Nurse Practitioner or Doctor?
 |
| To
make an appointment, call 01225 444487 |
Nurse Practitioners can provide treatment and advice for many problems for
which you may have seen a doctor in the past. Their main area of expertise is
the management of common/minor illnesses and minor injury.
The Nurse Practitioner can assess and examine you, make a diagnosis and
provide treatment and advice including a prescription if required. They can make
referrals to most hospital doctors or other health care professionals, and admit
patients into hospital where necessary. Although they are unable to sign a sick
certificate they can make arrangements for one to be signed for you. They work
closely with your GP and liaise frequently with them about your care.
For more information see the Nurse
Practitioner Service page.
Seeing Your Doctor
All doctors see patients by appointment. Surgeries commence at 7.30 am on
Mondays and Thursdays, 8.00 am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 8.30 am on
Saturday. To arrange an appointment please use the Appointments Line -
01225 444487 (Please note that the Surgery is closed 12.45pm – 1.45 pm and
during this period you will hear a recorded message). Whenever possible, please make an appointment with your registered
doctor, but, if the problem is urgent, and your doctor is unavailable because
he/she is fully booked or away from the practice, the receptionist will invite
you to see another doctor.
Please inform the receptionist if you need to book an appointment for a
special medical examination, as often a longer appointment is necessary. Side
rooms are available for anyone in physical or emotional distress, and again
please inform the receptionist.
Most appointments are of ten minutes duration. If you need to discuss more
than one problem with the doctor, and feel that ten minutes will be insufficient,
please mention this at the time of booking so that you can be allocated a longer
appointment.
We hold an open surgery, which is non-bookable, between 8.30 am and 10.30 am,
and 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm, Mondays to Fridays. Please do not expect the doctor to
deal with more than one problem in these surgeries.
Every day appointments are wasted when patients do not attend. If you are
unable to keep an appointment we do ask that you make every effort to inform the
Surgery in good time so that your appointment may be offered to another patient.
