Appointments

For appointment requests during opening hours telephone 0161 223 4211 

For your convenience all consultations with doctors and nurses are by appointment, except for the baby clinics, which are a drop in service. 

Routine Appointments are bookable three months in advance.

Please telephone the surgery or call in person during opening times to make any appointments. A separate appointment is needed for each person seeing the doctor or nurse. Please do not bring lots of problems to one appointment. If you have more than one problem please book a double appointment. If you are more than 15 minutes late for an appointment it is possible you will not be seen.

The surgery also offers limited SAME DAY appointments for emergencies.  We also offer telephone consultations by prior arrangements with the Doctor.

Please note: If you cannot attend for an appointment or no longer need to be seen please telephone the surgery to cancel so we can offer the appointment to another patient

You are free to consult with any doctor/nurse within the practice regardless of which one you may have registered with. It is a good idea to stay with a particular doctor for a particular problem. You may express a preference to receive services from a particular doctor/nurse. We will endeavour to comply with reasonable requests, but it might not always be possible to see the doctor/nurse of your choice. Under these circumstances the reasons would be explained to you.

Telephone Advice          

If you need telephone advice from your doctor or practice nurse the most convenient times to ring are between 10:30 and 11:30 in the morning.

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

Home visits are at the discretion of the doctor and should only be made when it is impossible for the patient to get to the surgery. In particular most children can be brought safely to the surgery. Cold or wet weather is not a justifiable reason to request a home visit. Please remember the doctor can see five patients at the surgery in the time it takes to do one home visit.

When the condition of the patient does require a home visit please telephone the surgery before 10:00 where possible.

Home visits normally take place after morning surgery from 11.30 onwards. If you think it is an emergency such as chest pain, severe difficulty in breathing or excessive bleeding/collapse you must call 999.

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)

Training Practice

We are a training practice and provide placements for GP registrars, medical students and student nurses. You may be offered an appointment with one of our registrars and from time to time they may ask permission to video tape the consultation.

Students may be present during an appointment you have with your GP or Nurse. If you have any objection to any of the above please let the reception staff, doctor or nurse know.