Appointments

Appointments

All appointments to see a doctor are made by telephoning the surgery on the following numbers:

• Axbridge Surgery   (01934) 732464
• Wedmore Surgery  (01934) 712774

During normal opening hours, your call will be answered by a receptionist, who will make an appointment for you or arrange a telephone triage call from a GP.  When the surgery is closed you will hear a recorded message explaining how you can contact the doctor in an emergency.

Related Link: Extended Surgery Hours

Booking In

When arriving at the surgery for your appointment you can check-in, in one of two ways, by:

1. Using our touch-screen self check-in system
2. Reporting to the reception

Our touch-screen self check-in system enables patients to book themselves in without having to go to reception and helps to keep queues to a minimum, so please use it whenever possible.

Routine Booked Appointments

If you wish to see a particular doctor the receptionist will generally offer you the next suitable appointment with that doctor. However, you may be seen sooner if you are prepared to see whichever doctor is available.

If you have several problems to discuss, please ask for a longer appointment as your doctor has a limited amount of time for each consultation and this will help prevent long waits for other patients. If more than one family member needs to see the doctor, please make a separate appointment for each person.

Telephone Triage - urgent and same-day appointments

We operate a telephone triage system for urgent and same-day appointments. This has replaced our old 'sit and wait' appointments.

If you wish to make an appointment, please telephone the surgery and your doctor will call you back to either arrange an appointment with one of the doctors or nurses or deal with the problem over the telephone. This system means you are helped more quickly and need fewer visits to the surgery. You are also far more likely to speak to your own doctor without having to wait for an appointment.

Our receptionists will ask the caller to provide a very brief indication of the problem and a contact number and will then arrange for a GP to ring the patient back.

Calls received at the surgery in the morning will generally be dealt with that morning. Later calls will be made in the afternoon or sometimes the following morning. Urgent calls will be dealt with immediately.

We have introduced this new way of working because we found that a large number of patients who book to see their doctor can often have their problems attended to by other members of the practice team such as our practice nurses or health care assistant.

Sometimes it is also helpful to arrange tests before seeing patients, which can be decided on the telephone. We have also been able to increase the number of patients that can be dealt with on the day by operating this system.

Telephone Consultations - routine appointments

Sometimes it is possible for the doctor to advise you over the phone without the need for you to attend the surgery. In this case the receptionist will make a note of your details and ask the doctor to return your call outside of routine surgery.

Extended Surgery Hours

Axbridge & Wedmore Medical Practice is taking part in the Somerset Primary Care Trust (SPCT) Extended Opening Hours Service from November 19th 2008. This extra service is being offered in response to the wishes of patients expressed in the 2007 Patient Survey. This is a new service financed by SPCT, which will be reviewed in March 2009.

During Extended Hours, a GP will be available for routine appointments outside of normal surgery times.

These appointments are not for emergencies or to see a nurse, they are dedicated to those patients that find it difficult to attend during normal surgery hours and would therefore be offered to people who work full-time, nights, or commute or work away on Monday to Friday. These will be booked via our usual telephone consultation route. They will not be available to be booked through the receptionist, only a GP may make these appointments for patients.

If you have an emergency, you will still need to contact the Out Of Hours Service for assistance. The extended opening times are:

• Wednesday 18.30 - 20.00 at Wedmore Surgery
• Thursday     18.30 - 20.00 at Axbridge Surgery
• Thursday     07.00 - 08.00 (4th of each month ONLY)
• Wednesday 07.00 - 08.00 (2nd of each month ONLY)
• Saturday     08.00 - 09.30 (1st & 3rd of each month ONLY alternating between Axbridge and Wedmore)

During Extended Opening Hours the front door will be locked. Please ring the video door bell for access. Access will only be granted to patients with appointments pre booked. There will be no appointments available for callers.

The Surgery telephones will not be manned during Extended Opening Hours nor will patients be able to deposit or collect prescriptions unless attending for an appointment.

Test Results

If you are asked to take any tests, your doctor will check your results when they arrive at the surgery. The doctor or nurse will inform you how long the test results will normally take to reach the surgery. This is generally up to a week.

Please telephone for results of tests after 2.00pm each day.

If you cannot keep your Appointment

We do understand that patients are occasionally unable to keep their appointment. If this is the case, we would appreciate as much notice as possible so that your appointment may be offered to someone else.

Chaperones

If you are visiting the surgery for a medical examination, the doctor or nurse may ask if you would mind a chaperone (usually one of our nurses) being present in the consulting room.

Similarly, if you would like a chaperone to be in attendance, please feel at ease to mention this to the doctor.

Home Visits

If you are seriously ill and genuinely unable to get to the surgery a doctor will visit you at home.

Please try and contact the surgery before 10.00am whenever possible, as visits have to be arranged between morning and afternoon surgeries.