Appointments

Appointments can be made by telephoning the surgery between 08:00 and 18:30 on 01204 523716 or 01204 382326. 

Appointments can be made by calling into the surgery between 08:00 and 18:30.

Appointments can be made online via the Quick Links - Online Services - please note that you MUST be registered for this service, which you need to do by completing a Registration Form at the surgery along with proving your identity.  (Our online service is only available to patients aged 16 and over.)

Please note that appointments are for one person only. Separate appointments should be made for other family members.

Appointments are 10 minutes long.  If you have a number of issues to discuss then we are more than happy to offer longer appointment slots.  Just ask the receptionist when booking your appointment.

Due to the increased demand on Primary Care, we would like to make patients aware of the following:

A maximum of TWO problems will be discussed in non-emergency appointments.  If you need to discuss more than one problem in a non-emergency appointment, please inform our receptionist when you are booking the appointment, you will then been offered a longer appointment.

 Only ONE urgent problem will be discussed on an emergency appointment.

PLEASE NOTE - WE HAVE GP REGISTRAR DOCTORS WORKING AT THE PRACTICE, ONLY ONE PROBLEM WILL BE DISCUSSED PER APPOINTMENT.  IF YOU NEED TO DISCUSS MORE THAN ONE PROBLEM, PLEASE INFORM OUR RECEPTION TEAM SO THAT THEY CAN OFFER YOU A LONGER APPOINTMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

The surgery continues to offer a telephone triage service for urgent on the day problems and you may be asked to do a lateral flow test if you have COVID19 symptoms.   If the clinician needs to see you face to face, we will arrange a time for you to attend the practice safely, you must wear a face mask if you have respiratory or flu like symptoms.  If your problem is not urgent, you can request to book a routine appointment - face to face or telephone.  Please be aware that you will be asked the reason for your call by our trained reception staff, who will book you in with the correct healthcare professional.  If you have more than one problem to discuss, please inform our receptionist as we need to book more than one appointment slot.  Please be aware that the practice takes staff and patient safety very seriously. Any behaviour deemed unacceptable according to latest NHS England guidance, may lead to you being removed from the practice list. Thank you for your understanding.

Click below for GP Practice Timetable (nb. we do offer some appointments outside normal working hours).

GP Timetable

Routine Telephone Consultations

We do offer pre-bookable telephone consultations.  Please note: When booking these you will be asked by our reception staff:

• Who you are and an up to date contact telephone number.
• Why you need to speak to the doctor - this enables us to understand if the reason for the consultation is more urgent and also give the doctor some information so that they can have a look at your medical record beforehand and understand the situation, if required. If the reason for speaking with the doctor/nurse is confidential, you must say so to the receptionist, who will respect your reason for confidentiality. If you don't feel comfortable to tell the receptionist the reason for your call, she can inform the doctor.  

IF YOU FEEL YOUR MEDICAL CONDITION IS URGENT AND THERE ARE NO AVAILABLE BOOKABLE APPOINTMENTS, PLEASE CLICK IN THE EMERGENCY APPOINTMENTS TAB FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Emergency Appointments

If a patient contacts the surgery and feels that their medical condition is urgent but there are no available bookable appointments left for that day, we endeavour that the patient will either be seen by a clinician or will have a telephone assessment that same day.  In order for the practice to understand the urgency of a medical condition, the receptionists are required to ask further questions about the medical condition to be able to direct the emergency accordingly.

• Children aged 12 and under will be given an emergency appointment with a doctor the same day if the medical condition is urgent.        
• Patients aged over 12 years, will be asked for details of their medical condition and if this is urgent, the receptionist will ask for contact details for a doctor/nurse to make contact by telephone with them the same day to assess the condition and will either advise over the telephone or ask the patient to attend the surgery at the end of the clinic as an emergency appointment.
• PLEASE NOTE: ONLY THE EMERGENCY PROBLEM WILL BE DEALT WITH IN THESE EMERGENCY APPOINTMENTS.

It is important that any urgent medical condition is shared with the receptionist in order for urgent conditions to be prioritised.

Last year we introduced a protocol that for all emergency appointments, a patient notice slip is handed to patients who attend an emergency appointment explaining that the appointment is an emergency and only the urgent medical condition will be dealt with that day and to book a routine appointment for anything else that is not urgent.  This will help with the doctors seeing patients with an urgent need as quickly and efficiently as possible in a safe manner. 

We also have a notice in the reception area to make patients aware that they will be asked the nature of the illness to determine the urgency, this was as a result of previous patient surveys. 

Please note: Patients who require a sick note (now know as a Statement of Fitness for Work) will not be given an emergency appointment as this is a NON-MEDICAL emergency.  Patients will be asked to make a non-urgent appointment and where required, the certtificate will be back dated by the doctor.

Bolton GP Surgeries Evening, Weekend and Bank Holiday Service

As a patient at our practice, if you would like to see a GP or Practice Nurse for a routine appointment in an evening or at the weekend or on a bank holiday, we are able to offer you appointments at one of the Bolton GP Extended Access Hubs in Bolton.

Bolton’s GP practices have joined together, through their Federation, to offer appointments in the evenings, at weekends and on bank holidays. These appointments are with Bolton GPs and Bolton Practice Nurses and are available via the Extended Primary Care Service provided by Bolton GP Federation on behalf of practices across Bolton.

You can make an appointment to see a Doctor, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner or Practice Nurse in one of the Hubs in the same way as you book appointments with us, through our practice reception.

Appointments are available across Bolton hosted at the following sites:

**Urgent Care Treatment Centre (Royal Bolton Hospital) 

**Waters Meeting Health Centre          

**Winifred Kettle Health Centre            

Monday to Friday         6.30pm until 9.30pm

Saturday                     9.30am-1.00pm

Sunday                       9.30am- 1.00pm

Bank Holidays             9.30am- 1.00pm

If you wish to cancel your appointment at one of these sites, please contact your GP practice, if your practice is closed please telephone 0161 763 8941 to cancel.

Introduction - What is Enhanced Access?

From 1st October 2022, GP practices will be required to provide increased provision of primary care services (enhanced access arrangements) between the hours of 6.30pm and 8.00pm Mondays to Fridays and between 9.00am and 5.00pm on Saturdays. Bolton GP Federation are looking to gather some feedback from patients and the wider public to find out what people think about the enhanced access offer, what people know about this, and how people think the service will best meet their needs as well as raising awareness of the service. This is so services can be planned around what suits patient needs best, so please take a few moments to tell us your views about this. Please note this survey is being carried out by Healthwatch Bolton.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/J63MLRPhttps://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/J63MLRP

Lateness Policy

Patients have a duty to attend for pre-booked appointments promptly, and to take into account logistical difficulties or the time involved in travelling to the surgery.

If a patient has attempted to contact the Practice to inform us of their lateness, we will aim to see that patient as soon as we can during the surgery, however if they are going to be more than 10 minutes late, we will encourage them to re-book the appointment, within reason.

The practice will, as far as practicable, see patients who arrive late, however this may be at the end of surgery and will therefore involve a considerable wait for those who do not wish to re-book.

The following general provisions will apply:

Less than 10 minutes late

The patient will be marked as an arrival in their pre-booked "slot". The Receptionist will give the patient a number disc at the first available opportunity. The patient should be advised of this and that there may be some delay while they are fitted in.

More than 10 minutes, less than 20 minutes late

The patient will be advised that as they are a late arrival the doctor/nurse will have to see punctual patients first, and that they will be added on to the end of the surgery list, and will therefore have a considerable delay (depending on the time). They may be seen during the surgery only if the doctor has an unexpected gap, in which case they will be called in. The patient should be encouraged to re-book. In all cases, the doctor will be sent a message advising them that the patient has reported late.

More than 20 minutes late

The patient has clearly missed the appointment, and should be encouraged to rebook. The practice will not, at this stage, differentiate between patients who are persistent late attendees and others. This will be dealt with, should the need arise, by individual letter.

Cancelling an Appointment

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.  

If you receive text message reminders for your appointments, you can also reply to these to cancel your appointment.  You just text back the word CANCEL and this automatically cancels your appointment off our appointment system.  (please note: if you do not receive text message reminders and would like to, please update your mobile number with one of our reception team.)

If you are cancelling an appointment that you have booked via our Vision Online Service, you are able to do this by logging in to your online account.  However, if the online appointment you are cancelling is on the same day, please contact the surgery on 01204 523716.

Did Not Attend Policy

Our appointment availability is reliant upon patients attending their booked appointments. 

On average our “did not attend” (DNA) rate is 11.1%. 

If a patient no longer requires an appointment, the patient should contact the surgery to cancel their appointment so that we can offer this to another patient. 

It is frustrating for patients who cannot be offered an appointment and then other booked appointments are not attended, the appointments could have been offered to a patient who does needs to see a doctor or nurse.

Practice Guidelines 

• If a patient fails to attend a pre-booked appointment on one occasion, a letter will be sent to the patient about this.

• If the patient fails to attend a second appointment within a 12 month rolling period, a letter will be sent advising them that a further occurrence could risk removal from the practice

• If the patient fails to attend a third appointment within a 12 month rolling period, a letter will be sent to the patient stating that the matter will be discussed at a Practice Meeting and a majority agreement will be reached as to whether the patient will be removed from the practice list.

• If it is agreed that the patient be removed from the list, the practice manager will write to the patient and explain the reasons for removal and what he/she should do to register with another doctor.

Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you can help us by calling 01204 523716 or 01204 382326 before 10:00.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. Your GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.  If you require a "Statement of Fitness for Work" from your doctor, this can only be obtained in a face to face consultation, we are unable to provide these certificates via a telephone consultation.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).