Government changes to our contract on 1st October has meant we have needed to look at how we use our online form and also the number of routine vs urgent appointments we offer each week.
We want to make it clear and simple how you can contact us, and when.
Around 18 months ago we let you know that we were experiencing very high demand for urgent on the day appointments. When we are full, we sign post appropriate patients to NHS111, community pharmacy or other NHS services. This allows our GP and clinical teams enough time and space to provide our patients with good and thoughtful care.
National guidance suggests a GP should see maximum 25 patients per day, this reduces the risk of burnout and patient safety issues. We have needed to turn off the online form at times of high demand or high rates of sickness in the clinical team.
What will change:
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You will be able to submit non-urgent routine queries across the day, in line with You and Your General Practice our online form is available for routine/admin requests from 8am to 6.30pm. 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.
What will stay the same:
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When submitting a query via the "new problem" tile, the Klinik system will continue to triage your symptoms. This will mean it will either be allocated as urgent or routine. Urgent cases will be reviewed by the clinical team within 1 working day. If your case is allocated as routine, you will be contacted within 1 working day about expected wait times
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The phone lines will be open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday
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Surgery reception desks are open 8am to 12:15 pm and 1pm to 6pm Monday to Friday (Park View and Victoria way having some afternoon closures).
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We may refer you on to Pharmacy First if you have a minor illness that can be managed by the community pharmacy team.
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When we are full to capacity and unable to deal with your request, we will continue to signpost patients to NHS111 where appropriate.
- We will continue to offer a mix of urgent (same day) appointments and routine, pre-booked appointments across the working week. These may be telephone or face to face consultations.
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We continue to run some pre-booked routine weekday evening and Saturday morning clinics at Heworth Green or Priory Medical Centre.
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If we are experiencing extreme high demand, we may need to turn off the form earlier to ensure the safety of our staff and patients.
I think I need to speak to a clinician but the form is off, what can I do?
You can call us on 01904 404100 every weekday 8am to 6pm. If there is a long wait on the phone, choose the call back option and one of the team will call you back when you reach the front of the queue. You can also ask one of our surgery reception team to help, they will ask you a few questions about your symptoms of query.
Why can’t we book you in tomorrow if Urgent Care clinics are full today?
We need to make sure we have urgent/same day clinics available every day and forward booking would reduce capacity later in the week. Also, when going through your symptoms - the Klinik form has highlighted that there is an urgent problem, this is why we ask you to contact NHS111 or a pharmacy to get medical attention quickly.
Why can't you add more urgent clinics if there is high demand?
We always want to keep a safe balance between same day urgent care and routine care. Routine appointments are usually for patients with longer term problems or lower risk symptoms. If we offer more urgent care clinics, then we have to reduce the number of routine clinics our GPs have, this will mean every one will wait longer for a routine appointment.
