Appointments

To help the doctor, the receptionist may ask for brief details of your problem. This is in complete confidence. 

Routine

Telephone for a routine appointment between 09:00 and 18:00 on a weekday. These are normally either 10 or 15 minutes long.

Emergency (on the day)

Telephone for an emergency appointment between 08:00 and 18:30 on a weekday.

We have a dedicated emergency team during the day. This comprises one of our general practitioners, a nurse practitioner and our whole reception team, who will take calls in the normal way. The doctor or nurse will offer you telephone advice and will arrange to see you in the surgery if necessary. Emergency home visits will be undertaken after telephone assessment. Please remember 'on the day' appointments are only for emergencies.

Telephone Consultation

Please leave your telephone number and message with the receptionist. They will arrange for a doctor to contact you at a convenient time.

Non-English Speaking Patients

If you do not speak English we can provide interpreter facilities for most languages either by phone translation or by having a qualified interpreter present at your consultation. We have permanent Russian and Lithuanian interpreters on site as part of our support team. This service is free.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else. If you frequently make appointments that you do not keep or cancel we may ask you to register elsewhere.

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 10:30.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. A Nurse or GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the medical team to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced)

Returning to work

You do not need to see your doctor again to be signed fit to go back to work.
The fit note does not have an option to say that you're fit for work. If your doctor wants to assess your fitness for work again, they will say this on your fit note.

Some employers have their own policy that requires employees to obtain medical evidence that they are fit for work. If this is the case, your employer should help you arrange this privately with a GP or occupational health specialist. A doctor cannot issue a fit note for this purpose.

Going back to work

You do not need to be fully fit to go back to work. For example:

• your employer may agree to make some changes to help you return
• if your health condition no longer affects your ability to do your normal duties, you may be able to return even though you've only partly recovered

Below are some examples of changes that your employer could consider:

• returning to work gradually – for example, by starting part-time
• working different hours temporarily
• doing different duties or tasks
• having other support to do your job, such as avoiding heavy lifting