Appointments

Telephone 01204 463444 to make an appointment.

Appointments will be offered on the day you call, with the doctor on duty, or with our minor illness nurse/ pharmacist. You may be asked to give a brief description of your illness in order to allocate appointments appropriately.

Appointments can be made in advance with any of our doctors or nurses, but please remember that you may need to wait longer for an appointment with a particular member of staff.

Normal appointments last 10 minutes; if you require a longer appointment or you wish to discuss more than one issue, please ask the receptionist to book you a double appointment. You may ask to have another member of staff of the same sex as you available if you wish (a chaperone).

If you need an interpreter, please ask when you book your appointment.

You can also arrange to talk to a doctor or nurse on the phone. Just call 01204 463444 to book a telephone consultation.

Appointments can also be booked online via the link at the top of this page. New users are required to register. You will need to complete the forms 'BCP Consent for access to Online Records'  and 'Disclaimer for Online Services and Online Consultations' which are available at the reception or by clicking the above links to download.Please sign these and present it to a member of staff in order to gain access. You will also need to provide photographic ID and be registered with the practice in order to use our online services.

Minor Illness

When you ring requesting an appointment you may be offered our minor illness clinic. These are run by our specialist nurses and our pharmacist. They are qualified prescribers and will be able to prescribe for you if the diagnosis requires it.

You may be asked to give a brief description of your symptoms when booking an appointment.

Examples of minor illness include:

• coughs/ chest infections
• colds
• sore throats
• ear infections
• insect bites
• skin rashes/infections
• eye infections
• urine infections

When You Need More Specialist Care

Our staff are very well qualified and experienced in diagnosing and treating most common conditions. When they need to refer you to another healthcare team for further investigations or treatment, they will discuss the options with you.

Most referrals are handled through a telephone booking system which will be explained to you at the time. If you need to go to hospital you will be given a choice of which hospital you wish to go to. (More)

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.

Telephone Advice Line

Our telephone advice line is available Monday from 09:00 – 11:00.

The service is run by our practice nurses. You will be asked if you can leave a contact number and give brief details about the nature of the problem so that the most appropriate member of the team calls you back.

What can I use the telephone advice line for?

• Advice about managing minor illnesses such as coughs, colds, sore throats, vomiting and diarrhoea, flu like symptoms, childhood illness, allergies etc
• Advice about medication - your medication review can be conducted over the phone in some circumstances.
• Renewing sick notes/ issuing fit notes - If you are requesting a NEW sick note you will need to see the GP. (REMEMBER - You can self certify for the first 7 days of an illness, ask your employer for a form)
• Discuss test results
• All requests to speak to a doctor are processed through our triage team, if we cannot resolve your problem and you need to speak to a specific doctor we will try and arrange this for you.
• All our requests for home visits are processed through the triage doctor.

NB: If we feel it is not possible to resolve your problem over the phone we will advise you on any further course of action and arrange an appointment if necessary.

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.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your 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

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Referrals

Our staff are very well qualified and experienced in diagnosing and treating most common conditions. When they need to refer you to another healthcare team for further investigations or treatment, they will discuss the options with you.

Most referrals are handled through a telephone booking system which will be explained to you at the time. If you need to go to hospital you will be given a choice of which hospital you wish to go to.

The referral Process               

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)

Pharmacist Information

Medication review and alignment

If you are due a medication review, you may be booked in to see our clinical practice pharmacist. This can also be done on the phone if you prefer (and are suitable).  You can also request for your medication to be brought into line so that you can order your medication together. If you would like to do this, please contact the practice to speak to the pharmacist or alternatively book a face to face appointment with our pharmacist. It may be necessary to review the medication however this can be done at the same appointment.

Reducing cost to the NHS

At times, it may be necessary to change your medication to a suitable alternative to reduce the cost to the NHS. This will be in line with changes recommended to us by Bolton CCG or could be as per practice policy. The alternatives prescribed will be the same or equivalent to what you have previously been issued. Any changes made will be communicated to you.

It may also be necessary to ask you to purchase medication from the local pharmacies instead of issuing you a prescription during a consultation or review. This will only happen for medication readily available from pharmacies and would again help reduce cost to the NHS. Thank you for your support on this.

All prescriptions can now go electronically to your chosen Pharmacy. Contact your local Pharmacy and complete a short form to enable all your prescription items to go direct to your Pharmacy.

IMPROVING ACCESS TO GENERAL PRACTICE

EVENING AND WEEKEND APPOINTMENTS

Improving access to general practice: evening and weekend appointments now available

Patients who are registered at this practice can now book an appointment to see a GP or nurse on weekday evenings (after 6.30pm) or at the weekends (on Saturday and Sunday). The extended service is delivered by Bolton GP Federation. http://www.boltongpfederation.co.uk/

Appointments will either take place at this practice or at another NHS setting nearby at Waters Meeting Health Centre, Urgent Care Centre, Royal Bolton Hospital, Winifred Kettle. Ask the practice receptionist to find out more or book an appointment