Accessing Appointments During the Coronavirus Pandemic

To protect all our patients and staff we are continuing to primarily offer telephone appointments in the first instance, which patients are encouraged to book over the phone or on-line. If you book an appointment on-line it will automatically be booked as a telephone appointment. The doctor you speak to will ask you to come to the surgery if they feel you need to be seen in person. Alternatively, they may provide a video consultation.

Nursing appointments may be booked over the phone. 

All patients entering the waiting room whether to speak to reception or to see a clinician are kindly asked to wear a face covering to minimise the risk of infection transmission. 

How to Access Appointments

We provide a selection of Book on the Day, Book in Advance and Telephone appointment slots. We do this to ensure that any patient who needs to access urgent care on the day can do so. 

Book in Advance appointment slots with doctors may be pre-booked up to 2 weeks in advance. Once all the Book in Advance slots with doctors for a particular day have been allocated, patients will be advised that they will need to book on the day. 

Book in Advance appointment slots with nurses may be pre-booked up to 2 months in advance.

The practice operates an open list policy. We will endeavour to accommodate requests for a clinician of your choice, however this may not always be possible. Our priority is to ensure that patients in urgent need of care are able to access it.

Why not apply for our new online appointment booking and cancellation service by clicking on the Online Service - Patient Access tab?

Appointment Slots

We allocate 10 minutes for an appointment slot with a doctor so as to maximise the number of appointments we offer each surgery. If you feel you will need longer than 10 minutes for your consultation please ask for a double appointment when booking. If the doctor is unable to cover all aspects of your consultation within 10 minutes you will be asked to book a further appointment.

Please arrive on time for your appointment and check in using our Automated Arrivals machine so that we are aware that you are waiting. Our clinical team will always aim to work to appointment times. However, their priority is to provide appropriate care to the patient who is with them at any one time, which may result in the clinician running late. We kindly ask for your patience and understanding of this. Clinicians may also run late if they have had to liaise with ambulance or secondary care services regarding a patient in urgent need of treatment.

Our reception team will be able to advise you if your clinician is running late

Attending Appointments

Last month xxxx booked appointments slots were attended by patients

However, the number of patients able to receive care could have been higher if those patients who failed to attend had contacted us to cancel their appointment.

Please help us maximise the number of appointments we have available for all our patients by letting us know in advance of your appointment slot that you are unable to attend.

Forgotten about your scheduled appointment in the past? Why not sign up for our new Text Reminder Service by clicking on the Text Reminder Service tab? 

Online Service - Appointment Booking / Cancellation

Applying for access to our online appointment booking and cancellation service is easy. Simply complete the form below and hand it to our reception team. Your online registration information will include your user code for Patient Access which will be unique to your patient record. You will not be able to use this code to book/cancel appointments or order repeat prescriptions for any other patient. You can choose to receive your registration information by email or by collection from reception (5 working days after submission of application).

Online Access Application Form

 Click here to book/cancel your appointment online

 The Practice reserves the right to withdraw this access if this service is used inappropriately.

Online Service - Detailed Coded Record Access

Please ask at Reception if you would like to apply for access to your detailed coded record.

Patient Online Services Leaflet

For more information, please click the link below for our patient information leaflet:

Patient Online Services Leaflet

Improved Access Service

The Improved Access Service offers patients the opportunity to book an appointment with a clinician on; weekday evenings, Saturday and Sunday mornings and Bank Holidays.

For patients registered at a practice in Newhaven or Peacehaven the weekday evening and Saturday morning appointments are currently held at Havens Health Anchor site, Peacehaven with a clinician from the Havens' practices or the local area. Sunday morning and Bank Holiday appointments are held at St Andrews Surgery, Lewes.

Appointments may only be booked via the practice you are registered with. These appointments are not currently available via on-line booking.

Please ask at reception for further details.

Extended Hours Appointments

The practice has now increased its daily availability of appointment slots by providing 3 additional telephone consultations and one Book on the Day / Book in Advance consultation with a doctor.

These appointments are currently provided by one of the GP Partners on all weekdays following afternoon surgery.

These appointments may be booked via reception. They are not currently available via online booking.

Please ask at reception for further details.

Here are some of the services provided by members of our team that you may not be aware of:

Home Visits

We strongly encourage patients to attend surgery wherever possible as the facilities are much better equipped to investigate and treat patients. 

However, if you are housebound or too unwell to come to the surgery you may request a home visit - these requests should be phoned through before 10.30am where possible and will be triaged according to need.

As a routine, visits will usually be in the early afternoon but we cannot specify a time.

Chaperones

We are committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of paramount importance.

All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure where they feel one is required. This chaperone may be a family member or friend.

On occasions you may prefer a formal chaperone to be present i.e. a suitably trained member of staff.

Wherever possible we would ask you to make this request at the time of booking your appointment so that arrangements can be made and that your appointment is not delayed in anyway.

Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with our Chaperone Policy.

Text Reminder Service

The practice now offers a text reminder service for appointments. You can register for this service by completing the Electronic Communication Consent Form via the link below and handing it in at reception.

Electronic Communication Consent Form