Announcement:

Our practice is currently unaffected by the global IT outage

GETTING HELP WITH: Appointments

For emergencies out of hours

Click Here

We are currently offering a choice of face-to-face and telephone appointments with a GP.

Don’t forget you can book appointments, order medication, access your records and get access to your NHS COVID pass all online and via the NHS app.

Routine appointments

Routine appointments can be pre-booked with the doctor of your choice up to seven days in advance. These are for non-urgent matters and for patients who prefer to have continuity by seeing the doctor who has been looking after an ongoing problem.

We also offer extended hours appointments for patients who cannot attend during our normal surgery times.

Calling for an appointment

When you call us for an appointment you will be given a series of options:

  • Option 1 – Prescription queries/orders
  • Option 2– Book an appointment (urgent and routine)
    If you need an urgent appointment your details will be taken by a member of our reception team.  You will then be offered the choice of a telephone or face-to-face appointment.
  •  You can still see your named GP for non-urgent appointments.  You should also use this option for all other queries such as blood test results etc.

Book-on-day and urgent services

Patients requesting an appointment on the same day, or requiring advice, may speak to a doctor who will assess their condition over the telephone.

  • Patients requesting an urgent appointment will be assigned to the triage doctor for a call back. The receptionist will take some details requested by doctor.
  • The triage doctor will normally telephone the patient within two hours, unless the problem is urgent, and will negotiate the appropriate next step.

If, after speaking with the patient, the doctor thinks you need to come into the surgery, they will make an appointment for you.

Online appointments

A quick way to make or cancel appointments is via our NHS App. (Please note not all appointments are available via this method).  You can also use this App to order repeat prescriptions, view your medical records and test results, as well as giving you access to your NHS COVID pass.

NHS App – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

In order to use this service and other online services you will need to register so that you can be given login details. If you are not yet registered for this service please ask at reception or use Anima via our web page.

You may be asked to bring Photographic ID into the surgery.  If you do not have this please discuss with the surgery who will advise.

Named GP

All patients have a named GP who is responsible for their overall care at the practice. If you do not know who your named GP is or if you have a preference as to which GP you have, please contact the surgery and the practice will try to accommodate your request.

Care and support planning

We provide a Year of Care annual recall system to support people who have long term conditions.  This aims to give you the opportunity to get more out of your annual review appointments by reorganising the way things happen and giving you more information before you see your nurse or doctor. It should help you to talk about:

  • What is important to you
  • What you can do to look after your health and stay well
  • What support you may need

Who is it for?

Anyone with a long term condition like diabetes for example

Why change things?
It will help both you and the doctor or nurse make the best use of the time you have in your care and support planning appointment. All the important tests and results needed at your appointment will be available to you before the appointment as well as an opportunity to think through what questions you want to ask and identify your key concerns which you want to talk about.

What does this mean for me?
This means that your care and support planning review will usually take place over two separate appointments and you will have time to think about what you want to get out of these visits.

What happens at the first appointment?
At the first appointment you will be asked to attend the surgery to have any checks or tests (e.g. blood tests, breathing tests) done with a healthcare assistant. The healthcare assistant will book your next appointment which will be with a doctor or nurse.

What happens next?
Your test results from this appointment will be sent to you with an explanation of what they mean. There will also be a space on the letter for you to make notes along with the details for your next appointment and who you will be seeing. This will give you a chance to think about what you would like to talk about at your care and support planning appointment. It`s helpful if you bring this letter with you.

What happens at the care and support planning appointment?
At your care and support planning appointment you will be able to ask questions and talk about what’s important to you and your doctor or nurse will raise any issues they are concerned about. Once you both agree on one or two main things to work on, you will get the chance to work out a plan and identify any support you need to help you look after your health.

NPC Rothbury

Contact

The Rothbury Practice
Whitton Bank Road
Rothbury
Northumberland, NE65 7RW

Northumbria Primary Care