Appointments

Call 01429 274800 - 8am to 6pm

If your condition is urgent please inform the reception staff and we will try to see you the same day. Patients seen urgently cannot be guaranteed the time or doctor of their choice. An urgent condition is one that cannot reasonably be expected to wait until the next routine appointment.

When requesting an emergency appointment the receptionist will ask you what the problem is at the request of the GP's.  If you are booked into the emergency clinic please be advised it is likely the GP will overrun or run late. As this is an emergency surgery the doctor may be involved in complex consultations and could be called out on urgent house calls. We apologise in advance if this is the case.

To request a routine appointment in the next 7 days:

• book online via the link at the top of this page
• phone us on 01429 274800 Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm
• visit the surgery and speak with a receptionist, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm
• use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App) to book a screening test or vaccination

When you get in touch, we’ll ask what you need help with.

We will use the information you give us to choose the most suitable doctor, nurse or health professional to help you.

When booking an appointment for the nursing team our reception team are obliged to ask the nature of the appointment. This is purely because different nurse appointments require different times. 

Please tell the receptionist exactly what you need so they can ensure the correct time allotment.

All our staff are covered by the same confidentiality rules and can be spoken to in total confidence.

When phoning to talk to a doctor or nurse please bear in mind the surgery times. The receptionists have been instructed not to interrupt a surgery except for emergencies. If you need to speak to a doctor or nurse please leave a message with a receptionist who will pass on the message after the clinic has finished. If the matter is urgent the receptionist will be able to put you through to the on-call doctor.

If possible tell the receptionist your question and she will often be able to obtain a response from the on-call doctor without you needing to speak to a GP.

Only one patient per appointment please.  Please note all our GP appointment requests are dealt with by way of a triage system. 

Hartlepool & Stockton Health (H&SH) are offering appointments in the evening and on the weekends on behalf of your GP practice. You can see a local nurse or GP. Please book via our reception team.

However you choose to contact us, we may offer you a consultation:

• by phone
• face to face at the surgery
• on a video call
• by text or email

Appointments by phone, video call or by text or email can be more flexible and often means you get help sooner.

Please ensure that you cancel any appointments that you no longer require. The number of patient who neither attend nor cancel their appointments is extremely high. These failures to attend are a total waste of NHS resources. Not attending booked appointments is very selfish and results in all others having to wait longer for appointments. Patients who repeatedly fail to attend appointments will be asked to find another Doctor.

To cancel your appointment:

• use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)
• using the GP online system via the link at the top of this page
• phone us on 01429 274800, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm
• reply CANCEL to your appointment reminder text message

If you need medical help now, use NHS 111 online or Call 111.

NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

Please tell us:

• if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
• if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email
• if you need an interpreter
• if you have any other access or communication needs

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10:30am if you require a home visit. The receptionist will ask why you think a home visit is needed so this information can be passed on to the doctors and ensure that the correct clinician visits. Sometimes it may be that the symptoms are too severe to wait for a routine visit and we need to have enough information to know whether to interupt the on-call doctor and possibly arrange a visit immediately or arrange emergency hospital admission.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back at around 12.00 as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or they may wish to obtain further information before visiting. It may also be decided that it would be more appropriate to send one of our nurses, a district nurse, a community matron, arrange hospital attendance or the doctor may ask you to attend at the surgery.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound. The criteria for making housecalls has changed substantially in recent years. Please remember that, on average, three patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery.

A patient will be deemed to be housebound if they are unable to leave their home environment due to a physical and/or psychological illness, or if they require significant assistance to leave the house. This may be due to illness, frailty, surgery, disability, mental ill health, or because they are nearing end of life. A person who is housebound would  be unable to receive their healthcare in a GP practice or clinic.

A patient is not housebound if they are able to leave their home environment with minimal assistance. This includes the ability to use a wheelchair or mobility scooter with no/minimal support, access to transport via relatives/friends or the ability to use a taxi or community transport. A person who is not housebound would be able to attend a GP practice or clinic to receive their healthcare.

By way of an example, an individual will not be eligible for a home visit if they are able to leave their home environment on their own with a minimal assistance to visit public or social recreational public services (including shopping).

The practice will maintain a register of "Current Housebound Patients" which will be the responsibility of the Practice Manager to maintain after notification from clinicians of patients statuses (following appropriate assessment).