Woodlands Family Medical Centre: 01642 607 398

Appointments

Woodlands Family Medical CentreAppointments

Book your Appointment through SystmOnline

SystmOnline is available to ALL our registered patients.  Once registered, you can book your appointment(s) online.

To register for this service, please see how 'How to register for SystemOnline' page

If you've already registered and would like to book or cancel your appointment, please click here

You may wish to consider an online consultation

Appointment System

We operate an appointment system for all our surgeries.  Please avoid attending as a walk-in without ringing us first. Appointments can be made either by telephone between 8.30am and 5.30pm or by calling into the surgery between 8.00am and 5.30pm.

You may also book a routine appointment or cancel a GP appointment online as well as viewing your summary care record (for which you must register at the surgery with ID). Just log-in in the usual way and click on the appropriate tab in Systmonline. Appointments with the doctor will be for 10 minutes.  If you need longer please ask when making the appointment.

Patients with urgent problems will always be attended to by a doctor the same day.  One appointment is for one person.  Should you require yourself and a child or spouse etc. to be seen together, please explain this to the receptionist when booking and you will need to be given two appointments with Doctor or the Nurse Practictioner.  This is to allow enough time for your consultations.

Telephone consultations for advice on minor illnesses, medication or anything else which can be dealt with over the phone are available with our doctors. These can be booked by telephoning reception in the same way as making a ‘face to face’ appointment. The doctor will ring you at a time which is convenient during morning or afternoon surgery.
Please inform us as soon as possible if you are unable to keep a booked appointment. In an average week 70 patients fail to attend for their appointments. This means that 70 other patients have to wait longer than necessary for their appointment.
If you do not attend for 3 routine appointments and do not contact the surgery, you will be sent a letter explaining that a further non-attendance will result in removal from the practice list.
You do not require a doctor’s certificate for any time off work for illness lasting 7 days or less. Your employer may ask you to complete a self-certification form which they should provide. After 7 days your employer can ask for evidence of your illness. Currently this is a ‘statement of fitness for work’ (fit note). You will usually need to be seen by a doctor for this. In some circumstances, a telephone consultation will be sufficient for us to issue a sicknote.
You will be seen on the same day if your problem is urgent but you will need to inform our Receptionist of this. If you need to make an urgent/emergency appointment please call before 9.30am for an appointment on the same day. If the surgery is full, you will be given a time for a doctor to ring you and, if necessary, arrange an appointment to be seen. Should your Doctor think that it is inappropriate use of the emergency appointment system, you may then be asked to make a routine appointment.
It may not be possible to see you if you arrive late for your appointment with the doctor or nurse, because this may cause problems for other patients who have appointments. In these circumstances you may be asked to rebook.
Requests for home visits should only be made if the patient is unfit to travel to the surgery. All requests for home visits should be made as soon as possible after the surgery opens at 8.30am and as far as possible before 10.30am. Only emergencies will be accepted after this time. You may find that the receptionist asks you details about your condition to enable the doctor to assess your requirements more effectively. Likewise, the doctor may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, by sending a nurse or indeed arranging a hospital admission. Home visits are very demanding in terms of the doctor’s time. Several patients can be seen in the surgery in the time taken to see a single patient at home. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery.
IN A LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY DIAL 999. If you require medical advice when the surgery is closed please contact NHS 111. You should use the NHS 111 service if you urgently need medical help or advice but it’s not a life-threatening situation and it is outside of surgery hours.
Accessibility by WAH