Appointments - 0121 733 6738  

To Arrange Your Appointment With A Doctor

The surgery operates a system of offering patients the option to book appointments with a doctor up to one week in advance or alternatively, in accordance with Department of Health policy that patients should be able to see a doctor within 24/48 hours of their request. We also offer ‘book on the day’ appointments. 

Telephone appointments can also be arranged, if appropriate.

A brief outline of the appointment system follows:

'Bookable’ appointments

Generally available up to one week in advance with the doctor.  Patients are advised to ring on the day of the week that they wish to be seen on the following week, ie ring on Thursday I order to obtain an advance booked appointment for the following Thursday.  In order to help you book your advance appointment please note when each of the doctors offer ‘bookable’ appointments:-

Book On The Day

Appointments are released on the morning and afternoon for patients wishing to be seen the same day.  These appointments are allocated with the doctor who has the next available appointment slot, which may mean you will not necessarily be allocated an appointment with a doctor of your choice.

Extended Hours

The Surgery offers extended hours for our patients who find it difficult to attend appointments during the day. Dr McCarthy and Dr Hassan offer appointments on Friday mornings from 7:30 am.  Dr Stacey and Dr Clarke have appointments bookable on Tuesday evenings.

Urgent

We hope that with our present appointment system, we will not need to accommodate urgent appointments as patients who need to be seen urgently will be offered a ‘book on the day’ appointment.  However, if all appointments have been allocated for the day and a patient feels they are an emergency, then reception staff will allocate a suitable appointment following discussion with the doctor.

To Arrange An Appointment With A Practice Sister

For routine appointments with the practice sister we will endeavour to offer an appointment within five working days.  Appointments can be booked up to two weeks in advance with the practice sister. 

Practice sisters are also available for telephone advice and reception staff will advise you on the most suitable time to call during the day.

To Arrange An Appointment With A Healthcare Assistant

For appointments with HCAs we aim to offer an appointment within five working days.  Appointments can be booked up to two weeks in advance. 

Please book one appointment for each person. 

Reception staff are available to advise which is the best clinician to help with your needs. 

In life-threatening emergencies such as sever bleeding, collapse, unconsciousness and severe chest pains, telephone 999 before calling the surgery.

Home Visits

This service is provided for patients who are too frail or too ill to attend the surgery. 

The doctor’s time is valuable so please try to attend the surgery.  If you do require a home visit please call before 10.00am, as late requests for visits cause considerable disruption.

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.

Telephone Access

In some cases patients may feel that the doctor could deal with their condition/problem over the phone.  Doctor’s advice by telephone is available to you generally between 12 noon and 12.30pm Monday to Friday. 

Please inform the receptionist that you wish to speak to your doctor and they will confirm to you the most suitable time to call back to speak to the doctor.

 Laboratory Specimens

Specimens are sent to the hospital on Monday to Friday. If you are asked to bring a specimen to the surgery please ensure that we receive it before 12noon.

Test Results

These may be obtained by ringing 0121 744 2025 after 11.00am. The receptionist may then inform you of the result, or she may ask you to arrange an appointment with your doctor to discuss your result.

Hospital Referrals

Routine out-patient appointments are made by the doctor writing a letter to the appropriate hospital who will then send an appointment direct. The option to use the Choose and Book process for out-patient appointment can also be discussed at the time of the appointment with the doctor. Choose and Book enables the patient to choose which hospital and which date they would prefer. Private appointments are made by the patient telephoning the consultant’s private clinic direct on the advice of their doctor. Please inform the surgery when the private appointment has been made so that a referral letter can be typed. This then needs to be collected by the patient from the surgery.