Appointments
New Ways to Book Your Appointment
Hartshill Medical Centre Total Triage
As from 4/3/24, a new way to book your appointment.
Appointments to see a GP have always been booked by calling reception and asking for an appointment on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis. While this used to work in the past, we are aware that it can be frustrating and difficult for people to get appointments at times. We need to do something about the ‘8am rush’, which is why we introduced our new phone call back feature, but we also intend to bring in a new system altogether.
The new system is called Total Triage. This means that instead of phoning first thing in the morning most people will fill in an online form (accessed from the homepage on the practice website at www.hartshillmedicalcentre.co.uk) that is then reviewed by a GP to determine the urgency of the appointment and the right place for you to be seen and by whom. This might not always be by seeing a GP, as there is now a wider NHS team including social prescribers, mental health workers and the Pharmacy First service.
Requests should be submitted before 1.00pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays and before 10.30am on Thursdays.
To submit a request for an appointment, please click on this link
Appointments with the Nurse or Health Care Assistant will be booked in the normal way, by phoning reception.
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What are the advantages of Total Triage? 1. Reduced ‘8am rush’ with much less time waiting on the phone; 2. Appointments based on need rather than first-come, first-served; 3. Appointments targeted to the right person or service to manage your problem. |
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Are all appointments going to be remote (e.g. by telephone)? |
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In many cases face to face appointments are far better, both for the patient and the clinician. We will still offer a mix of telephone and face-to-face appointments based on the clinical need and patient preference. |
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I can’t use the internet. Are you trying to make it harder for me to get an appointment? |
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If anything, we are trying to make it easier for people! This is because most people will request an appointment using the online form, so those who are requesting by phone will hopefully find it much easier to get through. The aim is to try to get rid of the 8am rush, so far as that is possible. When you call reception, they will take some information about your problem and fill in the online form for you. |
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I can’t use the internet, and I also have difficulty using the telephone. Are you trying to make it harder for me to get an appointment? |
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In this case we would ask you or a representative to come into reception to speak to the team. They will either ask you to fill in a paper form, or will fill it in for you. We have a quiet room that we can use for this to ensue your privacy. |
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How can I request a home visit? |
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This is done in the normal way, by phoning reception. We would ask for you to call before 10am as this makes it much easier to plan our capacity to visit. We would ask you to remember that home visits are only for people who are genuinely housebound or who are too unwell to visit the surgery. |
All patients registered with Hartshill Medical Centre can access a range of pre-bookable appointments 6 days a week. This may not be at your usual practice, but at a practice that is within our ABC Primary Care Network (PCN).
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Monday to Friday |
18:30 – 20:00 |
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Saturdays |
09.00 – 13:00
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Home Visits
Patients are requested, where possible, to telephone before 10:00am if a home visit is required that day.
We would request that, apart from the genuinely housebound, all other patients attend the surgery rather than request a home visit because of the extra time home visiting takes. On average four to five patients can be seen in surgery in the time it takes to do a single house call. In addition, the care that can be offered due to the lack of adequate lighting, examination facilities and equipment means that you may not receive as good a service as the doctor may be able to offer if you came to the surgery.
Please note that the doctor may telephone you rather than visit you if this is medically appropriate. Ultimately it is the doctors right to decide whether or not a visit is appropriate for a particular set of circumstances.
Chaperones
In some situations, your Doctor may need to perform intimate examinations. During these, another person will be present to safeguard you and the Doctor. If you require a chaperone for any other examination, please indicate this to your Doctor.
Interpreter
If you require an interpreter during your consultation with your Doctor/Nurse, please notify our reception team who will arrange this for you.
Cancel an Appointment
If you cannot make your appointment, please contact the surgery to give us as much notice as possible, so we can try and give the appointment to somebody else who needs it.
Failing to attend an appointment results in many appointments being lost each week. We regularly monitor our appointment attendence and patients failing to notify the surgery will be contacted.
We regularly review non-attendances and patients failing to attend may be contacted to discuss this.
Repeated failure to attend for an appointment, without prior notice, may result in removal from the Practice list.
Opening Times
Training Practice
We are an established teaching practice involved in Postgraduate Training for GP Registrars and Undergraduate Teaching for Keele University Medical Students. We hope you make them welcome.
We teach medical students within the practice. Patients are asked if they are willing to consult with a student initially. The student will consult patients independently, then a GP will always join the consultation to ensure the correct history has been taken, examinations carried out and the care plan for the patient discussed. This is a very important part of the student's training and we hope you are able to help. However, if you feel you would rather not see a student, an appointment will be made with a GP.
Occasionally, we may ask for your written consent for your consultation to be videotaped for teaching purposes. You are under no obligation to consent. The videos will be used for teaching purposes only and will only be seen by your Doctor and the Registrar or Student.
Our Practice Nurses are Mentors for the training of New Smear Takers and may have other nurses under supervision at your appointment.
Hartshill Medical Centre is regularly visited by independent Doctors to ensure that standards remain high for teaching purposes. We hope you will welcome our Registrars and Students.
