Our appointment system
Our appointment system
As a practice we offer a variety of different appointments being:
- Online consultations.
- Telephone consultations (for GP’s, nurses and occupational therapists.)
- Doctor face to face appointments.
- Advanced nurse practitioner face to face appointments.
- Practice nurse face to face appointments.
- Health care assistant face to face appointments.
- Occupational therapy face to face appointments.
All the practice team members are trained in care navigation to help signpost you to the most appropriate service or clinician and to help the doctors prioritise their calls. (If you do not wish to divulge your problem, you can say its personal.)
If you are booked a doctor telephone, call the admin team are not able to give an exact time for the telephone call from the doctor, they can only advise if the call will be in the morning or afternoon.
The doctor will telephone call the patient on the number given, so please ensure you give the correct contact details as available to take the call. The doctor will try 2 times and if they can’t get through to the patient, it will be classed as a did not attend and it will be to be rebooked for the next available appointment. If the doctor speaks to the patient and decides they need further examination, they will offer the patient a face-to-face appointment at a mutually agreed time for later the same day.
The admin team are subject to the same levels of confidentiality as all our clinicians.
On the Day appointments
The practice offers on the day appointments for acute illnesses, these can be telephone consultations or face to face appointments. The admin team will ask for a brief description of the problem to signpost you to the most appropriate service or clinician.
Pre bookable appointments
These appointments can be booked up to 4 weeks in advance.
You can book appointments with the practice at reception, online or by phone on 0151 355 2112 after 09:30am and tell the admin team member that you wish to book a pre bookable appointment.
The admin team will ask for a brief description of what is wrong to signpost you to the correct service or clinician.
To provide patient with continuity of care it is often better for patients to either see your registered doctor for ongoing problems or to follow up with the same doctor who has been dealing with your current problem.
Enhanced Access
West Cheshire is part of a national effort to provide sufficient routine appointments at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, alongside effective access to out of hours and urgent care services.
The practice is open for enhanced access appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday evening until 8pm. We offer a variety of different appointments in these evenings, including GPs, practice nurses, health care assistants, occupational therapy and clinical pharmacist.
There is also weekend availability on a Friday evening and Saturday all day for patients to see GP’s, advanced nurse practitioners, physiotherapists and practice nurses. These appointments are hosted from York Road Group Practice and Great Sutton Medical Centre alternating each week. For more information, please contact the practice.
Urgent Appointments
If patients feel that they need to be seen urgently on the day, a telephone consultation will be arranged with the on-call doctor.
The admin team will ask for a brief description of the problem to ensure you are booked in or signposted to the most appropriate clinician or service.
Home visits
The doctors are happy to visit patients at home who are bed bound and are unable to attend the practice. Whilst we encourage our patients to attend the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do understand that this is always not possible. If you do need a home visit, please contact the practice before 11am. Request received after this time will then need to be triaged by the on-call doctor.
Late for your appointment
Please attend for your appointment on time. If you are over half your appointment time the clinician may not be able to see you.
Make the most of your appointment
Most GP and nurse appointments are 10 minutes duration. As a practice we strive to deal with a patient’s medical problem to the highest standard and this can prove difficult if we are expected to deal with more than one medical problem at a time. Please prioritise the most important issue and book separate appointments if needed. Please remember that your appointment is only or you and if your child or other relative needs to be seen then they must book a separate appointment.
Missed appointments
The practice has a high number of patients that don’t attend for their appointments. Please remember to cancel your appointment if you can’t attend. You can do this by text message reminder service, online services or telephoning the practice on 0151 355 2112.
Chaperone policy
In certain circumstances during an examination of an intimate nature the doctor may ask a member of staff to be present. This is to protect both the doctor and the patient. If a suitable chaperone is not available an alternative appointment will be offered. A patient may of course request a chaperone be present, but this may mean that another appointment will be necessary.