Appointments

Important: Changes to our Appointment System

Dear Patients,

In an effort to meet the rising demand for same-day appointments with a Doctor, we are changing our appointments system from Monday 17th June, 2024.

We will be making far more appointments available on the day from 8am. Consequently we won’t be making as many appointments available to book in advance but are confident that there will be sufficient appointments available so that you should be able to make an appointment by booking on the day that you would like to be seen.

We would also encourage patients to download the NHS App or use other online portals such as Patient Access as we will be making more appointments available to book online with a doctor on the same day.

We will, as always, be reviewing our appointments system to ensure that our capacity can meet the demand.

Please bear with us whilst we make these changes to offer you an improved level of access to see or speak to a Doctor here at Blackfriars Medical Practice.

Appointments with a Doctor

As noted above, we now offer the majority of our appointments with a doctor on the same day. Please call us or go online at 8am (Monday to Friday) to book a same day appointment especially if you consider your medical issue to be urgent. Our phone system has a call-back feature so if there are 4 or more people ahead of you in the queue you can select the option for a call-back. The phone system holds your place in the queue and calls you back when you have reached position 1 in the queue. This saves you hanging on the phone line. Our reception team will ask you for the reason you wish to see or speak with a doctor. This is so we can ensure that you are directed to the most appropriate pathway of care. For example, it may be more appropriate for you to see a Pharmacist or a Physiotherapist than a doctor. We allow 15 minutes for our doctor appointments and clinicians do their best to keep to time. However, there are occasions when delays occur if a another patient needs a longer time. Our reception team aim to keep you informed if your appointment may be running more than 20 minutes late.

We offer both telephone and face to face appointments with our Doctors. Please ask us if you require a specific type. If you wish to see a specific Doctor, then please make this clear at the time of booking your appointment and we will do our best to accommodate. This may result in a longer wait if you only want to see a specific Doctor. Please try to arrive on time for your appointment. If you do arrive more than 10 minutes late for your appointment then the doctor may request that you book for another time.

If we do not have any appointments left on the day then you may be offered an appointment at our local GP Hub based at Bermsondsey Spa Medical Centre. You may also be offered an online consultation. You can find the link for this on the homepage of our website or by clicking here. Online consultations are reviewed by a doctor and a response is given within 2 working days.

For more information please click: Getting the Most out of Your Consultation

Appointments with the Nursing Team

Appointments with the nursing team can be booked up to 3 weeks in advance. You may be asked the reason for your appointment if you are seeing a nurse. This is due to the fact that appointment times vary according to the type of procedure being carried out so that they must be booked accordingly. Having a reason also enables our nurses to ensure that they are prepared for the patient's needs e.g. having equipment ready for a smear or wound dressing etc...

Cancelling an Appointment

If you are unable to attend an appointment please let us know in plenty of time so that another patient can use that appointment time. You can do this a number of ways:

• by cancelling via the NHS App
• by simply texting back the word "Cancel" to the appointment reminder text you received on your phone.
• by using the Check and Cancel feature when you call us on 020 7928 6216

Every year wasted appointments cost the NHS £162 million. This can cause serious delays in treatment for other patients. Please remember that next time it may be you that benefits from getting an appointment because another patient let us know they were not going to be needing their appointment.

Named GP information

Pharmacy First Plus

We also offers a scheme called Pharmacy First Plus for the treatment of a range of minor ailments that don't require you to see a Doctor or Nurse. Your local pharmacist can offer advice and also prescribe treatments which you can get for free if you are entitled to free prescriptions.

The Pharmacy First Plus scheme covers advice and treatment for the conditions below and gives you a fixed appointment at a time and location to suit your needs. Please ask us if you wish to use this service and we can assist.

The Pharmacy First Plus Scheme can now supply prescription-only treatment, if they believe you need it, for the following conditions:

• Sinusitis (for patients aged 12 years and over only)
• Sore throat (aged 5+)
• Earache (aged 1 year-17)
• Infected insect bite (aged 1 year+)
• Impetigo (aged 18 years+)
• Shingles (aged 18 years+)
• Uncomplicated urinary tract infections (women aged 16 to 64)

For more information please see: How Pharmacies can help

Home Visits

Home visits are primarily for people who are old and disabled. Always attend the surgery, if you can. It takes much longer to see you at home than in the surgery. If you want a home visit, please try to phone before 10.30am.