Did you know: 1. Hospital doctors in A&E, clinics and wards can issue fit notes for work. These should cover the duration of expected illness and absence from work. 2. You should self-certify for the first 7 days of any illness. You do not need a fit note prior to this. 3. We cannot backdate a new sick note to cover a time when you did not consult with us or another NHS team. For example, if you have taken 10 days off sick with flu, but only contacted us on day 10. We can only issue the fit note from that 10th day. 4. Fit notes can also be issued “may be fit for work” if you are well enough to work but need a phased return, reduced hours or adaptions. 5. You can return before your fit note expires if you feel well enough. There is no requirement for a staff member to be “signed fit” to work by a doctor. 6. In 2022 guidance was updated - nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists can legally certify and issue fit notes (according to their training and competency). Previously only GPs or hospital doctors could do this.
Appointments
How to contact us and request an appointment:
If you need to access clinical care at Priory Medical Group, you can do this a number of ways as below. We want to ensure a safe and fair access to our appointments for all patients registered with us. Whether you contact us by phone, walk in to our reception desk or use the online tool, your request for an appointment will be processed in the same way.
If you get in touch by phone or at the reception desk, our team will ask for some details regarding your concern and complete the prioryCARE form on your behalf. This is to help the clinical team reviewing your request to determine whether they need to arrange a telephone call, face to face appointment or referral on to another service.
By phone:
Call 01904 404100 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. If you are requesting an appointment for a new problem, our patient central team will go through a series of questions with you, similar to that of the online triage tool.
In person:
Our reception desks remain available to our patients daily, see Our Surgeries page for specific opening hours. Our highly trained patient care navigators (receptionists) will ask for some detail relating to your query and can support you with the online form if you would like some help to use it next time.
Online:
The online prioryCARE form gives you multiple options to access different types of care. It is the quickest way to let us know about new or ongoing symptoms, request a fit note, arrange an appointment with a nurse for a routine injection or update your contact details and much more. The form is available throughout our core opening hours.
Between 8am and 1pm: If you have an urgent or new problem, please choose the “new health problem" tile, you will be taken through a series of questions about your symptoms. This helps us to triage your problem (i.e. determine if urgent or non-urgent/ routine) and the query is then directed to the most appropriate team. See news post for further information.
You will be able to submit non-urgent routine queries across the day, within our "core" opening hours. This includes fit note/test result requests, nurse appointments (e.g. smear, routine asthma review) and our general enquiries tile e.g. to let us know about a blood pressure reading or a change in address.
You can also use the NHSapp to book appointments for cervical screening (smear test) and to arrange a time to use the blood pressure machine in our reception areas.
How long will it take to get an appointment?
Continuity of care is really important to us and our patients. If you have an ongoing problem and would like routine follow up consultation with the same clinician please use the prioryCARE form and choose the "ongoing problem/follow up" tile. If there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other clinician you would prefer to speak to/see, please note this down on the form. We cannot guarantee this but we will try our best to support your request.
- Urgent: Requests deemed urgent will be managed by our clinical team within 1 working day - you might receive a call, SMS or be asked to attend in person depending on your clinical symptoms. This might be on the same day, or the next working day. Around 70% of all new requests are allocated as urgent cases. Read more about our urgent care clinics here.
- Routine or Follow-up: We try our hardest to manage routine/follow up consultation requests within 3-4 weeks, this may occasionally be extended due to high demand, staff absence or bank holidays. For non-urgent/ongoing issues, the reception team will text or call you to confirm when a clinician will be contacting you. Please do not worry if you have submitted a request and not heard re an appointment, we will be in direct contact in time order. We know it can feel a long time to wait, we are doing everything we can to book everyone in for an appointment as quickly as possible.
- If you have worsening symptoms please contact us again using the prioryCARE form and "new problem" tile, phone us on 01904 404100 or use NHS111.
Please consider using self-care or attending a community pharmacy to ask for advice if you have a minor ailment. The Pharmacy First scheme, launched early 2024, allows pharmacies to offer treatment for a range of conditions including: urine infections, tonsillitis, shingles and infected insect bites.
If your symptoms have resolved before we have booked you an appointment, please contact us to let us know. If you need to change of cancel an appointment, please call us on 01904 404100 or pop in to one of the surgery sites to discuss with a member of the team.
Please let us know if:
- you need an interpreter
- you have any other access or communication needs
- you prefer specific days/times of day (morning/afternoon) for an appointment
See more about about Reasonable Adjustments here.
Home visits
If you or your relative is housebound and would like to request medical care, please phone us on 01904 404100 or discuss with a patient care navigator (receptionist) at our reception desks. Requests for home visits received before midday will generally be assessed on the same day. Visits requested after this time will be triaged and if deemed urgent will be actioned by the on call team that day.
