Southmead Surgery

HOW DO I...
OBTAIN TELEPHONE ADVICE?

CALL 01753 643195 / 644414

Our doctors are available for telephone advice. The most likely available time is 11.30am. At other times they may be busy and interruptions during surgery are upsetting for both doctors and patients. For this reason staff have been asked not to disturb consultations with non-urgent telephone calls.

HOW DO I...
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT?

CALL 01753 643195 / 644414

Appointments can be made up to a month in advance by telephoning the above number or by calling at the reception desk. To help those people who need urgent appointments, please do not ask to be seen immediately unless you believe it is really necessary. Your doctor may not be the only one who can help you. There may be a nurse who can help you sooner, rather than having to wait for the doctor. If you’re not sure which member of our team might be able to help, our receptionist can advise you.

Please arrive on time for your appointment.

An appointment is for one person only. If another member of your family needs to be seen or discussed, more time will be required and a separate appointment should be made.

URGENT APPOINTMENTS

A few spaces are set aside in the surgery for URGENT problems. If you need an URGENT appointment please make this clear to the receptionist.

MISSED APPOINTMENTS

If you cannot keep your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. We can make you another appointment if required and fit someone else in on your cancellation.

Patients who persistently fail to attend for their appointments (ie more than three times) will be removed from the practice list.

LONG APPOINTMENTS

If you have a lot to discuss, please advise the receptionist who can give you a longer appointment thus avoiding delays to other patients. This also applies when you are making an appointment for a medical examination.

EMERGENCIES

If you are confronted by a serious problem such as severe chest pain or severe bleeding, call an ambulance (tel: 999) before calling the surgery.

HOW DO I...
OBTAIN A HOME VISIT?

CALL 01753 643195 / 644414

Patients are requested to telephone before 10.00am if a visit is required that day. Emergency visits only will be arranged after that time. Please give the receptionist as much information as possible to enable the doctor to allocate priority to house calls. Please remember that several patients can be seen at the surgery in the time that it takes to do a home visit. A doctor will generally telephone you prior to a visit.

HOW DO I...
OBTAIN TEST RESULTS?

CALL 01753 643195 / 644414

For blood tests, urine tests etc, please make sure that you telephone five working days after you have had the sample taken. For X-rays, please telephone ten working days after you have had the X-ray taken.

HOW DO I...
CHANGE MY DETAILS?

If you change your name (by getting married, for example) or move house, please tell our receptionists your new name, address and telephone number. This will make it easier for us to contact you and keep your records up to date. If you move away to a different area you should register with a new doctor as soon as possible.

HOW DO I...
REGISTER WITH THE PRACTICE?

NEW PATIENTS

We are always delighted to welcome new patients to the practice. We ask that all new patients over the age of five years book an appointment with the practice nurse for a “new patient health check”. The purpose of this is to collect information about family and personal medical history and to check that all routine prevention measures are up to date, eg tetanus, cervical cytology, blood pressure checks.

Registering is simply a matter of completing your medical card and passing it to us. If the card is not available, you can fill in a form at the surgery requesting registration.

PRIVATE PATIENTS

If you would prefer to register with the practice as a private patient, rather than under the NHS, we would be pleased to arrange this for you. Please contact the practice manager for details.

HOW DO I...
OBTAIN A REPEAT PRESCRIPTION?

Repeat prescriptions will be issued at the doctor's discretion and are normally for patients on long term treatment. Requests for prescriptions should be made in writing; please include your date of birth. We are unable to issue repeat prescriptions at weekends, public holidays or out of normal surgery hours. Please allow two complete working days before collection and make allowances for weekends and public holidays. Where possible give exact drug names when ordering.

Please do not return unused medication to the surgery; you local pharmacy will be happy to dispose of these for you.