HOW TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

If you need to see a GP you should telephone reception or present at the surgery between 8.00 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. and you will be offered an appointment that day or a telephone consultation. Whilst we will endeavour to offer you an appointment with your first choice of GP this is not always possible - in these circumstances you will be offered an appointment with an alternative GP

If you telephone after 10.30 you will be asked to ring back the following day - unless it is an emergency.

We do have a limited number of pre-bookable appointments these can only be booked up to two weeks in advance and are only for people who have extreme difficulty in arranging a same day appointment.

Some appointments need to be pre-booked i.e. some joint injections and coil changes as a nurse needs to be in attendance for the procedure. Please note only one patient can be seen per appointment and children should always be accompanied by an adult.

All appointments for the practice nurses need to be pre-booked.  

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Telephone Consultations

Every day the doctor on-call will be available for telephone consultations.  These will take place between 8.00a.m. and 10.00a.m.

These consultations may be of benefit to patients who do not ffel it necessary to have a face to face consultation with the doctor.  In the event of the doctor feeling that you need to be examined they will offer you an appointment that day. 

Telephone Advice

There may be times when you require advice from a doctor or nurse but do not feel that you need to take up an appointment.

The nurses will take telephone calls from patients after morning surgery and before afternoon/evening surgery. Usually between 11.45 - 12.15 and 2.00 - 2.30 or 3.00 - 3.30 (depending on what time afternoon surgery commences)

It is also possible to arrange for one of the  doctor 's to telephone you during or after morning surgery.

Home visits are reserved for those patients who are housebound or are too unwell to be brought to the surgery. In some cases a GP may speak to the patient or a relative to discuss the need for a visit.

If possible please try to telephone your request for a visit before 11.00 a.m. to help the doctors to organise their day.

When patients request a visit we are unable to offer a choice in GP as it will depend day to day on which GP is working and undertaking visits. The GP’s will divide the visits between themselves as they feel is appropriate.

Once you have had a blood test or left a sample at the surgery to be tested it will be collected and taken to the pathology laboratory or either Chorley Hospital or Royal Preston Hospital.   Samples are collected at 11.00 a.m. every morning Monday to Friday.

Some tests only take a short time to run and others may need a few days.  Occasionally if it is a a very specialist test it may even take a few weeks.

Once the result is available it is sent to the surgery electronically.  We 'pick up' these results once or twice a day.  A senior member of the practice team will check each result and all normal results will be put into your records.  All other results will be left for the doctor or nurse who requested the test to double-check.

They will then decide whether the result is acceptable and can be treated as normal or if some further action should be taken.

If further action is to be taken we will write to you explaining what has been recommmended

If you do need to contact the surgery about the results of any tests could you please ring between 2.00 and 4.00  and ask to speak to Mrs Smith or Mrs Kershaw. Please allow one week after your test has been taken as we may already have written to you if further action needs to be taken