How to make an appointment
On the day appointments
On the day appointments are available for more pressing problems and urgent requests for
- any acute problems
- children under the age of 16
The elderly will be seen on the day. Please go to the surgery or telephone for on the day and urgent appointments, do not use online or email.
Please give the call handler as much details as possible regarding your health problem. This information will help the clinician determine the urgency of your call so that we can prioritise clinically urgent queries.
The Practice aims to answer the telephone within 2 minutes of the welcome message and please note that all calls are recorded.
Routine Appointments
Routine appointments are available to book in advance up to 6 weeks for GP, Practice Nurse, Health Care Assistant and Pharmacist.
These can be booked at the surgery, by telephone, online and by email. (Please speak to reception to organise online and email access).
If non-urgent contact is made to the Practice by email, the Practice aims to respond within 1 working day of receiving the email.
Home Visits
For home visit requests, please telephone the surgery before 10.00am, giving a brief explanation of the problem to the receptionist. This will help the doctor to assess the urgency of the situation. The doctor may telephone prior to the visit.
Canel an appointment
If an appointment needs to be cancelled, please telephone the surgery as soon as possible, this enables the appointment to be offered to someone else. If an appointment fails to be cancelled this not only wastes valuable GP and nursing time but also means everyone waits longer.
If medical help is needed outside practice hours, please ring 111 or go to 111.nhs.uk
Arriving late for an Appointment
If patients arrive more than 10 minutes late, they have missed their appointment and will need to rebook. This is to prevent delays to the sessions and to ensure fairness for patients who have arrived on time.
We appreciate the effort our patients make to attend on time and therefore do our best to run as close to booked appointment times as possible. Adhering to a Late Patient Policy assists us in doing so. However, due to the nature of a GP surgery, sometimes the doctor or nurse may be running behind.
Patients With Particular Needs
Hereford Road Surgery has full wheelchair and disabled access. Patient services are provided on the ground floor, including appropriate wash-room facilities. We have a lift for access to the upstairs consulting rooms. For patients with hearing problems there is a hearing loop available at reception. We can also arrange interpretation and translation services in person or by phone for patients who do not speak English. Please let us know if you need this service when booking an appointment.