How to Make and Cancel an Appointment

 

Book face-to-face or remote appointments with your GP, nurse or clinician at a time that suits you.

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USE PATIENT ACCESS

 

Problems booking online appointments?

Use the Patient Access Support Centre before you call us.

 

Appointments

We provide an advanced access appointments service. This means we provide clinical care in a range of ways, so you get better access to clinicians.

We schedule most of our appointments so they are available on the day you ring the surgery. Therefore, in order to get the appointment most suited to your needs, it is better to ring early.

You still have the option of booking appointments in advance.

Our medical receptionists will ask you to give an indication of why you need to see the doctor. This is so you can have the most appropriate appointment.

 

 

 

Evening Appointments

There are appointments on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 6.30pm and 8.00pm at St Anne's Surgery.  All patients registered have access to evening appointments till 8:00pm 5 days per week either at the surgery or the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital.

 

Weekend Appointments

Appointments are available at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital from 10am -8pm on a Saturday & Sunday mornings.  These appointments are pre-bookable via reception.  These appointments are only available for patients registered with a Herne Bay GP.

 

Consultations

All consultations are by appointment only. 30% of Drs appointments are available to pre-book but these are on a first come first served basis.   Also, it may not always be necessary to see your doctor face to face, in these circumstances please ask the receptionist to make a telephone consultation, you will then be given an approximate time that the doctor will call you back. There is also a percentage of appointments available to book online via the MyGP App or Patient Access.

 

Choosing which doctor to see

You may see any doctor in your allocated surgery.  We do however recommend that you stay with one doctor through any one particular illness. 

 

Training / Teaching

Medical students and Nursing students attend the practice from time to time. We hope that you will co-operate with us and help the students to learn about general practice. However, you will be informed of their presence in advance, and if you do not want them to be present at a consultation, your wishes will be respected. This will not affect your treatment in any way.

 

Booking an appointment

The easiest way for you to book an advanced routine GP appointment is via the online appointment system Patient Access, as this will allow you to see the widest range of convenient appointments available. 

Alternatively please telephone or come into the Surgery to make an appointment. Remember that mornings, especially Mondays, are particularly busy so any non-urgent requests should be left until the afternoon.

Please be aware that within the standard 10 minute appointment time your GP can normally only deal with a single issue.  Because of the delay it would cause to other patients, and overall surgery time, the doctor may ask you to leave and book a further appointment if it is clear that they will need considerably longer than the available 10 minutes to deal with all the issues raised.  If you know that you need to discuss multiple or very complex issues then please ask our receptionists for a double appointment at the outset.

 

Nurse Practitioner Appointments

Our nurse practitioners have been trained to assess and manage common ailments. Patients seeking urgent appointments should be aware that they may be assessed by a nurse practitioner in the first instance. They will decide on treatment or refer to the doctor if necessary. Our nurse practitioners are qualified independent nurse prescribers and are able to prescribe a wide range of prescription only medication for minor ailments and conditions.

 

Telephone Advice

If you would like to speak to either a doctor or nurse, please leave brief details and your contact number with the receptionist and we will ring you back at a convenient time.

Our practice also offers telephone consultations if you do not need to be examined by the GP. Book these like a doctors appointment and you will be given the exact time the GP will call you for your consultation.

 

Chaperones

There are occasions when you may need an intimate examination by a doctor.

Our practice is committed to putting patients at ease whenever possible and if you wish a chaperone to be present during your examination please do not hesitate to ask the doctor for one.

It may not be possible for such a chaperone to be provided immediately and you may have to return for the examination to be carried out at a mutually convenient time.

Trust is important in the relationship between general practitioners and patients and we would, at all times, wish you to feel able to ask for a chaperone, should you require it.

If you are aware that an intimate examination may be required, you can bring a relative/friend to act as a chaperone.

 

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

 

Cancel appointments you don't need

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