Patient Information

New Appointments System

Forget the 8 o'clock rush.....

One of the most irritating things about the systems we have at the health centre is the 8 o'clock rush for appointments to see the doctor. Well the end is in sight for those long holds on the phone and the queue at the door.

With the retirals of Dr McKendrick and Dr Thornton we decided to look at the appointment system again. Hopefully in a few months time we will have done away with the phrases 'I'm sorry there are no appointments left for today. You'll have to phone back tomorrow.' As from the 1st of December 2008, there will be a duty doctor to answer and triage (clinical assessment) all requests for same day appointments and deal with enquiries as they come in.

Some things will be dealt with by phone and it should free up appointments for you to see the doctor of your choice at a routine bookable appointment made in advance. It means that all those requiring to be seen that day will be see by the duty doctor and all those that want to book an appointment in advance with their own doctor will have more appointments to choose from.

As you can imagine it will be a bit tricky to get it right from the word go so bear with our receptionists and duty doctor who will no doubt have a bit of a task on their hands to satisfy everyone during the first few months.

The plan is eventually to have normal surgeries with a mixture of bookable and 'next day' appointments and the duty doctor, who will rotate throughout the day will have 'emergency or urgent' surgeries and deal with enquiries and questions. Most of you will know that we already have extended our surgeries to start at 8am and finish at 6pm, to try and accommodate people who work outwith the town and we hope that by using our duty doctor we will be able to sort out a lot of things by using the phone more effectively and freeing up time for more face to face contact with those who need it. Please be patient as there will no doubt be chaos at the start and it will take a bit of time to get it right. Constructive criticism is always welcome.