Practice News
1. **NEW** GP Appointment System
We are introducing a new GP appointment system on 11 August which will improve our ability to meet your needs.
Over the next few weeks up to 11 August, we will need to reduce the number of GP appointments which can be booked in advance in order to prepare for the new system. This means it may be harder over the next few weeks for you to pre-book a routine (ie non-urgent) GP appointment.
We are confident that the changes we are making will ultimately improve the service we can offer you so please be patient with us while we make these changes and help us by:
1. CANCELLING any booked appointment that you no longer need so that we can offer it to someone else (Tel 842577).
2. READING the free copy of our Minor Illness & Ailments Booklet from the surgery which provides advice on home treatment. You may find you don't need to see your GP.
3. DON'T BOOK a GP appointment for prescriptions, test results or completion of a report/form/letter UNLESS the GP has asked to see you. Reception can advise you on more effective ways of getting what you need.
For further details of the planned changes to our appointment system, please see the "Appointments Made Easy" newsletter available in the surgery and here on the website.
2. **NEW** Opening hours!
Over the last few years, patient surveys have suggested that you increasingly want to see your doctor out of 'normal' work hours, ie early mornings, lunchtimes, evenings and at weekends.
We've spent some considerable time looking at how we might be able to meet your needs in this area, bearing in mind that GPs have lives out of normal work hours too!
Last year, we put a proposal to our Patient Group and, with their support, from the beginning of August 2008, we trialled new opening hours to see if that improved your access to a GP. The good news is that the most recent patient survey showed a marked improvement in your satisfaction with our opening hours. We have therefore decided to continue with these increased working hours.
We are now open on a Saturday morning from 09:30 to 12:30 and we will also be open from 18:00 to 20:00 on a Thursday evening. These times are reserved only for appointments BOOKED IN ADVANCE with a nurse or GP (the appointments will be available to prebook from 2 weeks in advance).
During these additional opening times, you can also come in to order or pick up a repeat prescription or to make an appointment, but you will not be able to contact the surgery by telephone (all calls will be automatically forwarded to our out-of-hours service who will deal with any 'urgent' medical needs). however, you will still be able to use our appointment cancellation line on 01928 842577 (messaging service only).
In addition to Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings, we are also offering appointments from earlier in the day Monday to Friday (from 08:30 or 08:40 each day) and some lunchtime appointments.
Please let us know what you think of our improved opening hours. We will be monitoring take-up over the coming months and discussing with our Patient Group to decide if we should continue with them longer-term.
See also our regular practice newsletters
