Our Appointment System

 

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Practice Appointments

Patient appointments are available at both Smithy Green & Bridge House. Our receptionist will advise the nature of the booking (telephone appointment or face-to-face) and the location of your appointment at the time of booking. Please note that during the Covid-19 pandemic, all appointment requests to see a doctor or advanced nurse practitioner will initially be telephone appointments and the clinician you speak to will be able to make a face to face appointment if necessary.

book appointment with GP

 

How To Book An Appointment

Alternatively, please use our online consultation service.

 

Routine Appointments

The practice operates an appointment system for routine consultations which can be obtained by telephoning the practice on 0161 983 5300. Appointments can normally be booked with your usual GP up to 4 wks in advance.

You are entitled to see any GP at the practice but please bear in mind that clinical demands as well as restrictions on GP availability due to annual leave, for example, may mean that we are not always able to offer an appointment with a particular doctor.

If you require an emergency appointment to be seen that day, you will generally be seen by the duty doctor or advanced nurse practitioner (who is able to prescribe). We will not generally be able to book emergency appointments with a particular doctor for these appointments.

 

Training Practice

We are an accredited training practice which means that we have trainees at different stages of their medical career with us on regular placements.

This can include medical students, foundation year doctors (first 2 years of post-qualification) and GP registrars (doctors undertaking higher training to become general practitioners, generally in their final year of training).

You may see one of our trainees who all work under the direct supervision of the doctors here.

 

Why do receptionists ask patients why they are seeking an appointment?

The GP Partners ask reception staff to always try to obtain information about the reason(s) for needing an appointment so the call can be triaged correctly. This is not just to ascertain which clinician an appointment should be booked with, but also to establish the urgency of the appointment.

In addition to the GPs working at the surgery and the trainees detailed above, we also have:

  • A diabetic specialist nurse and advanced nurse practitioners who are all able to diagnose, devise treatment plans and prescribe
  • A GP with a special interest in diabetes who consults monthly with our most complex diabetic patients
  • A clinical pharmacy team carrying out medication reviews and reconciling medication changes on hospital discharge summaries. Some members of this team are also independent prescribers
  • A physiotherapist who can manage many musculoskeletal concerns and refer directly for diagnostic investigations if required
  • A community midwife

The clinical practitioners listed above are all in addition to our team of practice nurses and healthcare assistants.

As part of the Bramhall and Cheadle Hulme Primary Care Network, we also have access to care coordinators providing specific support for people living with frailty, cancer, learning disabilities, long-term conditions and a wellbeing team who take referrals for patients where social issues such as housing, benefits or caring responsibilities might be impacting their health. There are other community services our reception team can direct patients to for minor ailments including community pharmacists and the minor eye conditions service.

Although our reception team are not medically qualified, they have received a great deal of training both via formal courses and regular in-house updates. All Stockport practices have been supported with care navigation training for their reception teams as the range of clinicians working in primary care has expanded.

All medical receptionists and administrators are bound by the same medical confidentiality as clinicians. This is something the practice takes very seriously and our staff undertake formal training and regular in-house updates. The questions asked are required to direct an appointment request to the most appropriate clinician or service.

 

Further Information