Appointment Information
- Urgent Appointments
- GP Appointments
- Nurse Appointments
- HCA Appointments
- Cancelling Your Appointment
- Enhanced Access Appointments
- Late Arrivals
- Home Visits
Urgent Appointments
Released daily at 8am our urgent appointment (often referred to as 'Duty Appointments') are reserved only for the most urgent cases that do not meet the criteria for A&E or an Ambulance but still require seeing that day. These are on the day appointments that can not be booked in advance. There are strict criteria for these, and we will assess if one of these may be required when you contact us. Some examples of urgent on the day issues include:
- Infections (ear/eyes/chest/skin)
- Shortness of breath
- Acute Chronic Pain
Like all appointments there is only a certain amount of capacity for these on a daily basis, once they are full you may be asked to call 111 or visit urgent treatment centres. Our urgent appointments are undertaken by various staff roles such as GPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners and Paramedic Practitioners.
GP Appointments
Released daily at 8am GP appointments can be requested in four ways:
- Using the eConsult submission form
- Using the NHS App by clicking the advice button, then "ask my GP for advice" button
- Calling the surgery directly
- Coming into the surgery
We offer GP appointments to be booked 24 hours in advance and one week in advance. Please bear in mind that due to exceptional demand on GP appointments nationwide we often run out of routine appointments very early in the day. When booking/requesting a GP appointment please specify if you would like this to be telephone or face to face.
Nurse Appointments
Nurse appointments can also be requested in four ways:
- Using the eConsult submission form
- Using the NHS App by clicking the advice button, then "ask my GP for advice" button
- Calling the surgery directly
- Coming into the surgery
We offer nurse appointments up to four weeks in advance. Some conditions can be reviewed by the nurses over the phone, please ask when booking if you would prefer this.
Our Nurses can see a wide variety of conditions such as:
- Wound Care
- Diabetes Reviews
- Cardiovascular Reviews
- Asthma and COPD reviews
- Smears
- Contraception advice & Injections
- Injections such as Zoladex and Denosumab
- Vaccinations such as shingles, flu and B12
Sometimes you may ask for a GP appointment but we recommend that you see one of our nurses. This will only happen when we have a nurse with specialised knowledge in the field relating to your condition. This often leads to a better service for our patients.
Health Care Assistant Appointments
Our HCA appointments can be requested in three ways:
- Calling the surgery
- Coming into the surgery
- Via a link we text out when inviting you for your initial annual review
We offer HCA appointments up to 4 weeks in advance.
Our HCAs can see you for conditions such as:
- Basic wound care
- Blood Pressure checks
- Preliminary Annual Review checks (by invite only)
- B12 injections
Cancelling your appointment
We know plans change so we want to make it as easy as possible for you to cancel your appointment so it can go to someone else.
You can cancel your appointment by:
- Filling out this contact form
- Using the NHS App's appointment section
- Calling the surgery
- Coming into the surgery
- Responding to your reminder text message
Enhanced Access - Evening & Weekend Appointments
Enhanced Access is a service introduced by the NHS in October 2022.
It requires GP practices to provide additional appointments to patients during evenings and weekends; until 8pm on weekdays, and from 9am-5pm on Saturdays as a minimum.
This is being delivered at PCN-level, meaning neighbouring GP practices in Chanctonbury have shared use of the service (Farmdene Surgery, Henfield Medical Centre, The Glebe Surgery and Steyning Health Centre).
Depending on your specific needs and the availability of services and clinicians, your practice may offer you an evening or weekend appointment at our enhanced access hub.
A mix of services will be available within these additional hours hubs, with access to the range of health professionals working in the primary care team. There will be a choice of ways to access appointments depending on clinical need, such as telephone, video consultation or face to face.
If a face-to-face appointment is needed, this will be at a GP practice in the local area – this may not be at your own GP practice, but at another nearby. Within Chanctonbury these will be available at The Glebe Surgery in Storrington and/or at Steyning Health Centre sister site in Upper Beeding.
Enhanced Access sessions will be staffed by a mix of GPs, Practice Nurses, Health Care Assistants, and a Receptionist.
Because this is a shared resource, each practice has a fair share of appointments with each clinician. For that reason, appointments will not be able for patients to book themselves directly.
Please note access to our Enhanced Access hubs are by appointment only.
It is not a walk-in service, and the venue is not open for general practice enquiries. All requests still need to be made to practices during their normal opening hours (and able to be cancelled by the patient remotely).
Late Arrivals
Please note that, if you arrive up to 20 minutes late for your appointment, you will still be seen but may have to wait for a suitable gap in the GP's surgery. If you arrive over 20 minutes late for your appointment, you have effectively missed it. You should then speak to the Receptionist who will see if they can rebook your appointment or ask the GP if they can still accommodate you. There is no guarantee that you will be seen and if you are it may entail waiting until the end of the GP's surgery.
Home Visits
In cases of severe illness, infirmity, or emergencies, the GP or Paramedic Practitioner will visit the patient at home. However, where possible patients should make their way to the Surgery to see their GP or Health Professional as for every home visit a health professional makes they could see several patients in the surgery.
If you are too ill to attend please call the surgery on 0116 852141 before 11.00am if possible, as rounds have to be planned. You will be asked for a reason for the Home Visit so we can judge the urgency of the call. The doctor may phone before visiting to assess the urgency of the visit.
