We offer on the day appointments for urgent problems, we also offer appointments that can be booked 2 weeks ahead for more routine problems.
We do offer online booking, which was reintroduced back in June. If you have an online account or are linked to the NHS app you will be able to book a routine appointment up to two weeks ahead.
Capacity in general is reduced at the surgery and much as we would like to see more patients, we quite simple do not have the clinical workforce to do so. Our GP’s work 14-hour days already, often starting at 7 am and working on until 9pm, it is not safe for the patient or the GP to expect them to work any harder. We have been battling sickness amongst our clinical team, alongside annual leave, so very often only have urgent on the day appointments available, this means we have to prioritise appointments for those with the most need. We understand this is not ideal, and when we only have 20 appointments to offer on a day when we have 80 patients requesting them, it is tough on everyone. We have been trying to recruit a new GP for the last 12 months, but there is a nation-wide shortage of Dr’s wishing to take up a GP post.
Our Nurse Practitioner can see and treat many of the conditions that a GP can, so if you are offered an appointment with her in future please accept it, if the appointment offered is a telephone call, and after speaking to you she feels a face to face is needed, she will arrange it.
We are contracted to reserve 2 appointments each day that NHS 111 can book directly into, we have no say in who gets those appointments and often those patients have not been triaged correctly, meaning the appointment is taken inappropriately, however we are unable to prevent this happening. I understand this can be confusing for patients, when we say there are no appts available, but 111 book them in, unfortunately it is out of our hands.
Unfortunately, sickness also hits our admin team, making staffing levels in that team a challenge as well, this will often mean that our telephones take longer to answer and the general help and advice given by that team can be delayed. I realise your email was one offering suggestions, and would like to reassure you that we are working as efficiently and effectively as we possibly can.