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Patient Appointments:

To make an appointment to see a Doctor, Nurse or other Health Care Professional, please contact our Reception Staff, in person or by telephone.

Patients may request an appointment with a specific Doctor or Nurse and our Reception Staff will try to accommodate your request wherever possible. If the Doctor or Nurse is not available on the day you have requested, we will offer you an alternative Health Care Professional or an alternative date.

If you wish to discuss your enquiry in a more private situation, please advise our receptionists, who will take you to another location where you can talk confidentially.

We will endeavour to offer you an appointment within 2 working days of your request, although this may not always be possible.

We operate a 10 minute appointment system for all patients. In addition, on Mondays (and Tuesdays following a Bank Holiday) only, we operate a “Book on the Day” morning surgery.

To arrange a time to be seen by a Doctor or Nurse, patients should contact reception.

If patients attend the surgery without pre-arranging a time to be seen, they will be given the next available time, but there may be a considerable wait.

Please be patient, you will be seen.

Please Note that as each consultation is for 10 minutes, it is important to remember that generally, only one problem can be dealt with at each appointment. If you think that your problem will take longer than your appointment time, or you have several unrelated problems to discuss, please ask our receptionists so they can adjust the appointment time accordingly.

Our Practice Nurses:

Our team of 4 Practice Nurses have a breadth of expertise and skills in General Practice. They are able to assess, diagnose and manage minor injuries or illnesses, and our Nurses can advise, treat or refer to a Doctor or Accident & Emergency as appropriate.

Our Practice Nurses are available each weekday morning to offer you the most appropriate care for your minor injury or illness. The Doctors are readily available for advice if required.

Please make appointments by telephone or in person at our reception.

Nurse Led Clinics:

We have a Phlebotomist at the surgery each weekday morning to take blood tests.

Our Nurses are also able to provide advice on immunisations, contraception, sexual health, travel, smoking, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, minor injuries, minor illnesses and health promotion.

When booking an appointment to see a Nurse, it would be helpful if you could indicate to the receptionist what the appointment is for:

• This will enable us to give you enough time and ensure you see the right person to deal with your enquiry and, as some appointments with your Doctor may require you to see a Nurse first for some tests or investigations, this will avoid the need to re-book another appointment.

Our Doctors:

All our Doctors enjoy dealing with a full range of issues, and they each have special clinical interests in addition to their generalist roles.

Details of Specialist Interests:

• Dr Markham - Women's Health, Contraception

• Dr Edwards Moss - Asthma, Allergies

• Dr Westcar - Ophthalmology 

• Dr Lennox - Sports Injuries, Family Planning

Home Visits:

During Surgery Hours:

We are able to offer home visits for medical emergencies, but we are reluctant to visit you at home for any other reason, such as lack of transport. As a rural practice we cover a very large geographical area and we often spend a great deal of time travelling from one patient to another.

Please inform us as early as possible if a visit is required, preferably before 10.00am.

We have organised our practice to maximise our availability at the surgery for our patient’s convenience and we would be grateful if this could be borne in mind when requesting a home visit.

Attending the surgery, instead of a home visit, will save us all a great deal of time and we will have a greater range of resources available to us at the surgery to treat your condition.

Out of Surgery Hours:

When the surgery is closed, Out of Hours cover is the responsibility of the Berkshire West Primary Care Trust (PCT). The PCT have employed WESTCALL to provide this cover. There are however, many alternatives available to you, as detailed on the inside cover of this booklet:

• Call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47

• You can speak to a Nurse for advice at any time of the day or night

• Use NHS Direct On-Line at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk or

• Call the Out of Hours service on (01189) 78 78 11

In the event of a home visit being necessary, please give clear, accurate directions to your location. If at night, leave an outside light on, as this makes finding you much easier.

Repeat Prescriptions:

If you are newly registered with our surgery, you will need to see a Doctor first to authorise your inclusion on to our repeat prescription system.

Once this has been done, you may request prescriptions by:

• Repeat Prescription Slip - Please complete the right hand side of your prescription form – the repeat prescription request slip and,

• Please leave this at reception or in the box on the wall, just inside the surgery entrance door, or

• Post – please enclose a stamped, addressed envelope if you wish us to return the prescription form to you, or

• Telephone - Call our Surgery Repeat Prescription line on 0118 971 2826 and leave details of who you are and what you require.

• Please note that although we do retrieve your messages regularly during each day, we are prone to unexpected power cuts from time to time, which can result in the loss of any un-retrieved messages, or

• E-Mail - Patients may send us their repeat prescription requests by e-mail, using the link below:

Please allow 48 hours from time of request to collection.

Whenever leaving your Repeat Prescription request always ensure you confirm:

1. The Patient's Name

2. Patient's Surgery Number (if known)

3. Precise details of the medication required.

Please pay particular attention to the medication NAME, DOSAGE & STRENGTH

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A NON-SECURE EMAIL FACILITY

Private Fees:

We offer a range of non-NHS services for which we charge rates aligned with those recommended by the British Medical Association.

These include:

• Medical examinations

• Reports for solicitors

• Medical reports for Insurance Companies and private consultants

• Private sickness notes

• Passport form & Drivers Licence form completion

• Pre-Employment medicals

• Access to Medical Records

• Copying of Medical Records

A comprehensive list of our Private Fees is available from Reception.

Fees are payable in advance.

Some blood tests undertaken by the hospital may also be chargeable.