How to make an appointment
- Please call our main reception number (Valley Surgery: 0115 9430530, Chilwell Meadows Surgery 0115 9462767) to book an appointment and use the NHS App to manage your appointment.
- Medically urgent cases are seen on the day.
- If your condition is not medically urgent, we will offer you an appointment within an appropriate length of time. Appointments are limited in length which means that we may not have time to deal with all your issues and may select the more urgent ones.
- You are free to consult with any doctor within the practice but it is an advantage to you and us to see the same doctor with the same problem so that continuity can be maintained.
- Please let the receptionist know whom you would like to see.
- You can book up to 6 weeks ahead for clinics – please see the ‘Clinics and Services’ section.
Book your appointment online
The practice offers a system for booking some appointments online, from the comfort of your own home. To take advantage of this system please click on this link.
Medically urgent (same day) appointments
Providing same day appointments makes it easier for you to see a doctor quickly if your need is medically urgent. You can phone from 8.00am for same day medically urgent appointments.
Long term conditions monitoring
Please do not contact us about these unless you have a specific issue. We will contact you in the appropriate way, which may be by appointment with the appropriate person, phone call, blood test, questionnaires or text message. It is not possible and not appropriate for all long term conditions and medical reviews to be face to face. We need to prioritise care to when you need it most.
A worsening of a long term condition
Please book a medically urgent appointment with the doctor who knows you best. It is often better to wait a few days to see the doctor who knows you best than see a new doctor. You may leave a message for that doctor who can decide if you are best waiting for an appointment with them or seeing another doctor more quickly.
Getting the most from your appointment
We want to work with you to help to solve your problems.
Non-urgent advice: It would help us work more effectively within the current time constraints:
2. If you have concerns or worries about a serious underlying disease such as cancer or meningitis please tell us – we can work to deal with these issues more effectively if you let us know what may be bothering you, even if it seems ‘silly’ to you.
3. Please tell us what you have found on websites if it is worrying you.
4. If you have discussed the problem with anyone else such as relatives, other health workers or pharmacists and they have suggested tests or treatment which you now expect please tell us – if we know what you are expecting we can sort things out for you more quickly.
5. If the effect of the problem is disruption of your life or work and you may need a ‘sick note’ or other support we need to know please – it helps us to prioritise treatment if we know how difficult things are for you.
6. If you are feeling unusually sad or worried please tell us – many things apart from physical diseases can cause distressing symptoms.
Role of reception
- Our receptionists are usually the first point of contact and are here to help you. They have a lot of information to hand and in most cases will be able to help with your enquiry, ensuring you see the most appropriate clinician at an appropriate time.
- Anything that is discussed with the receptionists or any other member of the team is treated in strict confidence. However you can choose not to disclose your reason with the receptionist and this will be respected.
- You have a right to be treated courteously, and our receptionists also have a right to be treated courteously by you. We can offer a degree of privacy in a separate room if you come to reception if your enquiry is sensitive. Please respect the privacy of other patients by standing well back from the reception desk until your turn.
Why might it be difficult to get an appointment?
The surgery is particularly busy on Mondays especially during the winter months. If your appointment is not urgent, try to book on a less busy day in the afternoon. If you let us know as soon as possible you can’t attend your appointment, we can then make it available for another patient. Please cancel through the NHS app or call us.
How to arrange a home visit
We try to maintain continuity of care in all cases but cannot guarantee this, depending on other visits. If you need a consultation but are too ill to come to surgery, a doctor may visit you at home. When urgent medical help is required this will be the doctor on call, but in less urgent cases you may request your own particular doctor, please note we cannot guarantee which doctor will come.
You are expected to attend the surgery if you are able to travel, with the necessity for a home visit being at the discretion of the doctor. If there is doubt your doctor may ring you to discuss the problem before deciding the most suitable place for the consultation to take place.
Please remember we can see 3-4 patients in the time it takes to see one person at home. Please consider asking a friend or using a taxi to see us. If transport is the issue please speak to reception first.
Please ring reception before 12noon to arrange a visit. Home visits are normally made between 1pm and 3pm.
Non-urgent advice: Remember
8 tips to help us to help you get the most out of the Appointment System
- Is it ‘urgent’? Please don’t request an urgent (same day) appointment unless you consider your problem to be medically urgent. If you are not sure then you can ask to leave a message for one of the doctors to phone you back to assess your situation. Inappropriate requests for same day appointments mean that it is more difficult for patients with genuine urgent problems to be seen.
- Turn up … or cancel. Please don’t miss an appointment that you have booked. This is wasted time that could have been used for another patient. If you can’t make an appointment or need to change it then let us know. You can cancel any appointment using the NHS app or by phoning us.
- Can anyone else help? Before you make an appointment please think about whether there are any other services that might be more appropriate. For example, remember that pharmacists are trained to give advice about minor health problems and answer any questions about your medicines and treatment. The NHS 111 system is also available to guide you to appropriate sources of advice.
- What’s the problem? Understandably many people are reluctant to tell a receptionist about the reason that they want to see a doctor. However our reception staff are more likely to be able to guide you in the right direction if you give them a rough idea about your problem. All our staff have a responsibility to treat your information confidentially, and we take this very seriously.
- Go online. You can message us about medical or admin related queries and order repeat prescriptions online using the NHS app. You can also view test results and other aspects of your medical record since 1st April 2023. Online services are available 24 hours a day so you can use these services at your convenience. Using the online services also reduces demand on reception staff during the day so everybody gains. You will need to register for the NHS app for this service. There is no need to contact us for this.
- Telephone consultations. If you have a simple problem or question then it may be possible to sort this out over the phone. Ask the receptionists to take a message and we can call you back. However please check that we have your correct phone number and you let us know if there is a best time to call.
- Continuity of care. If you have an ongoing problem then please try to see the same doctor for each appointment. This means that you don’t have to keep on repeating your story, and enables the doctor to build up a better picture of what is going on. If you have been for a consultation and been told that you need a follow-up appointment then try to make it before you leave the surgery.
- Be patient. Please understand that the receptionists and clinical staff are working hard to meet the needs of all of our patients, each of whom is very important. Although we want to offer personal, patient-centred care, we may not be able to meet your request as soon as you would prefer. We have to balance a lot of urgent and important requests. Please try to be understanding if things are not completely to your satisfaction.
Finally, although our reception staff will always do their best to offer you an appointment that meets your needs when you contact us, if one is not immediately available then you will be invited to leave a message so that the doctors can decide on the best way to deal with your problem.