Booking and Cancelling Appointments

Please arrive on time for your appointment.

Appointments are given for the named person only, please do not ask for another member of the family to be seen during the same consultation as this will delay the doctor.

When booking, you may express preference for a GP but subject to availability, you may be offered an alternative GP or health professional

Appointment System

• Please arrive on time for your appointment. Appointments are given for the named person only, please do not ask for another member of the family to be seen during the same consultation as this will delay the doctor.
• When booking, you may express preference for a GP but subject to availability, you may be offered an alternative GP or health professional.
• Morning appointments are from 8.30 am.
• There are appointments with each doctor for people who have to arrive early at their place of work; we also have a small number of appointments at the end of the day for people who work.
• We always have urgent on the day appointments for patients who genuinely feel they have an urgent medical problem.
• You may be asked to speak to a doctor on the telephone first before a face to face appointment is offered.
• It may not be possible for an urgent appointment to be arranged with the doctor you usually see.
• If you think a doctor may be able to help you with a problem without you attending the surgery, you may book a ‘telephone consultation’. The reception staff will give you an approximate time for the doctor to telephone you (at present these are only available in the mornings). Please allow a little time each way, as it is not always easy to keep to time in a busy clinic. Please note: not all doctors have telephone appointments.
• Afternoon appointments, which are particularly useful for follow-up appointments can be booked several weeks ahead (we are currently working to extend our appointment calendar). Please try to avoid Mondays for follow up appointments, as it is our busiest day of the week.
• All nurses’ appointments can be booked two to three weeks ahead

Long term condition appointments

Long term condition covers a wide range of medical problems which have to be managed and controlled rather than cured. Patients with these conditions (eg diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, asthma, epilepsy etc), will have a management plan which has been set up by their GP and agreed between patient and doctor. A copy of the personal care plan will be given to the patient and scanned into their medical records for other GPs and healthcare professionals to access if required. Dedicated long term condition (LTC) appointments to enable regular follow up are made available each day. LTC appointments are only available to those patients with an agreed treatment plan. To promote continuity of care, these appointments should all be with the same GP.

Cancelling an appointment

Please notify the surgery as soon as possible if you are unable to make an appointment, so that the slot can be offered to someone else.

Extended hours appointments

From Monday 2 June 2008, Pulborough Medical Group will be offering extended surgery times, as listed below. These early morning and late evening slots are for those patients who are unable to attend the surgery for a routine appointment during our existing opening hours.

› view pdf poster of extended hours

Make the most of your consultation time with the Doctor

Health professionals will listen to your views and concerns and answer your questions, but they may have a limited amount of time. To make the most of your time with them, you could try the following:

• Write down any questions you have before you visit or phone

• Ask the most important questions first

• Ask about any terms or jargon you don't know

• Request a simple explanation if you don't understand what was said

• Write down the main points quickly afterwards as a reminder

• Phone or visit again if you have any other questions

Home visits

Patients are asked to attend the surgery whenever possible. Patients who are not well enough to get to the surgery are advised to request a home visit before 10.00 am to allow the doctors to plan their visiting time more effectively. Be prepared to supply the receptionist with your name, address, telephone number and brief description of the problem to help the doctor prioritise their visits.