How do I...

Obtain Telephone Advice?
The nurses or doctors will be happy to deal with a medical problem via the telephone if you give the receptionist a brief summary of your problem and how to contact you. The nurse or doctor will either ensure you are contacted with an answer or speak to you directly when necessary. Please be sure your telephone allows for incoming calls from a switchboard, otherwise we cannot be held responsible if we cannot contact you.

Request An Appointment?
Please telephone or call in to the surgery during opening hours to make an appointment. We have routine appointments which can be booked two weeks in advance nd book on the day.

The doctors prefer to care for their own regular patients. Sometimes your own doctor may not be available but you will be offered an appointment with one of the other doctors. A routine appointment is for 10 minutes and is for one person and one problem. Routine appointments are for you to have a medical review with your doctor and therefore it can't be planned. Please don't save up several problems for one appointment. If you know you will need longer please ask for a double slot.

We also have an Urgent Care Centre based in Cheshunt. It is anew "walk-in" service available between 8.00am and 8.00pm seven days a week. If you wish to know what can be treated at this centre there are leaflets at the surgery or you can telephone NHS direct on 0845 4647 for advice.

• Please arrive on time for your appointment. If you are more than 15 minutes late you will be offered another appointment at a mutually agreed time.
• Please let us know if you cannot keep your appointment; we will then be able to offer it to another patient.
• If you fail to attend two or more appointments without advising us, then you may be asked to leave this practice and find another GP.
• If you are over 16 and have not been seen by a doctor in the last three years, you may be requested to see the nurse for a health check.
• Patients who come to the surgery and expect to be seen without an appointment will be offered the next available appointment and this will usually mean having to come back later. We are not a walk-in centre or an emergency unit.

Urgent Appointments
If you have a problem that needs to be dealt with urgently you may be asked to come to the surgery the same day. However, you will not necessarily be given an appointment time but may be asked to come to the surgery and wait to be seen. You should be aware that the wait could sometimes be very long - dependent on the number of patients asking to be seen urgently. These appointments are for five minutes only.
If you are not a registered patient of the practice, and we are unable to assist you with your medical problem, the East and North Herts Primary Care Trust will be requested to provide you with the service or advise where you can be treated.

Chaperone
If you require a chaperone when you are being seen by a doctor, please advise the receptionist when booking the appointment.

Request A Home Visit?
If you are too ill to attend the surgery please telephone before 10.00am. The receptionist will ask for details to be passed on to the doctor who will then decide if a visit is needed. They may telephone you to confirm your condition. Please try to come to the surgery as the doctors can see many more patients in the time it takes to visit a patient in their home. Home visits are at the discretion of the doctor and are for the frail elderly, genuinely housebound and terminally ill patients.

Obtain Test Results?
Patients who have been asked by the doctor to check the result of any tests - blood, urine, x-ray or scan - should telephone the surgery between 2.00 - 4.00pm or 5.00 - 6.00pm.

Information will only be given to the patient concerned unless we have written authority to give test results to another person.