Appointments

Surgery Opening Hours

The telephone lines do not open until 08:00am and this is for emergencies only.

Due to the current situation with coronavirus we will be opening on one Saturday every 4 weeks from 8.30am - 12.30pm (as of 24/07/2020). 

On the day you can call and book an appointment to speak to a GP. If the GP feels they need to see you will be asked to visit the surgery. Please be mindful of the most common symptoms of coronavirus:  

• high temperature
• new and continuous dry cough 
• breathing difficulties
• loss of sense of taste or smell

Newbiggin Branch

Pre booked services and Enquiries

The Practice offers some routine pre-booked appointments, a reception service for booking future appointments, obtaining test results and collecting pre-ordered repeat prescriptions and forms.

Outside of the normal surgery hours we are not staffed to deal with urgent or acute matters. You can access care by dialling 111.

Appointments System

• Routine Face to Face Appointments - These can be booked up to two weeks ahead by telephoning 01670 811811. The practice aims to be able to offer a routine appointment within three working days but in times where demand exceeds availability this will not always be possible.
• Routine Telephone Appointments - lots of things can be dealt with on the telephone, such as medication reviews, repeat sick notes and review of long term problems.  If you are not sure whether you will need to be seen, make a telephone appointment, and the doctor can arrange to see you face to face if necessary.
• Same Day Appointments - anybody requesting to be seen on the same day will now be offered a telephone appointment with the GP. If the doctor needs to examine you, they will organise for you to come to the surgery.  Up to two thirds of problems can be dealt with over the phone, and this system allows more time for the doctors to spend with those who need it most. Phone after 8.30am for a same day phone appointment. Click here for more information about telephone appointments.
• Urgent Advice - please let the receptionist know if you feel your call is urgent - we have a duty doctor available for emergency problems from 8.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday.

Can't get an appointment?

Find out why and what we are doing to help or read our access strategy.

Online Appointments

We have recently made changes to the range and amount of appointments you can book on line. We now have GP face to face and telephone appointments and appointments across our various clinics.

Online Appointment-

 Online GP Telephone Appointments - Please only book if:

• you have been asked by your GP surgery following blood tests / results, or 

• if you have been asked by a GP to book a medication review.  

Please do not book if:

• you have an urgent need or  

• if you have an administrative query e.g. form completed.  

Online Medication Review Telephone Appointments – Please book if:

• you have been advised by your healthcare professional or 

• you feel you would benefit from a medication review.

Online Blood Test Appointments - Please only book when asked to by an NHS Doctor or Nurse.

Online Cervical Smear Appointments - Please only book if you have received an invitation letter from NHS screening.

Online Contraception Appointments - Please only book if you have been advised by your health care professional that you need a pill check or depo injection.

Online Annual Chronic Disease Health Check Appointments – Please only book if you have received an invitation letter.

Online Asthma or Diabetes or COPD Appointments – Please only book if you have received an invitation letter.

Online Midwife Appointments – Please only book if you are more than 8 WEEKS pregnant.

Please remember to Cancel your appointment if you no longer require it

Use of Appointments

• Standard face to face appointments are 12 minutes long. If you have several complex problems you can ask for a double appointment.
• An appointment is for one person only, where another member of the family needs to be seen or discussed, another appointment should be made.
  
• It may not be possible to see the doctor of your choice, although a consultation with another doctor can usually be arranged. 
  
• Please keep your appointment time - if for some reason you cannot keep your appointment please let us know - somebody else may need it. 
• On arrival patients should check in at reception. 
  
• Patients arriving late for an appointment must be prepared to wait or make another appointment.

Missed Appointments

Seaton Park Medical Group are actively tackling the numbers of missed appointments in the practice, we are highlighting to patients the importance of making sure they attend or cancel where the appointment is not required.
 
If you no longer require your appointment please let us know in good time by calling the dedicated cancellation line on 01670-528102.
 
This allows the appointments to be used by others and enables us to make the best use of our clinician’s time.
 
Please be aware if you have had two (2) missed appointments in six (6) months or three (3) in twelve (12) you may receive a yellow card letter regarding your non-attendance.
 
Thank you in advance.

Navigator

In order to help you contact the right person first time we have introduced Navigation.

Our Doctors have developed a special computer programme called NAVIGATOR to help you get to the right appointment. It is a tool that has been written by the doctors for the Medical Receptionists to use, so they can guide you to the right professional.

The Medical Receptionists have specialist training in using NAVIGATOR, so when they ask for information about your problem they are not being nosey - they are doing their job.

Please help us to help you... we will have more GP appointments to offer patients who DO need to see the doctor, if the patients that don't need a GP are guided to the right appointment for them!

Home Visits

Should you need to see a Doctor and you are too ill to attend surgery please ring before 10.30am for a home visit. This will allow us time to plan our day. Our receptionist may ask you questions about your illness; she is not being nosy - she is specially trained for this job.

A doctor will ring back to establish how the problem can best be dealt with.

Please try to ring before 10.30am if you think you need a visit.

REMEMBER:

• Bringing a hot child out of the home will not make them worse and may improve things.
  
• There are wheel chairs at all sites which you can borrow to travel from a car to the surgery.
  
• We have access to phones in surgery to enable you to ring for a taxi.
  
• You may be able to book a "later afternoon" appointment if transport is a problem and a relative or friend is only available after work to bring you.

Xpress Clinic

The Xpress Clinic runs daily. Appointments can be booked on the day, or the day before.

The clinic is run by specialist trained nurses. The doctors have worked with the nurses to develop their skills in minor illness such as:

• Acute cough and chest infections
  
• Earache
  
• Urinary infections
  
• Sore Throats 
  
• New rashes
  
• Poorly children over 1

Telephone Calls

All telephone calls are recorded for training and your protection.

Staff Training Closures

The Practice closes the third Thursday afternoon of every month (apart from April when it is the fourth Thursday) between 12pm and 4pm for TIPTOES, Training in Protected Time, Ongoing Education Scheme.

This enables us to provide ongoing training, education and development for all our staff to support continuous improvement in customer service standards and patient care. The dates effected are:

Think Pharmacy First

Self Treatment of Minor Illness

The purpose of this section is to explain and help you cope with minor illness at home – explaining simple treatments for minor illnesses which occur in every family from time to time. In some of these cases there is nothing a doctor or nurse can do that a patient cannot do just as well. For useful health information on many illnesses please visit www.patient.co.uk.

• Coughs
• Sore Throats
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• The Common Cold

Remember, whenever you are really anxious or ill, advice can be obtained on the telephone from the surgery or by telephoning NHS 111 or by going to www.nhs.uk/111

Communication & Information Needs

How can we communicate better with you?

Find out more information about the Accessible Information Standard...

If you need to cancel your holiday