Pre-Bookable GP Appointments and Help Us to Help You!

We’re pleased to announce that pre-bookable appointments are back!

You can now book appointments up to six weeks in advance for your non-urgent appointments. This change reflects our commitment to making our services more accessible and convenient for you.

What You Need to Know:

  • Book in Advance: Appointments can be scheduled ahead of time, giving you greater control over when you see your GP.
  • Pre-Bookable Appointments: For ongoing or non-urgent issues, ensuring you receive care at a time that works for you. Pre-bookable appointments will not be dealt with on the same day.
  • Appointment Types: Choose from face-to-face or telephone consultations based on your preference.
  • Focus on Continuity of Care: We aim to help you build a strong relationship with a consistent GP. Whenever possible, we’ll book you with the same doctor you’ve seen before, and from the start, we’ll ask if you have a preferred GP.

How to Book:

  • By Phone: Call our reception to speak with a team member who can assist with your booking.
  • Online Requests: If you submit an online appointment request, our team will follow up by phone to confirm your booking.

At Reception: Visit Reception at either School Lane Surgery or Healthy Living Centre to book your appointment.

What to Expect:

  • Appointment Availability: We aim to provide a balanced number of same-day and pre-bookable slots. Same-day appointments are limited to urgent needs and are triaged by our On-Call GP.
  • Pharmacy & Other Services: For certain minor health concerns, our team may signpost you to NHS 111, Pharmacy or other services. This may include booking you an appointment with another health professional within the surgery (mental health worker, social prescriber or our first contact physiotherapist). All of these services can help with specific conditions without needing a GP appointment. This keeps our surgery as available as possible for patients needing GP involvement.
  • Self Care: While we’re always here for you, some health issues do improve on their own or with over-the-counter medication. Before contacting us, please consider self-care options such as:
  • NHS 111 online (https://111.nhs.uk/ )

Or

for advice on a wide range of medical conditions.

These resources can help you decide if a GP visit is necessary. By using self-care where possible, you help us keep appointments available for those who need them most. Of course, if you’re concerned or need further support, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

  • Capacity and Demand: We understand the demand for our services is high. Even with more GPs and staff, the need may exceed availability. We’re committed to doing our best with the resources we have but wait times may still extend for non-urgent bookings.

The Uncomfortable Truth:

As a surgery we want to be as clear and transparent as we can. This means that there is a simple truth we face; demand outstrips supply. There are simply more patients needing appointments than we have available. This will mean that pre-bookable appointments may involve a wait of several weeks.

We wish that this was not the case, but after a decade of sustained underfunding and with a growing population, General Practice, as a whole, cannot keep up with the demands faced.

Pre-covid, appointments were booked up weeks in advance. We know that this is not ideal and we would like to offer more appointments for shorter wait times but the reality is that it is not currently possible without more NHS funding.

We commit to constantly reviewing the appointments offered and will do all we can to try and keep wait times down to a minimum for you.

If you book an appointment and later find you do not need it, please do let us know as soon as possible. This small step helps us provide efficient care for all our patients by freeing up appointments for others.

This new system is designed to offer you more flexibility while improving the quality and continuity of your care. We appreciate your understanding as we work through any adjustments during the initial weeks.

We hope that this change is a positive move into providing the best possible care we can for all our patients here at School Lane.