To make an appointment either call in at the surgery or telephone 01670 822695, 01670 822970 during opening hours. You will be put through to the reception staff handling patient appointments The reception line will be most busy during the morning surgery hours. Please avoid this time if you can.
If you prefer it is now possible to book an appointment via the internet. Please click on the link for booking appointments on the internet for further details: http://www.bedlington-doctors.com/page9.htm
You will be offered the first available appointment with the doctor of your choice. Please remember that for the sake of continuity of care it is better to try and see the same doctor through a course of treatment.
To help surgeries run smoothly and on time, please remember the following:
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Please arrive 5 minutes prior to your appointment time. |
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Please ring and cancel if you cannot make an appointment - it could be offered to another patient. |
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Please do not 'squeeze in' other family members to your appointment slot. |
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Please do not 'save up' several problems for one appointment! Make a longer appointment if you need to discuss more than one problem or you feel your problem may be complex. |
Urgent Appointments
If you have a medical problem that you feel is urgent and cannot wait until the next available appointment then the doctor will see you the same day. However, this will not necessarily be the doctor of your choice. You will be told a time to come and wait at the surgery and the doctor will fit you in. It will be at the doctor's discretion whether non-urgent problems will be dealt with at this time.
Home Visits
We will only visit if you are too ill to come to surgery or are unable to leave your house. Please ring before 10:30am if you need a home visit. Visits after this time will only be carried out if the doctor considers it to be an emergency.
A home visit takes much more time than seeing a patient in the health centre. Please make every effort to attend the surgery if at all possible.
Emergencies Outside Normal Hours
If you require urgent medical attention outside of normal working hours please telephone the surgery on the normal number and listen carefully to the recorded message. The message will tell you the number of the out-of-hours service. When you contact the service your call will be handled by a trained nurse. The nurse will decide the most appropriate treatment course and may put you in contact with an on-call doctor.
If the problem is very urgent then of course dial 999.