Appointments

Appointments are available 6 weeks in advance. Book an appointment by  booking online, telephoning or visiting the Practice in person after 8:00am.

On Line

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Telephone Triage Service

The medical receptionist will ask you a few quick questions to ensure that you are referred to the most appropriate Doctor or Nurse at the earliest opportunity. 

The practice provides a telephone triage service each day. A doctor from the practice will telephone patients and discuss the problem over the telephone.

If a face to face consultation is required the doctor will offer an appointment at the surgery. 

Pre-bookable appointments are still available with all doctors for non-urgent appointments.

Telephone Consultations

Telephone consultations can be used to discuss the results of tests and investigations and any other advice where an examination is not required.

All of the GPs have telephone consultation appointments available on each day to book in advance.

If you would prefer to speak to a GP over the telephone rather than make a face to face consultation please ask one of our receptionists for a telephone consultation.

Your details will be taken and you will be given a time the GP will telephone you back.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not advise telephone consultations for children, or any other problem that would require an examination.

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

Did not attend / arriving Late

Staff have limited time to see patients, if you arrive late for your appointment you will be asked to re-book.  Arriving late causes a delay for future patients and causes unnecessary burdens on the clinician.

If you do not attend an appointment you will be sent a letter asking you to be more considerate. Patients who miss several appointments may be removed from our practice list and advised to seek medical care elsewhere, if there is deemed to be a breakdown of relationship. 

Useful Practice Leaflets

Appointment Brochure

Nurse Practitioner Leaflet

Enhanced Access

From 1st October 2022, in addition to our usual practice opening times, appointments will be made available for patients to book Monday to Friday 6:30pm to 8:00pm and Saturdays 9:00am to 5:00pm provided by STAR Service (which is an organisation ran by ELM Alliance), based at Bentley Medical Practice at Redcar Primary Care Hospital . Elm Alliance is a South Tees GP Federation with membership from all 37 GP practices.

Ask reception if you would like an appointment in the enhanced access service. 

For more information regarding enhanced access please click here.

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling reception before 10:00. Visit requests after this time will usually be undertaken the following day unless they are regarded as urgent.

Patients may request a home visit only if they are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. GPs will only visit patients if they think that their medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls. 

GPs may refer a Community Nurse to visit a patient at home. A Health Visitor will visit patients with new babies and newly registered patients with a child under 5 years.

When We Are Closed   

If you need to see or speak to a GP on a bank holiday, over the weekend or between the hours of 6pm to 8am Monday to Friday then please ring NHS 111 who will help you to access our STAR - Local extended GP hours service. To learn more about our STAR – local extended GP hours service please access the following link. http://www.southteesaccessresponse.nhs.uk/

NHS 111 will ask you a series of questions to determine the urgency of your need and to ensure you get the most appropriate help as quickly as possible (this is called triage).

Out-of-hours services are generally busy so please think carefully before asking to see a doctor and only do so if you genuinely cannot wait until the surgery re-opens.

In a genuine emergency you should call 999. Chest pains and / or shortness of breath constitute an emergency.  

ALTERNATIVELY BOOK A ROUTINE APPOINTMENT AT  THE STAR SERVICE

The STAR service is also available for Routine pre-bookable appointments which can be booked by clicking this link - http://www.starappointment.co.uk/booking/

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).

Chaperone 

During your care, a clinician may need to examine you. Occasionally this may involve an examination of intimate areas. We understand that this can be stressful and you may feel more comfortable with a chaperone. You may book a chaperone when making an appointment that may involve an examination of intimate areas.  

If this sort of examination is necessary the Clinician will explain:

• why the examination is necessary and give you the opportunity to ask questions  

• what the examination will involve  

• ask your permission before carrying out the examination  

• offer to have a chaperone present during the examination 

At all times the Clinician will respect your privacy during the examination and while dressing and undressing 

What is a chaperone?    

A chaperone is a person (can be a nurse or a trained non-clinical staff member) whose role is to act as a witness as a safeguard for both parties during a medical examination or procedure.  

If you have any questions or concerns about intimate examinations or chaperoning, please do not hesitate to ask one of the doctors or nurses.