Appointment System Explained

We continually review our appointment system and, in response to patient comments, make minor changes from time to time. This has made a big improvement in the way appointments are being used for patients, staff and doctors. 

Be aware that many concerns can be dealt with by nursing or reception staff rather than a doctor. We make every effort to book you with the individual of your choice. However, doctors’ availability varies from week to week depending on clinical, educational and annual leave commitments and we therefore ask that you build up a relationship with more than one doctor.

Please be aware all Doctors' appointments are fifteen minutes in duration. In the interest of all patients if you have a number of issues you wish to discuss, the Doctor may ask you to book a further appointment. Please remember that surgeries do occasionally run behind time due to medical emergencies that may present.  Clinicians do try to adhere to the time frames however, due to emergencies or complex issues that arise, this is not always possible.  If the surgery that you are booked into is running behind schedule and you are unable to wait, our receptionists would be more than happy to re-book your appointment. 

Arriving for your appointment

Please always remember to check in at reception when you arrive for an appointment, as you will not be called if you have not checked in, and you may miss your appointment. 

Booking Appointments.

We have various appointment options available to you:

Pre-Bookable

About half of our doctor appointments are bookable up to 4 weeks in advance. These appointments enable you to book ahead when a review or routine appointment is required. To book an appointment convenient to yourself, either call into the surgery or telephone the practice on 057 9151247 (ext 1). These bookable appointments are spread throughout the day, to accommodate all patients.  We keep the rest of the appointments for emergencies and patients that are sick on the day and need to be seen.

If we are very short of appointments due to a doctor being away, we may not take pre-bookings for that day at all, so that we can facilitate all the emergency and sick patients that may need to be seen, please bear with us if that happens.  In those cases, the appointments will be opened up on the day at 9am in the morning when the reception staff start and can be booked from that time only.

Telephone Consultations

We try whenever possible not to disturb consultations with phone calls.  If you have a question regarding medication or results, please give as much information as possible to the reception staff and someone will contact you back as soon as possible.  Due to the high volume of telephone queries, it may not be possible to call you back on the same day, however if you query is of an urgent nature, please let reception know when you call.  If you are waiting for a call back, please remember to keep your phone turned on and with you, as we experience a high number of call backs where the phone call isn't answered which is frustrating for the clinicians.

Chaperones

If you wish a chaperone to be present during a consultation please ask. Nursing and trained reception staff are qualified to provide this service.

Home Visits

If you think you require a home visit please phone 057 9151247 (ext 1)  before 11.00am. This will help the us to organise the doctor's schedule. House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.  It is much better to come and be seen in the surgery if it is at all possible as the doctors can fully examine you and have all equipment that may be necessary at hand.

Cancellations Policy

If you are unable to attend your booked appointment please phone us in advance to let us know, so that your appointment can be given to another patient.  Patients not cancelling and failing to attend booked appointments is a waste of clinician resources and causes further unnecessary waits for other patients who wish to be seen. 

If a patient fails to cancel and does not attend a pre-booked appointment on 2 occasions in 12 months, an informal warning letter will be sent to the patient, advising them that a further occurrence could risk removal from the Practice.

If the patient fails to attend another appointment, the matter will be discussed by the practice and a decision will be made as to whether the patient will be removed from the Practice List. In which case a formal warning letter will be issued.

Warning letters are valid for a period of 12 months.

Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.