Pre-Bookable Appointments    

To ensure emergency and urgent calls are given priority, please telephone after 10:30.

If you are booking for a medical (company or insurance), a minor surgical procedure, cervical smear, or are aware that you will need more than the normal 10 minutes allowed for a regular appointment slot, please inform reception at the time of booking and they will allocate a longer appointment time.

Please remember that each appointment is for one person only - if other members of the family also need to be seen, please book an appointment slot for each of them.

Urgent Appointments  

A practice doctor is available for emergencies between 08:00 and 18:30, Monday to Friday. If you are not the patient, please have patient details, date of birth, address and telephone number ready, along with the symptoms, to give to the receptionist

Between 08:00 and 08:30 please ring the surgery on 01278 761985.

From 08:30 to 18:30 please ring 01278 760313.

Nurse Appointments    

You will be asked at the time of booking if you would provide the reason for your appointment, this is also so that the receptionists can allow enough time. Click here for clinics.

Online Booking

You are now able to book and cancel your appointment with the doctor online, using the surgery Patient Access (formerly EMIS) system via the link at the top of this page.

In order to book appointments online you must have previously obtained the necessary access codes. Please click here for more information.

Email us at Somccg.receptionstaff-bamc@nhs.net.

GP Timetable

Speaking to a GP/Nurse on the Telephone         

If you need urgent medical advice:

Please ask for the Duty Doctor to call you. This way your call will be dealt with promptly, (usually within the hour). If you wait for your regular GP to get back to you, this may not be until much later that day.

To speak to a specific GP or nurse about a non-urgent matter:

The receptionists will take your details and a brief message. They will email that GP/ nurse and ask them to call you back. These messages will be treated as non-urgent and it is most likely that you will receive your call at the end of that morning or afternoon’s surgery.

When a GP is not at the surgery on the day of your call, you will probably be asked to call back when the GP is next on duty. Alternatively you should be advised of when your message will be forwarded. This would enable you to decide if the matter should be addressed by another GP. This is Practice policy to ensure that nothing important is overlooked.

Unfortunately the GPs or nurses do not have external email for patient correspondence.

Correspondence can be received by fax on 01275 331 355.

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.

Home Visits

If you feel that you are too ill to get to the surgery and need to be seen by a doctor, please call before 10:00 to request a visit. This is so that the day’s visits can be allocated and planned. Please provide accurate directions to help the doctor find your home.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to specify which GP you would like to visit. Where possible, we accommodate requests but the decisions are made by the doctors based on who knows the patients best, the geographical locations of the patients and how many visits need to be carried out that day.

On average, in a rural area 5 patients can be seen in the surgery in the time it takes to do 1 home visit.

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             

NHS and Private referral are accessible via the practice.

NHS referrals will be offered using Choose and Book where available. At the time of consultation patients are offered a choice of where they would like to be seen. This is then supported by a letter detailing to patients a range of options and how to make an appointment suitable to their choice.

If a private referral is requested please make this known at the time of consultation.

Click here to visit the Choose and Book website.

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).