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Appointments

A variety of appointments are available:

• Booked in advance – up to 4 weeks for patients whose need is not urgent and who wish to be sure of seeing a particular doctor or having an appointment at a particular time.
• Next day – for patients whose clinical need dictates that they need to be seen within a reasonable timescale.
• On the day – for patients whose clinical need dictates that they should be seen within 24 hours.
• Online - we have recently started an online service for appointments where we have a limited amount of appointments you can book online.  In order to use this service you must firstly register, you can contact reception for a registration form or go to the quick links tab online services and download the form to complete then hand in to the practice.  You MUST provide photographic ID in order to use this service.

Appointments are only 10 minutes long, the doctor will only have enough time within this appointment to discuss 1 or possibly 2 problems - the GP may request that you make a further appointment to discuss any more. If you feel you will need a longer time please ask the reception if you could book a double appointment.

If you feel you need to be seen urgently at any time please inform the receptionist. Please note that when patients are being seen as an emergency we can offer no guarantee of which doctor will see them.

Practice nurse

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. If your appointment is for a general health check (ie blood pressure) and you do not require a prescription

Advanced Nurse Practitioner

As we now have an Advanced Nurse Practitioner ,all calls for acute illnesses are triaged by her and she can appoint where necessary she is highly experienced however if she is unable to deal with the problem she will pass your call to the doctor on call, she can make appointments for patients to see her and she is able to prescribe medication.

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.

Treatment Room

Due to centralisation of Treatment Room services Kildrum will only have a satalite service from March 2013. We have limited Treatment Room nursing on a Thursday from 9am-12.40pm This service is for dressings, injections ear syringe etc. If these days are not suitable contact reception for details of Central Health Centre Treatment Room which is available Monday - Friday.

Plebotomy

From March 2013 we have a limited Phlebotomy service which is on a Tuesday and Friday from 8am - 4pm.

Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 11:00 if you require a home visit. Non emergency requests made after this time may have to wait until the following day.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. The GP will  now be triaging all house call requests.  Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed.

You can be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

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)