Appointments

We run an appointment-only system and all appointments are for 15 minutes.

Appointment can be made on-line using eConsult, by ringing the surgery or you can pop in and speak to one of our receptionists between 8am and 10am.

It is not always possible to be able to book patients with their chosen practitioner for urgent appointments.

Please try and help reception staff to direct you to the most appropriate health professional, as a wide range of minor illnesses; blood pressure, asthma and diabetes monitoring, pill checks, advice on smoking cessation, diet, exercise, cholesterol, and travel advice are now mainly dealt with by either our nurse practitioner, practice nurses or health care assistants. Seeing those members of our team, whenever it is appropriate, helps us to further improve access to our GPs especially where an appointment with a particular GP is needed on short notice.

All appointments made are for one person ONLY. Please ensure you request separate appointments for additional members of your family.

The time allocated for a normal appointment with your GP is 15 minutes. Please book a double appointment if you would like to discuss complex or multiple problems.

Please inform our reception staff if your appointment is to discuss test results.

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.

You can also cancel a booked appointment via the NHS App and from the appointment text message reminder.

Dental Issues - these cannot be dealt with at the practice or by UTC

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust's Dental Helpdesk will directly book patients into urgent and additional hours dental appointments across Kent and Medway.

Patients can call the helpdesk on 0300 123 4412. It is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm.

Urgent appointments are defined as:

a) Urgent unscheduled care: Patients who may require clinical care within 24 hours or as soon as practically possible, unless the condition worsens.
b) Non-urgent unscheduled care: Patients requiring dental care within 7 days, unless the condition worsens. 

Additional hours appointments can offer dental stabilisation treatment following an urgent appointment but can also offer urgent treatment for targeted cohorts of patients:

• pregnant and peri-natal people
• local authority looked after children (LAC)
• care home residents who can travel to a dental practice
• vulnerable population groups including asylum seekers and refugees, homeless people
• Romani people
• armed forces family members
• patients that are clinically vulnerable (e.g. immuno-suppressed patients, oncology and cardiac patients, patients requiring oral health stabilisation before cardiac surgery, cancer treatment or, patients who or prescribed bisphosphonate medication. This is not an exhaustive list) 

For more information on dental services in Kent and Medway

 Our Nurse Practitioner can help and PRESCRIBE for:

• Minor ailments such as, colds, flu, ear, throat and chest infections
• Eye infections including: styes, conjunctivitis and dry eye
• Asthma, COPD and Blood Pressure Assessments
• Indigestion and other digestive complaints such as: constipation, heart burn and infant colic
• Eczema and skin infections such as: acne, boils, burns, scabies, warts and rashes
• Family planning, contraception and chlamydia screening
• Haemorrhoids
• Musculoskeletal problems: back/neck pain, sprains and soft tissue injuries
• Urine infections and cystitis
• Thrush, vaginal discharge and period pains
• Preconception counselling
• Stress management, anxiety and depression.

Our Practice Nurses can help you with: 

• Baby and pre-school immunisations
• Travel advice and immunisations
• Cervical smear tests
• Health reviews for Asthma, Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease
• Complex wound care and dressings
• Repeat contraception (inc. contraceptive injections), if uncomplicated
• Repeat HRT
• Well person checks.

 In addition to these our Health Care Assistant carry out:

• ECG’s
• Spirometry
• Minor wound care
• Blood Pressure (BP) and 24 hour AMBP (Ambulatory BP) monitoring
• Phlebotomy (blood tests)
• NHS Health Checks (by invitation only)
• Lifestyle advice (diet and smoking)
• Chlamydia screening (17 – 24 yr olds only)
• Tele-dermoscopy (via GP Referral only)
• removal of sutures and staples

Home Visits

Requests for home visits should be made before 10.30 am.  When your doctor considers a home visit is necessary he/she will arrange to visit later that day, or maybe another day.  

If your request is for a non-urgent visit after 10.30 am it is unlikely you will be visited the same day. 

Please remember that home visits are ONLY for patients who are housebound, or too ill to come to the surgery. 

Visiting guidelines, which your GP follows to decide if a patient needs a home visit, have recently been clarified. This has been done to enable the doctor to see more people at the surgery and to give more time to their problems. These guidelines are to help you understand a doctor's approach to home visiting. 

The doctor will usually visit in the following cases: 

• terminal and severe illness
• house-bound or bed-bound
• patients who are physically unfit to travel to the surgery. 

In the following cases it is usually better for the patient to go to hospital as soon as possible, as this could save a life.  Your doctor should be informed as well but it is better to dial 999 in the first instance: 

• severe chest pain
• severe shortness of breath
• severe bleeding
• any kind of major collapse. 

A doctor will not normally visit for: 

• fevers, coughs and colds
• sore throats and earaches
• headaches
• diarrhoea and vomiting. 

Children

It is not harmful for a feverish child to go outside but a walk or bus trip may not be wise.  Instead use a car from a relative, friend or taxi firm.  It is not the doctor's responsibility to arrange such transport. 

Adults

Patients with coughs, sore throat, flu, back pain or abdominal pain should be able to get to the surgery by car. 

The elderly

Patients with poor mobility, joint pains and general debility should be able to get to the surgery by car.

Our receptionists are instructed to make certain enquiries from patients requesting a home visit. This is to enable the doctor to assess the need for and the urgency of the visit.  It is not meant to be obstructive and we ask for your co-operation in answering their questions. 

If in doubt please contact the surgery for advice.

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.

Additional advice can also be found at:

Getting a fit note - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

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).

You can request a Fit note via the eConsult service. However, if your request is due to a recent operation or hospital stay, please contact the hospital to provide the Fit note.