Debenham Group Practice - How to make an appointment to see your doctor or nurse at the surgery

Appointments

Please advise the receptionist if your appointment is urgent.

If you have just been to the hosptial, please check with the receptionist that we have received a letter about you before you make an appointment to see the doctor.

We operate an 'advanced access' system for appointments, whereby a limited number of appointments may be pre-booked by any of our patients up to one month in advance. The remaining appointments are available 'on the day'.

For these you should ring after 8.00am (the lines are busiest between 8.00 and 10.00am but rest assured you will still be able to see a doctor if you ring later in the day).

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee you an appointment if you telephone after 4.00pm unless you need to see the doctor about an urgent condition. If you wish to see a particular doctor, which we would encourage if the appointment is for a follow-up, you may be asked if it would be convenient for you to attend another surgery site.

Our Nurse Practitioner and our nurse prescriber have received specialised training and are able to treat minor illnesses. Please ask the receptionist for a minor illness appointment if you feel that she could help you.

Home Visits

Doctor's bag If possible please try to telephone reception before 11am if you require a home visit.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the Surgery.

Test Results

test_sample Please call after 12 noon to enquire about your test results as our reception staff will have more time to deal with your request between these times.

Note that the practice has a strict policy regarding confidentiality and data protection and we will only release test results to the person to whom they relate unless that person has given prior permission for the release of this data or they are not capable of understanding the results.

When you take your test you will be told how long it will be before the results are returned to the practice. It is your responsibility to check your results and to make an appointment to discuss them with your doctor if your are advised to do so.