Frequently asked questions about our new online appointment system
1. How do I book an appointment?
If you have access to the internet on a phone or computer, please go to our appointments page on the website. You will be asked to provide some information about your problem and how you would like us to deal with it. This information will help us respond to you in the most appropriate way.
2. Who reviews our appointment requests?
A senior GP will review all requests and allocate them to the appropriate member of our team. This could be a doctor, nurse, clinical pharmacist or other relevant specialist at our practice. Where appropriate, you may also be directed to services outside of our practice (see Question 6 below).
3. What if I don’t have access to the internet or cannot fill out the form?
If you cannot use the internet or fill out the form for any reason, please call us on 01444 458738 and one of our receptionists will enter your details into the online form with you. This may take longer than our previous system, so please be patient and only call if you cannot use our website. The same process will apply if you come into the surgery in person and ask at Reception.
4. Why are you changing this?
As you may have heard in the press, General Practice has been at the forefront of managing the increased demand in the NHS over the last 5 years but currently receive the smallest proportion of NHS funding. As a result, the workload in General Practice has significantly exceeded capacity & has led to increasing waits for appointments. We know this is not satisfactory for you & it is certainly not what we want either. We have a limited amount of appointments and need to manage them in the best way possible.
We understand how stressful it can be to queue on the phone or in person at the practice from 8am and then sometimes find that appointments are full. As a result we have spent time reviewing different options for appointment bookings to try and improve access. We hope that by putting all requests into one system, we can review them and ensure that patients are offered appointments based on their clinical need. We believe this is a much fairer and safer system for everyone.
5. How will this work for me?
All urgent appointment requests will be reviewed by a senior doctor on the same day if received by 2pm. If your request is received after 2pm it may not be reviewed until the following working day although we will still try to process urgent requests.
Other options for urgent help include NHS services such as 111 and urgent treatment centres in Lewes, Crawley and East Grinstead.
Once your form has been reviewed the GP will make a decision about how best to action your concern. The GP may be able to help you without booking an appointment as they may be able to answer your query via phone or a text message with information & advice. If you need to have an appointment, where possible, they will send you a link to book an appropriate appointment, taking your preferences into account.
This link will be for either same day appointments or a routine appointment and there will be a mixture of telephone and face to face appointments, depending on the issue that you are seeking help with. If you are not able to book via this system, our reception team will call to book you an appointment.
6. Will I always see someone at the practice?
In some circumstances, you may be redirected to alternative services that are best suited to address your specific health needs. By utilising these specialized services, we can ensure that our in-house GP appointments are reserved for those who need them most. This approach allows us to provide the most effective care for all our patients. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in making the best use of the resources available to us.
Pharmacy First
The majority of our local pharmacies now offer this service. You will be seen by a pharmacist and they can review your symptoms and issue a prescription where appropriate. The conditions they see include ear infections, sore throat, impetigo, infected insect bites, shingles and urinary tract infections. We will direct you via a message to seek help via the Pharmacy First system if your symptoms fit the criteria for this service. The following link has more information
www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/pharmacy-first/
UCATS
uCATS (Urgent Care At Scale) is an additional service for adults and children aged 5 years and above to help in increasing capacity for urgent same-day care. The service is GP-supervised and patients are managed by a team of experienced clinicians, which includes Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Pharmacists and Paramedics. The GPs and allied health professionals are based outside of the practice and the service covers multiple local GP practices. If your condition is suitable for these appointments our reception team will call you with an appointment time. The appointments are telephone calls, but a face to face appointment can be arranged if the clinician thinks it is needed.
HUB
Our PCN (Primary Care Network) is a group of local practices who work together to provide certain services. We work with our PCN to deliver an enhanced HUB Access which provides additional face-to-face and remote telephone consultations outside of core hours for more accessibility. The GPs and allied health professionals who work in the HUB, are not directly employed by the practice and run this service for multiple practices. They run evening and weekend clinics.
If your condition is suitable for these appointments our reception team will call you with an appointment time. The appointments are telephone calls, but a face to face appointment can be arranged if the clinician thinks it is needed.
Emotional Wellbeing Service
Our PCN also provides the Emotional Wellbeing Service. They offer appointments either in our practice or on the phone to support someone who is experiencing low mood, anxiety, or another particularly stressful life event. You may be offered a direct review with them rather than a GP. They will contact you within 2 weeks of your form submission, you will receive a text explaining this if it is felt to be the appropriate service for your needs.
7. Will this system be used to book ALL appointments?
No, the system is only used for medical or administrative queries.
Booking of nursing Appointments (eg smears or immunisations), annual Chronic health reviews for long term conditions (eg Diabetes and Asthma) and NHS health checks will still be done via calling reception or online booking links as before. [KC3]
8. What do I do if I need follow up with a doctor?
If you need follow up with a doctor or other health professional, we ask that you submit a form in the same way as we have outlined above. Please click “new condition” and then “other GP appointment – I can wait 1-14 days” and provide information about who you would like to see and what the condition you need follow up for is.
If you have any further questions, please ask a member of the reception team.