Our Appointments System Explained

Our system is designed to meet the needs of our patients and to satisfy the Government's agenda for Access to your Doctors.

You can book an appintment to see any of our doctors by telephone, by internet or at our reception counter.  You can book appointments with our nurses the same way but not by internet.

Advanced booking

More of our appointments can now be booked in advance.Some are available well in advance and some are ‘embargoed’ until 48 hours before the day of the appointment for patients who need to book in advance but cannot plan further ahead than 2 days.This is in accordance with department of health guidelines.

Booking on the day

We no longer triage all requests for same day appointments.

Most patients asking to be seen on the day are given an appointment, however, if you ask for an appointment on the day and there are no vacant appointments remaining, you may be asked to leave a telehone number so that the duty doctor or Nurse Practitioner can assess the urgency of your need and allocate protected appointments for urgent care later in the day accordingly.

Minor Illness

For details see the Clinics and Services page.

Extended hours surgery

We participate in extended hours surgery as requested by the Government.  We offer some appointments to be booked in advance on Saturday mornings on alternate weekends and some appointments for early evenings on two evenings each week.  These appointments are booked via the doctor to ensure they are utilised by the Government's target patients e.g. those who commute to work away from the practice area, families of those who work, shift workers and those who have difficulty obtaining time off from work to attend appointments.  These surgeries are provided subject to funding from the Department of Health via our local PCT.  For these surgeries only…

• Appointments will only be available to be booked in advance via the doctor.
• There will be two of our Partner Doctors on duty during these surgeries.
• The doors and phones will remain closed.
• Reception service will only be available for patients with one of these booked appointments.
• Same day urgent care on a Saturday morning and after 6.30pm weekdays will remain the responsibility of the out of hours GP service managed by Somerset PCT.
• There is no change to the current out of hours service which operates weekdays between 6.30pm and 8.00 am, and weekends between 6.30pm Fridays and 8.00 am Mondays.

Home Visits

If you feel unwell and need to be seen at home and are unable to attend the surgery on the day, you should call the practice before 11am and provide us with your name, address, telephone number and brief details of your problem.  Anne Williams, our Lead Nurse Practitioner is very experienced in carrying out home visits and she will call you back to discuss your need.  She will then either:-

• Arrange to come and see you at an agreed time on the day, or
• If your condition warrants it, arrange for an ambulance to take you to hospital, or
• Arrange for our duty doctor or other doctor to come and see you at an agreed time on the day, or
• Arrange for a prescription for you, for collection from the surgery on the day

Telephone consultations

You can ask our receptionists for a consultation with our doctors over the phone. These appointments can be booked in advance or on the day. The doctor will call you back at a pre-arranged time either during surgery or at the end of each surgery.

Appointments ONLINE.

There is now a simple and easy way to do this; it is especailly useful during those times when the telephone lines are busy or the practice is closed.

Appointments Online offers simple instructions and prompts to make sure that it is easy for you to book, view or cancel appointments - online - regardless of the time of day (or night).

Using this link Appointments Online which is also available over on the right, you can search for and view a range of available appointments; then just book the one which is most convenient for you!

Getting started

Before you can start booking appointments with your surgery or use any of the other features, you must, first register your details with us, so that you can be provided with a unique login username and password.

Note: your personal information is kept safe and secure when using Appointments Online

Please follow the instructions below.

At the practice, ask a receptionist for Appointments Online registration.  You will need to provide proof of your ID and address and you will be given a letter detailing your unique username and password, along with details of how to gain access.  The easiest way is to use the Appointments Online link here or on our home page.

Login using the username and password with which you have been provided.  Note: for security purposes, if the information is not accurately entered, you will not be allowed access.

Once logged in, you can book, view and cancel appointments.

Not all appointments in our system are available to be booked in this way, but most are.

If you are registered for EMIS Access you can order your repeat medications online by clicking the logo below (find out more about EMIS Access here). If you are not registered you can still order by using email by clicking the Order Repeat Medication link at the bottom of this page.

The only EMIS Access feature that our patients can use at present is the repeat medications ordering facility.  To book appointments in advance with a doctor, see read above.