| Self Help |
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Before you make an appointment to see the GP, consider the alternatives. The pharmacist behind the counter at your local chemist is highly trained in offering a wide range of services and may be able to give you the help you need, so you won’t have to spend time waiting for an appointment.
Pharmacists can help with:
- Mild skin conditions, such as acne and eczema
- Coughs and colds, including nasal congestion and sore throats
- Minor cuts and bruises
- Constipation and haemorrhoids (piles)
- Hayfever and allergies
- Aches and pains, such as headaches, earache and backache
- Indigestion, diarrhoea and threadworms
- Period pain and thrush
- Warts, verrucas, mouth ulcers and cold sores
- Athlete’s foot
- Nappy rash and teething
- Some pharmacies can provide truss fittings, stoma products and incontinence supplies
- Emergency contraception (the morning-after pill)
- Needle and syringe exchange services
- Pregnancy tests. Most pharmacies can provide pregnancy test kits, and some have a private area where you can use the kit
- NHS stop-smoking courses
| Appointments requests |
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Requests for an appointment can be made via telephone or online. Sometimes you may need advice that can be dealt with via text message, telephone consultation or video consultation rather than requiring a face-to-face appointment. If the Doctor feels that you need to be seen at the surgery, an appointment will be offered. If you do not have telephone or online access, then patients are permitted to call in person at the practice.
If you are out of town and unwell, we ask that you seek medical attention from a local service. Details of local services can be obtained from the NHS Choices website and via calling NHS 111. Most acute problems require face to face assessment, and it is unsafe for us to diagnose and treat without a proper assessment.
| Evening and Weekend GP Appointments |
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The practice is able to offer patients the choice of evening or weekend non-urgent appointments, making it easier for patients to see a GP at a convenient time. These appointments are available to patients across Central and West Warrington PCN as part of the Warrington Health Plus Enhanced Access Service.
The appointments are for non-urgent patients only, on a first come first serve basis. The appointments must be booked in advance and can only be accessed by your own practice; it is not a same-day appointment service.
If you would find a later or weekend appointment more convenient, please ask the receptionist when booking a non-urgent GP appointment.
Please be aware that you will need to consent to share your medical record with the GP who is on call in the Enhanced Access Service.
If need to see a GP when we are closed, please call NHS 111 for our out of hours service. Please note, out of hours provision for patients is commissioned by NHS England/Warrington CCG and not provided by the practice.
| Online Appointment Booking |
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Online booking is available for a range of services such as annual reviews. Patients will receive a booking link sent via SMS when they are due to be called for an appointment. The patient then follows the link allowing them to book a convenient appointment in an appropriate clinic. If you do not have access to a smartphone and have received a booking link, please telephone the practice after 11:00am instead, to book your appointment.
| Home Visits |
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If you are housebound or too ill to come to the surgery and require a visit at home, please call the surgery before 10.30am. All home visit requests will initially be assessed over the telephone by the Nurse Practitioner or a Doctor. Home visits take up much more of a doctor’s time than a consultation in the surgery, so if you are mobile, please come into the surgery to be seen where possible.
Many patents believe there is a standard home visit service available from a GP between 8am and 6.30pm, but this is not the case – the GP will decide if a home visit is warranted. Upon initial assessment over the telephone the GP may override the request for a home visit and advise the patient to attend A&E; without first seeing them. This is providing the medical condition of the patient makes that course of action appropriate.
111 will only recommend that the patient contacts their own GP service; the type of consultation will be decided by the GP. NHS care is based on patient need as assessed by a Clinician.
Doctors will always encourage people to come into the surgery because this is where the best care can be provided. Specialist equipment is there, tests can be carried out more easily and drugs issued if necessary. However, if a home visit is not approved and the patient needs to attend the surgery, they will need to arrange their own transport; this is in line with local and national guidance from health care providers and GP professional bodies.
Nationally and in line with guidance endorsed by the Royal College of GPs, a home visit occurs for the following three reasons:
- The patient is terminally ill and housebound
- The patient is housebound – does not leave home for other appointments
- The patient has a severe learning or physical disability – however many of these patients can be brought to clinic by their carers