You may make an appointment by:
- telephoning or
- attending the surgery, or
- online Via E-Consult
- I have a new medical condition
You will be asked to give a brief reason for needing an appointment, as this is very helpful for the doctor or the nurse and helps to make best use of the appointment time.
Appointment times
Our appointment times are:
Monday to Friday: 8.40am to 5pm.
We often offer appointments outside of these times, in particular for emergencies and extended hours.
Appointments
We offer a same day appointment system, this means anyone requiring an appointment whether it be routine or urgent, needs to call at 8.15am . Whilst we do offer routine pre bookable appointments, often these are quite far in advance. If calling at 8.15am is problematic, we also offer the option of submitting an eConsult or use the link below which will be looked at on the day. If a patient calls and the same day appointments have already been allocated, you will be asked the nature/urgency of the problem and a message will be sent to the triage team to request an emergency appointment. We will try to offer you an appointment but this may be with the Extended access team on a weekend.
Telephone consultation
It is often possible for problems to be managed with a telephone consultation or by involving another health care professional but you will always be seen in surgery if necessary. Please note that we may ask you to be flexible about when and by whom you are seen if you are requesting a same-day appointment
You have the right to express a preference with regard to the doctor that you see, so please ask, and we will always try to facilitate your request. However, this is not always possible and you will be offered an appointment with an alternative GP.
Nurse appointments
For nursing and healthcare appointments, the vast majority of these can be booked in advance, with a proportion being kept back for urgent needs.
Extended access appointments
Through our partnership with Brighton and Hove Federation, patients now have access to additional appointments from 18.30 to 20.00 weekdays and 09.00 to 17.00 Saturday and Sunday. These include remote and face to face GP appointments as well as appointments with a nurse, pharmacist or health care assistant. Specialist clinics are also being planned (e.g. menopause).
Please refer to the Federations website https://www.brightonandhovefed.co.uk/enhanced-access for updates.
Access to these clinics is by contacting the surgery in the normal way. These appointments might be held at a different location to the surgery and are subject to availability.
Do I need an appointment?
If you feel unwell, consider:
- Self-care (many common illnesses can be treated at home, without recourse to a doctor) Click here for further details on our Self care page.
- Pharmacist – your local chemist can offer advice about treatment & medication for minor illness or injury. Find out more on our Who should I see page here.
- Contacting NHS 111 or using the NHS 111 website.
In summary, in order to make best use of our system, please:
- Book early (telephone lines do get busy), or try online
- Understand that members of our reception team will ask for a very brief description of your problem, so that they can direct you to the right person
- Respect the fact that the time allocated to a routine appointment is ten minutes
- Cancel an unwanted appointment as far in advance as possible; hundreds of appointments are wasted each year when patients fail to attend appointments for which they are expected
