How Do I...
Contact The Surgery?

On dialling the surgery number you will hear a pre-recorded message offering you a number of options. Please press the option that you need:

Press 1 - For a home visit from a doctor.
Press 2 - For an urgent appointment at the surgery with a doctor.
Press 3 - For a routine appointment with the doctor or nurse.
Press 4 - For your test results or any other enquiries.

How Do I...
Make An Appointment?

Appointments can be made by telephone, at the reception desk or online via the EMIS Access service.  You need to register with the Practice for this service and full details are available at reception. Please make a separate appointment for each person.  If you find you are unable to attend please cancel as soon as possible so that the appointment can be offered to someone else.  Patients who repeatedly miss booked appointments cause great inconvenience to staff and other patients. You can cancel appointments by telephone, at the reception desk, by EMIS Access or by SMS text details to 07751 225476.  Only appointment cancellations will be dealt with on this number. Appointment times are intended to be a guide only. That is because emergencies may lead to the doctor or nurse running late. Please note that we are a group practice and that the first appointment available may not be with the doctor or nurse of your choice.

Some GPs have particular areas of expertise. You may wish to consider the list below when deciding who to see.

Some of our doctors are fluent in other languages, for example Spanish, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi and Czech.

Internet Appointments

NHS Direct Online

Using The Doctors' Time Effectively - Help Us To Help You

GP appointments are booked to last 10 minutes. Longer appointments can be arranged for complex problems or if there are many problems to be discussed. Please ask about this when booking an appointment. We would be grateful if you would bear this is mind when deciding on what you would like to discuss with the GP or nurse at your appointment.

Making a list of the questions you would like to ask is a good way on making sure that you get the most out of the appointment. The doctors do not mind if you bring along a list of questions that you would like answering but bear in mind the length of the appointment (usually 10 minutes). Please do not save up many problems for a single consultation as this can lead to the surgery over-running and delays for the following patients.

Repeat medicine requests are best handled by the reception in the usual way or online via the Emis repeat prescription form as this allows the doctor to have more time to spend with you and helps us to run to time.

Wear loose fitting clothing or short sleeves if you are going to need your blood pressure taking. It is helpful if the area of your body to be examined is clean and easily accessible.  (You can use our blood pressure monitor to take your own BP reading and take the result in to the doctor or nurse with you.  The monitor is situated in the reception waiting area).

Triage Emergencies

In addition to routine appointments there will be an extra session each day to deal with urgent problems. Please note this is for urgent conditions that cannot wait a few days. In these circumstances, please telephone the surgery and the receptionist on duty will take your name and contact number. A triage nurse will ring you back. The role of the triage nurse is to assess your symptoms, to see whether you would be better being seen by a doctor or by a nurse. Sometimes you may not need to be seen by any of the healthcare professionals at the surgery, but would be better treated by a visit to the pharmacy. If it is necessary for you to be seen by the doctor covering emergencies, the triage nurse will issue you with an urgent appointment.

As these sessions are very busy and the doctor is responsible for dealing with emergencies, we cannot guarantee you will be seen at the agreed time. Nor is it likely that you will be able to see the doctor of your choice. If you wish to see your GP of choice, please book a routine appointment. If your problem is not urgent you may be asked to re-attend at another time to be seen routinely. We make this stipulation out of consideration to other patients. We do offer priority for frail and elderly people and young children. Please mention to the receptionist at the time of booking that the appointment is for a patient in one of these categories. If the surgery is closed a recorded message will give you the number of the out-of-hours service.

Alternatively, you may wish to attend the local Urgent Care Centre at Burnley General Hospital (see below).

Accidents

The nearest Urgent Care Centre is at Burnley General Hospital, Casterton Avenue, Burnley.

Suspected fractures and cuts that require stitching should attend the Urgent Care Centre directly. Ambulance cases will be taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

How Do I...
Obtain A Home Visit?

Home visits are available only for those patients who are too ill or frail to get to the surgery. You may be asked by the nurse/reception staff for a few details to ascertain whether a visit is necessary, or called back later to confirm details. It is usually better to be seen in the surgery where examinations and investigations are more effectively performed. Visits should be requested only in exceptional circumstances as they take time away from other pressing surgery appointments and tasks. Please ring the surgery before 11.00am as calls taken after this time may not be offered a visit the same day.

How Do I...
Obtain Test Results?

Please contact the surgery to obtain the results of tests or x-rays. There is no need to make an appointment with the doctor unless they have requested that you do so.  For reasons of confidentiality test results can only be given to the patient themselves or to the parent or legal guardian of children under 16 years. For similar reasons the results of pregnancy tests are only given in person and not over the phone. Normal results can be given out over the phone by practice staff. Our receptionists are, however, not trained to recognise whether an abnormal result is significant or not and if in doubt will ask you to discuss this with a doctor.

It is important to note that it is your responsibility to contact the practice for test results. It is not routine for the practice to contact patients even when test results are abnormal.