Consultations with the doctors and practice nurses are by appointment. Appointments can be made by telephoning the surgery on (0191) 487 2656, or by calling in to see the Receptionists.
The surgery is open Monday – Friday 8.15am – 6.00pm
Between 1.00pm and 2.00pm only urgent calls are taken.
Outside these hours, see under “Emergencies”.
- Appointments are available from 8.30am to 11.30am and from 2.00pm to 5.30pm.
- Appointments are for one person only. If more than one person needs to be seen, please let us know when you make the appointment.
- If you have an urgent medical problem, we will give you an appointment on the same day.
- If you wish to see a particular doctor, you will be offered the next available appointment with that doctor. There may be delays because of demand, emergencies, holidays or sickness.
- You will usually be seen within 30 minutes of your appointment time. Please check with Reception if you have not been called.
- If you are unable to keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. Someone else may be able to use your appointment time.
We are also open on one Saturday of every month. Please ring our Reception Team for more information on this.
Appointments With Other Healthcare Professionals
For some problems you can now see a pharmacist or nurse at the practice. Many people have already spoken to our pharmacist. If you have queries about your medication or minor illnesses please ask whether the pharmacist can provide help with minor illnesses or medication queries.
Medical Students and Doctors Training to be General Practitioners
The practice is involved in teaching and training. If this affects your consultation you will be fully informed and will have the option to refuse. Occasionally we make video recordings of consultations for training purposes. If we would like to video the consultation, we will ask you first and make the recording only with your full agreement. We will understand if you do not wish a recording to be made. We teach pharmacy students & physician associate students.
Currently Registered Patients
All patients who are registered at the Practice have a Named Accountable GP, known as your usual GP. If you wish to know which GP this is, please contact the Practice where a member of the Team will inform you. We would encourage you to see your Usual GP but you are free to see whoever you wish. If you have a preference to whom you would like as your named GP, please contact the Surgery and we will do our best to accommodate you. Alternatively, patients who do not wish to have a named GP can contact the Surgery and we will record this in your records.
We continue to review our appointment system and we completed a full overhaul in October 22 following review of GP Patient Survey from February 22. We have simplified the appointment system to routine, same or next day and emergency appointments. We have a new triage algorithm to detect medical urgency, we offer same day appointments for children, we use e-Consult to filter out urgent problems and allow this to offer greater access to patients. We may now directly refer any patients electronically direct to local pharmacies for minor ailments.
Our access is sought through, new phone system, walk ins, e-Consult and text for our hearing-impaired patients. You are offered the choice of either face to face or telephone appointment at point of request.
We now have additional capacity for GP, HCA and CPN appointments through our PCN and federation and this supports in hours and out of hours.
We are the link practice for 2 care homes, and both are visited each week for a full session by our GPs where ward rounds are completed along with annual structured medication reviews. The GPs work well with the care home staff and the local Community Nurse Practitioner.
As mentioned previously, all housebound patients are managed the same way as the mobile patients – offered appointments / home visits / triage and annual reviews by the practice team. We would like all home visit requests in by 1030am where possible.