Appointment system
Last Updated: Wednesday, 04 October 2023Overview
The Partners have instructed the reception team to ask patients the reason why they need each appointment. There are good reasons for doing this which help us to look after you better .
Please don't be offended by being asked and please don't make our receptionists feel awkward when they are simply doing their job.
If you really don't want to divulge the reason then simply say 'I'd rather not say' but please do bear in mind that this could make it harder for us to judge the urgency of your clinical need. All the information you give to us is treated in the strictest confidence in line with our privacy policy and GDPR
Pre-Bookable Appointments
All our Partners and Salaried GPs have appointments that you can book in advance. They mainly made available either three or four weeks ahead on a rolling basis. It is in the nature of these appointments that 'once they are gone, they are gone' so it can be difficult to secure these appointments. The appointments with our long-established GP Partners get booked up more quickly than appointments with other GPs and periods of annual leave can cause a 'log-jam' of demand. Patients who have no specific preference for a GP will naturally find it easier to book an appointment in advance.
At a time when demand for appointments please tell us if you no longer require your appointment so we can give it someone else. See how to cancel appointments.
We have a multi-disciplinary clinical team and quite often, another member of our team will be able to treat you. This is one of the key reasons why we try to establish your need by asking you to provide a reason why you want to book an appointment.
Visit our practice team pages to view the list of our current practice teams and photo gallery.
'On-The-Day' Appointments
We keep a significant proportion of our appointments each day so that they are available for people with acute conditions that need to be seen on that day.
These appointments are released at 8:30 am each morning simultaneously to people calling in on the phone only. Appointments are available at the front desk from 9:00 am. We typically process between 65 and 70 phone calls between 8:30 am and 9:00 am ( 50% more than this on a Monday) so although you might hear that you have a position in a long queue , it is important that you stay on the line until your call is answered. Patients are dealt with in the order they are connected and every day someone is first in the queue. If you end your call and re-dial you will simply go to the end of the queue.
When all the on-the-day appointments are taken we triage additional requests to be seen on the day to make sure that people are seen according to their clinical need. This may require you to wait on-the line while the receptionist consults with our duty doctor to triage your need or , for your convenience we might suggest that we call you back with a response.
The 'extra' appointments to accommodate this additional on-the-day demand are added to the end of the each available GP's morning session. For this reason it is difficult to set a fixed time for the appointment and why the receptionists sometimes describes them as 'sit and wait' appointments. The aim of the Practice is to always accommodate genuine, on-the-day clinical urgency and we appreciate your patience in waiting to be seen.
It is in the nature of this type of appointment that we are unable to guarantee that you are able to see a particular doctor.
Extended Access Appointments
Since October 1st 2018 all patients registered at a GP surgery in Southport and Formby have been able to book appointments at the 7-Day GP Service. This service is part of the standard NHS provision and is open from 5pm - 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 1pm on Sunday. This service is very popular with the working population and with young families.
To find out more about the 7-Day GP service please click here.
Online consultations
PATCHS is an online service that allows you to quickly and easily access GP services. Answer a few simple questions and PATCHS will get you the help you need. PATCHS is only available during surgery hours.
This provides a completely different experience for the patient in certain circumstances and it allows them to provide detailed information about the condition they need help with at their convenience and get a response from the practice by the end of the next working day.
We think that for some patients, in some circumstances , this will be a really convenient way of avoiding the need to contact the surgery directly. We don't intend it to replace the traditional model of face-to-face contact but we hope it will be way of freeing up capacity and making it easier for patients to communicate with us.