Appointments

We are a GP training practice which means we often have medical students accompanying our GPs during their consultations 

Appointment system

Demand for GP appointments in England is growing at a significant rate. York Street mirrors this growth which means that the way we handle appointment requests has had to change.

GP appointments are for illnesses and injuries that wont go away. To see whether it is appropriate for you to come into the surgery, please click here.

For advice on how to manage your own care in appropriate circumstances, click here

Click here for information on how your local pharmacy can help you.

The receptionists have been instructed by the doctors to ask you some basic questions about your health issue. (you can be assured that staff observe strict confidentiality at all times). This information will help in deciding how your appointment request will be dealt with and to ensure you see the right person at the right time. It is also to ensure that appointments with clinicians are used in the best way to meet the needs of all our patients. Depending on your condition you will either be referred to your local pharmacy, offered a telephone call back with a clinician or booked into an appointment slot with the minor illness nurse or doctor.

We offer 10 minute appointments. All patents have a named GP and though we do not run rigid personal lists, we encourage patients where possible to see one doctor, as we think it is best for both patient and doctor and provides a continuity of care. If your own doctor is not available then we will offer you an appointment with another doctor.

It is our intention to offer appointments with the doctor of your choice on the day of your choice, although given increasing demand for our services this may not be possible. With this in mind there are a number of things to consider when requesting an appointment. Firstly all of our doctors work part-time and may not be running a clinic on the day you phone. To help with this please use the chart from the tab above to see the days the doctors usually work. On occasions they may be on holiday or undertaking training.

The doctors daily appointments are split 30/70. Approximately 30% of these are released one week in advance. They are useful if you need to plan an appointment in advance or for managing an ongoing issue, but remember to book these as quickly as possible as once they have all been used up we are unable to offer you another appointment without you contacting us again for a same day appointment. The other 70% are released early in the morning each day. These appointments are for patients who are feeling unwell and need to see one of the clinicians fairly quickly. You will need to phone us at 8.30 in order to secure an appointment. Please stay on the line when you ring as you will be held in a queue. If you hang up you will lose your place in the queue.

When all the appointments have been used for the day, the receptionist will need to find out if the problem is something that can wait. If this is the case you will be asked to call back another day. If it is a clinically urgent matter that cannot wait until the next day you will be offered a telephone appointment with one of the clinicians to assess the problem.

The Practice Nurse and Phlebotomist appointments are released one week in advance so you will need to plan for these ahead.

We understand that our telephones are very busy at 8:30 and ask that patients should only ring at this time if they need an appointment. If you want to speak to us about anything else, it would be most helpful if you could telephone after 9:00.  Please phone for test results after 2 pm.

Multiple problems : Please inform reception if you have more than one problem you would like to discuss as we may be able to allocate you more than ten minutes. On busy days this may not be possible and you will be asked to prioritise your needs.

Patients under the age of 16 are expected to attend with a parent or responsible adult. Our policy is to encourage children to discuss their problem with a parent or guardian but we appreciate this might not always be possible, for example in sensitive areas such as contraception. We respect the confidentiality of minors in the same way as adults.

DEAF ENHANCED SUPPORT SERVICE

NHS England has commissioned a new service that will support deaf people in contacting GPs, dental and optometry services as well as pharmacies in the East of England. The service will run until March 22.

This service has been set up to enable profoundly sensory impaired service users who require additional support to contact primary care services. Carers may also contact on behalf of patients.

Members of the deaf community are able to text, call, email, fax and video call to access confidential support for their primary care needs, such as arranging appointments, attending appointments and post appointment needs.

ALL interpreters are NRCPD fully registered. Please follow this link HERE for more information about the service.

Late Arrivals

Patients are requested to arrive in good time for their designated appointment. If you arrive late please let the reception team know.

Patients arriving less than 10 minutes late could face a delay whilst we try to fit you in to a clinicians list in between patients that have arrived early or on time.

Patients who arrive more than 10 minutes late will be invited to rebook. If they have an urgent medical need they may (at the discretion of the clinician) be seen at the end of the surgery.

Thank you for your co-operation

Cambs GP Network

We also offer extended access appointments at a local hub for routine, non urgent problems. These are GP, Nurse and Phlebotomist appointments available in the evenings or weekends. Please speak to reception if you would like to use this service. If you have made an appointment using this service and wish to cancel please phone 0330 0130 030. For more information please visit www.openlater.co.uk

If you are unable to keep an appointment we would appreciate as much notice as possible to cancel, in order to offer the appointment to somebody else.