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Appointment Protocol

This protocol is intended to support patients and staff to understand how the practice allocates appointments for consultations with clinical staff at the practice.

When patients request a clinical appointment, which may be via the telephone, via an EConsult on our website or the NHS App, our Care Navigation Team will need to ask the following to be able to provide the quickest service:

Patient Name
DOB and/or Address
Presenting problem and symptoms
Favoured Contact Number

Appointment availability may vary depending on clinical resource.

Same day face to face appointment requests

A patient requesting a same day appointment will be asked why they need to be seen as an urgent and acute presentation. Depending on patients’ symptoms they may be signposted to the relevant services e.g. pharmacy, physio etc. If we are unable to signpost patients to a relevant service, we will ask the patient to complete an eConsult this is the quickest way of managing and triaging your request.

Consult is available online via our website between 8:00am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). You do not need a login or any passwords to use this service. Patients should go onto Gillingham Medical Practice website, click contact us, scroll down to Contact us via eConsult and begin completing the eConsult questionnaire. The eConsult will come through to the practice and the Duty GP will triage the eConsult and make a clinical decision. You will either receive a text message or we will telephone you advising you of the outcome. If the GP decides the problem is not an urgent acute problem, it will be allocated a routine appointment. If the GP decides your problem requires an urgent, same day response you will be allocated an urgent acute appointment. If you are given a same day appointment and for some reason cannot attend, you may have to re-submit another eConsult the following day. Please stay by your preferred telephone line if you are requesting an urgent acute appointment. If a patient does not have access to the internet, then one of our team members will be happy to help complete this form via the telephone or at the reception desk.

Pre-bookable routine telephone/face to face appointments

Our eConsult service can also be used to request routine appointments, please follow the instructions via the website. Alternatively, our phone lines are open from 8:00am to 1:30pm and 2:30pm to 6:30pm Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. If you do not have access to eConsult please ring or visit the surgery during these times to book a pre-bookable face to face/phone call appointment.

Extended Access appointments

We are pleased to be able to offer pre-booked appointments outside of normal surgery hours on the following days

Mondays at The Barn Surgery - 7:00am to 8:00am
Wednesdays at Peacemarsh Surgery - 7:00am to 08:00am
Thursdays at The Barn Surgery - 6:30pm to 7:30pm

Our phone lines are closed during these times

Therefore, if you need to cancel an appointment you need to ring between 8:00am to 6:30pm

Arriving Late

If you arrive more than 5 minutes late for your appointment time for any reason, you may be asked to rebook your appointment, and your original appointment will be marked as did not attend. This is because our clinics are fully booked and must keep to time throughout the day.

Pharmacy services

Pharmacies are also available to help during their working hours. Pharmacists can help with a variety of symptoms including, but not limited to sickness/diarrhoea, sore throats, non-complex urinary tract problems, bites/stings, ear ache and medication queries. In some cases, pharmacies can prescribe antibiotics for some conditions.

Find a pharmacy near you

Other services that can support you

The service 111 and 111 Online can help 24/7 to provide medical advice and assistance. On contact, you may be referred to your usual GP. If you are referred to the GP and we are have reached full capacity for that day you may be referred on to a walk-in centre. Walk in centres are available at Frome, Yeovil and Salisbury and are generally open until 8:00pm each day. Care Navigation staff can give you more information on individual opening times.

Our practice adheres to the European Union of General Practitioners and BMA recommended safe level of patient contacts per day for a GP to deliver safe care. If we have reached the maximum safe limits for appointments when you request a same day appointment you may be signposted to the 111 service or a local Walk-In centre.