The demand for appointments is increasing. Therefore, to ensure each patient is managed in the most timely manner and is seen by the most appropriate professional, the Health Centre is has recently appointed a Nurse Practitioner. A Nurse Practitioner is trained to deal to diagnose and treat a range of conditions and is able to prescribe medication. If you contact the surgery and request a same day appointment, your appointment needs will be assessed by the receptionist asking questions about your symptoms. You may be offered an appointment with the Nurse Practitioner. The Nurse Practitioner’s role is described in more detail below.
Sometimes a problem can be dealt with over the telephone and does not require a face-to face appointment with the doctor.
To ensure each patient is dealt with efficiently, when you call to book an appointment with a GP, the receptionist will ask you if your request is in connection with a:
These appointments should be booked in advance, so please tell the receptionist when you phone to book one of these appointments.
A nurse practitioner is a nurse who is qualified to examine, diagnose and manage patients illnesses.
They are able to consult and write prescriptions or referrals for you in the same way as a GP, yet they also have all the practical skills of their nurse training.
If you need a doctor’s consultation you could see the Nurse Practitioner.
We have a superb Nurse Practitioner: Teresa Forward.
Our Nurse Practitioner works closely with a GP as their mentor and guide so they continue to update their skills. Teresa is a huge asset to our team, as you will discover when you meet her, and greatly eases the workload of the doctors
Book on the day/Urgent Appointments
If you need to consult with your doctor urgently for something that cannot wait until the next advanced booking appointment, you may request an appointment on the same day. You may see your own doctor, or if he/she is not available you may see another doctor or Nurse Practitioner.
Appointments for the nurses and HCAs can be booked up to a month in advance. Our nurses can see you for dressings, blood tests, blood pressure checks, cervical smears and many other procedures. If you are in doubt about who you should see, please ask the receptionist.
Test results can be obtained by speaking to the results department. This service is available 10:30-13:00 and 14:30-16:30.
French Weir Health Centre is a large practice with over 16,000 patients. Our telephones are very busy first thing in the morning. For this reason, you may not always get through on your first attempt. Please be patient. Your call will be answered as soon as possible. We recognise this may be a problem, and have made every effort to minimise the inconvenience by having more receptionists available at this time to answer the phones, please be patient, as your call will be answered as soon as a receptionist becomes available.
We do not recommend that you “press 5” (BT ring back service) as it does not work very well when there are a large volume of calls coming through the switchboard at the same time.
If you need urgent medical assistance after 6:30pm, at the weekend or on a bank holiday, you can access the out of hours GP service by dialling 111.
If there is anything that has not been covered in this information sheet that you are still unsure about, please ask the receptionist who will try to answer any questions you may have.
111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It’s fast, easy and free. Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals.
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