patients to fill in a health questionnaire and then we offer a brief checkup, including height, weight and blood pressure. You will see the health care assistant for this, and it may be fitted in even if you register in an emergency. This gives us some background details which help in your future care.

TELEPHONE ADVICE

Surgery telephones are on from 8:00am to 12:00, and 1:30pm to 6:30pm.Our Doctors and Nurses give telephone advice. You may ring during the working day, but cannot always be put through during busy surgeries. The best time to ring for advice is between 11:15 am and 12:00 noon. During the lunch break you can ring 07910 874 826 in an emergency.

For test results please ring the surgery between 2:00 and 3:00 pm when the receptionists will be able to give you the doctor's messages about your results. You may be able to speak to a nurse directly and will be given a suitable time to ring to speak to your own doctor, if necessary.

The Health Visitors can be telephoned on 020 7441 0708 You can also ring NHS Direct, a national nurse-run helpline, on 0845 46 47.

HOME VISITS

We find diagnosing medical problems easier in our fully equipped surgery. The majority of medical conditions allow you to come to the surgery even in an emergency. However, if you are unable to come and require a home visit, please try to make the request in the morning, when lunchtime visits are planned. In an emergency, you may request a home visit later in the day, which can be done after surgery.

Outside surgery hours,that is between 6:30pm and 8am and at weekends, you should ring 08456 026 292 for Harmoni.

REPEAT PRESCRIPTIONS

If you need any medicine regularly, you will get a repeat prescription form. We try to issue regular medicines for three months at a time, and it saves work if you can order items together. Please bring or send the form to us, indicating what you need. Postal requests need an S. A. E. for posting back. Your local chemist can also take your request and get your medicines ready. Prescription requests cannot be taken over the telephone, but you can now order repeat prescriptions online. Your doctor will arrange to review your condition at appropriate intervals.