In order to keep our patients safe, the surgery is continuing to operate care-navigation. This means a member of the admin team will ask the purpose of your call, to direct you to the most appropriate person for your issue.
We offer appointments either by phone or face to face, according to your preference and what your issue is about. We have a mixture of routine appointments and some ‘urgent on the day’ appointment slots. We will only divert your call to NHS 111 when we have reached capacity and cannot operate safely.
Booking an Appointment
Surgery Hours
The surgery is open Monday ‑ Friday 8am ‑ 6.30 pm
Our telephone line is open 8:30am ‑ 6:30 pm : 01981 250215
For GP appointments, the surgery operates a ‘care navigation’ system. This means the receptionists will ask the reason for your call to make sure your issue is dealt with by the most appropriate clinician. We offer routine telephone and face to face appointments that can be pre-booked, and same-day telephone and face to face appointments that be booked on the day for urgent matters.
We may not always be able to accommodate late in the day requests for urgent appointments.
In addition to the practices normal opening hours, you can also book an appointment in the evenings and weekends. This may be with a different GP, nurse or location than you are used to. These appointments are pre-bookable by contacting the surgery during our opening times ‑ please ask for an ‘extended access’ appointment. Sometimes these may be at a ‘Taurus’ site in Hereford.
Urgent Appointments
If you need to speak to a doctor urgently, please ring as early as possible on the day – lines open at 8.00am. If the doctor needs to see you in person, an appointment will be booked for that day.
Requesting a Home Visit
It is much safer to see patients in the surgery building where we have the correct equipment, lighting and staff. We can only visit patients who are unable to leave the house for medical reasons. We are sorry we do not have the capacity to visit because of transport problems, and we expect patients to arrange their own transport to the surgery. Dore community transport can be very helpful when the appointment is non urgent.
As home visits take the GP away from the surgery, and reduce our capacity to offer appointments to patients, we ask you call as early in the day as possible if you feel you may need a home visit. Your visit will always be triaged by a clinician with a telephone consultation first for safety. Sometimes a hospital admission or another service may be more appropriate.
Non Urgent Appointments
If you would like to book a non-urgent appointment you can ring reception between 8.00 am ‑ 6.30pm. Depending on which GP you wish to speak to, you may need to wait for a routine appointment another day.
Online Consult
This is a new service being offered by all GP services in Herefordshire: Using the online consult link, patients can access advice on hundreds of common medical problems. If you would like to ask the Doctor a specific question, there is an opportunity to complete and email a form to us from this, which will be attached to your electronic records. A member of our clinical team will contact you with a response within 48 hours.
Pharmacy First scheme
Most local pharmacies now participate in this new national pharmacy first scheme where they can prescribe for common conditions. You will be referred by the member of the admin team when you inform them of your concern and condition, and the pharmacist will then contact you by phone. The pharmacists will issue NHS prescriptions if required following the consultation. You will not need to pay if you are usually exempt from a prescription charge. The seven conditions (age restrictions in brackets) they can prescribe for are:
- Sinusitis (12 years +)
- Sore throat (5 years +)
- Acute Otitis Media (1-17 years)
- Infected insect bite (1 year +)
- Impetigo (1 year +)
- Shingles (18 years +)
- Uncomplicated UTI in women (women 16-64)
Cancelling your Appointment
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