The Fountain Medical Centre |
BBC | Health News
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HOW DO I...
OBTAIN TELEPHONE ADVICE?
The doctors will give advice on the telephone if needed. The receptionists have been asked not to interrupt the doctor during consultations unless your call is urgent. You may, therefore, be asked to phone back or to leave a telephone number where the doctor can reach you and discuss your problem. Help us to help you Please only call the doctor if your problem is a genuine emergency which cannot wait until the surgery is open. When the surgery is closed, telephone the normal surgery number: (01636) 704378. You will be answered by a recorded message. This will give you the telephone number of the doctor who is on duty. Please have a pen and paper handy as these numbers may vary. If for any reason you cannot reach the doctor please telephone Newark Hospital on (01636) 681681 and tell them you are trying to contact the duty doctor for The Fountain. HOW DO I... MAKE AN APPOINTMENT? The Appointment System Our aim is to provide an appointment system that operates well for both the patient and clinician. Appointment times range from 8.15am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday with a doctor or nurse. Patients are able to book up to four weeks in advance for routine doctor appointments. Should the doctor need to see you for review they will have access to appointments specifically for their use. We aim to see all our patients within 30 minutes of your appointment time. If for any reason there is a delay the receptionists will keep you advised on the length of time you can expect to wait. Please be aware that although delays can happen due to other emergencies, you will still be seen. We also have appointments that become available on the same day and within 48 hours - these are usually used for emergencies. There is a limited supply of emergency appointments so we would ask you only to use these if genuinely needed. Please aid our reception staff in booking appointments by only taking an emergency appointment if you really need it. The receptionists will ask for basic details regarding your condition as they have guidelines provided by the doctors to work by. After you have provided details of the nature of your illness, the emergency doctor will call you to assess the urgency of your condition. Although we appreciate you will be keen to have your illness dealt with as quickly as possible, it is not the receptionists who decide whether you are to be seen, this is at the discretion of the doctor. As you will appreciate there is a lot of pressure on the telephone system between 8.30 and 10.30am, please be patient and we will get to your call as soon as possible. Emergency appointments are for emergencies only. Unfortunately, due to time constraints the duty doctor will not be able to deal with ongoing problems you may have. You will be asked to re-attend for a routine appointment where the proper amount of time will be allocated to you. Please be aware there may be a delay in seeing the duty doctor if they get called out urgently. Cancelling An Appointment If you no longer need your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. We will then be in a position to offer it to another patient. There is a facility on our telephone system to leave a message cancelling your appointment. These messages are picked up regularly by our reception staff. Consideration will be given to removing any persistent non-attenders from the practice list. If we have to cancel a surgery we will always, where possible, try to offer you an alternative with the same GP or nurse as close to that date as we can. Chaperones It may not always be possible to offer you an appointment with the doctor of your choice. If that is the case and you have something to discuss, you may wish to have a chaperone present during your consultation. Please advise the receptionist who will organise for either a nurse or a member of staff to be present. Temporary Residents We are happy to see friends or relatives staying with you should they become unwell. They will need to ensure they allow 15 minutes prior to the appointment time to complete a temporary resident form and set them up on the computer system. Without this, the doctor will be unable to see them. HOW DO I... OBTAIN A HOME VISIT? Please only ask for a home visit if you are genuinely too ill to come into surgery. We are much better equipped to deal with your medical problems in surgery rather than we are in your home. All requests for visits need to be called through by 11.00am. To establish the urgency of your call a medical secretary will ask you for basic details regarding your condition, therefore, you will need to explain your symptoms clearly. These details will be given to the doctor and they will contact you to discuss your medical condition before visiting. Do not be afraid to ring 999 if necessary. Please remember, if you have transport, although feeling quite ill, arrangements can be made for you to be seen by the doctor soon after your arrival. HOW DO I... OBTAIN TEST RESULTS? As a practice we do not contact you with your blood results if they are normal. If your results are abnormal or the doctor wishes to discuss your results with you, the surgery will contact you. You can telephone through for your results, should you wish, but please leave at least two weeks to allow for the results to be processed at the Path lab and seen by the doctor. Please be aware, as with all patient information, we cannot disclose your test results to anyone other than you unless specifically authorised by you. HOW DO I... CHANGE MY DETAILS? It is very important for you to keep us informed of any changes to your details such as name, address or telephone number. If you are changing your name please bring in a copy of the original documentation such as your marriage certificate for us to photocopy. If you need to change your address or telephone number you can complete a form in reception. Please include all family members that are moving or changing telephone number, your old address or telephone number and lastly, your new address or telephone number. HOW DO I... REGISTER WITH THE PRACTICE? Anyone registering will be asked to complete a questionnaire and attend a new patient medical. Please give as much accurate information as possible as it will help us to care for you whilst we wait for your full medical records to come through. Should you take regular medication we will need you to bring in a copy of your previous repeat list as soon as possible to ensure you are able to take your medication continuously. If you change to a new practice, we will transfer your medical records to the Patient Services Department in Nottingham Health Authority within one week or within 24 hours if they are urgently required. Nottingham Health Authority will then forward your records to your new doctor. HOW DO I... OBTAIN A REPEAT PRESCRIPTION? Patients who are on repeat medication can order their monthly prescription in the following way:
Please use option a, b or d where possible. If you can avoid option c this helps keep telephone lines free for urgent problems. Any patient receiving repeat medication will need to be reviewed by the doctor or nurse at least once a year. Without this review we cannot continue to issue your prescription. We always have prescriptions ready for collection after two working days. If, however, you have your prescription collected by a chemist, you may need to liaise with the pharmacist to see if any additional time is required on their behalf. |
