Please consider whether Pharmacy First can help you with your problem before you call the surgery. For more information click on 

• Stay Well with Pharmacy First

Four ways to seek healthcare advice from your GP

1. Call your surgery to arrange an appointment between 8am and 6.15pm. You will usually be assessed by a clinician on the telephone first, with face-to-face care arranged if clinically needed. If you have a preference about how to access care you can discuss it with your practice.
2. Book online - for more information click HERE
3. Download the NHS App to order repeat prescriptions and get health advice.
4. For urgent issues or out of hours, you can also call the NHS on 111 or go online to seek NHS advice nhs.uk

Attending a face-to-face appointment

If you are asked to come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment, please remember to wear a face covering. Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection during your visit to the surgery. If you have a disability or condition which means you cannot wear a face covering or cannot communicate with someone who is wearing a face mask, or require other adjustments before your appointment, please let the surgery know ahead of your arrival.

Telephone Appointments

Sometimes it may be possible to resolve problems over the telephone without visiting the surgery. If you think this may be helpful, please ring the surgery, preferably before 11:30 and you will be triaged by reception or our nurse practitioner.

GP APPOINTMENTS, One Problem = One Appointment

Your GP/ANP appointment is 10 minutes. We want to make this 10 minutes as effective as possible so please only discuss one issue at each appointment.  If you have more than one problem, you must let the GP/ANP know so that you both can plan how to address these over the course of one or more appointments.  For more information, see the leaflet 

Getting the Best from your GP Appointment

What to do if I have a Practice Nurse/Healthcare Assistant appointment including blood test.

If you have a nurse appointment, please contact the surgery before arriving if you suspect you may have Coronavirus Symptoms. The reception staff will arrange for the nurse to contact you via the telephone to discuss an alternative plan.

Advanced Nurse Practitioners

Our advanced nurse practitioners provide a daily telephone triage clinic.  They will telephone you to discuss your problem and if they are unable to help you over the telephone, they will book you an appointment either with the nurse prescriber, the GP or a practice nurse.  Our nurse practitioners can prescribe medication and issue a prescription if necessary.

Nurse Appointments

Our nurses offer a wide range of healthcare services, for the following: Contraception, Dressings, Diabetes, Asthma, Ear Syringing, Removal of Stitches, Blood Pressure Checks, Cervical Smears, Smoking Advice, Immunisations and much more.

The nurses are available between 12pm and 12.45pm for general telephone queries and travel advice.

Our senior nurse is qualified to prescribe when required, and she can help with ailments such as Sore Throat, Coughs, Cold, Chest Infection, Urinary Tract Infection, Fever, Abdominal pain, Diarrhoea, Skin disorders, Minor Injuries, Earache and Bites/stings.

Healthcare Assistants

Our healthcare assistants and phlebotomists perform valuable healthcare services such as: Blood/Urine Tests, ECGs, Blood Pressure Checks, Weight Management, Toe Nail Cutting Service, New Patient Checks, Patient ABCs (Annual Birthday Checks) and NHS Health Checks.

Urgent Appointments

Urgent Appointments are available on the day and will be triaged by reception and our advanced nurse practitioner.

What to do if you can’t reach us via the telephone or online

The practice appreciates that for some people contact via telephone or online can be difficult, for that minority, you will be able to speak to reception in person.

If you need to collect paperwork

Where possible all paperwork will either be emailed to you or sent in the post. All prescriptions will be sent electronically via your nominated pharmacy, all patients without a nominated pharmacy will be asked to provide one or the nearest demographic pharmacy to where you live will be chosen.

COVID-19 Vaccination

The NHS is rolling out the vaccine across the country but it will take some time to complete. Please be assured that everyone who needs the vaccine will be offered it. The NHS will be in touch with you when it is your turn to be vaccinated. Please don’t call us before you are invited. In the meantime, you can get information about the COVID-19 Vaccination online at www.nhs.uk/covidvaccination and on our information page on this website.

Our staff are working extremely hard to provide services and care and we would like to thank our patients for your continued support.

We strongly advise you all to follow the latest government guidelines and refer to https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/  for any advice you need regarding Covid-19.  

Please make sure you cancel your appointment if you no longer need it.

Cancelling Appointments

You can now cancel your appointment three ways:

1. Text the single word "CANCEL" in reply to your appointment reminder text.     
• Do not add any other text.
2. Cancel online.
3. Telephone Reception.

DROP-IN CLINICS ARE NOT RUNNING DURING THE PANDEMIC CRISIS

Triage  

Monday Tuesday and Thursday Mornings

Telephone  Between 8.00 and 9.30 am to access the Triage Clinic

During the above times patients will be able to access the triage service and will receive a call back from our Advanced Nurse Practitioner or the GP who will assess symptoms and arrange for the appropriate follow up actions, which could include a same day appointment at the surgery.

For periods outside of the times above the triage lines will be closed. Reception are unable to book patients into the triage service outside of these times, however there will be clear advise for patients and access to the appropriate care paths outside of these times.

This operational change is essential to ensure we continue to deliver high quality care to our patients.

If you have any questions around the above changes please do not hesitate to contact the surgery.

Evening & Weekend Appointments bookable through your GP practice

Patients registered at this practice can now access additional routine appointments at our new city centre NHS service, GP+ Nottingham City.  

Appointments are available to see GPs, Practice Nurses, Clinical Pharmacists and Physiotherapists in a fully equipped accessible location on Upper Parliament Street in Nottingham City Centre.

Opening hours are:

16:00 – 20:00  Monday – Friday
09:00 – 13:00  Saturday & Sunday

This is not a walk-in service. Appointments are required and are bookable through GFMC reception.

Find out more at www.ncgpa.org.uk/gpplus

Early Morning Appointments

As part of our on-going efforts to improve patient access to appointments we offer the following additional service:

•    Pre-bookable early morning appointments between 7am and 8am at our sister site, Derby Road Health Centre, 336 Derby Road, NG7 2DW. These include, GP and healthcare assistant appointments which are bookable at reception or by telephoning us in the usual way.

Home Visits

If you are too ill to come to the surgery or are house bound please telephone before 11:00 (except in an emergency) so that the doctors can plan their visits. The doctor may ring you back to discuss your symptoms before visiting. Home visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Home visits usually take place between 12:00 and15:00.

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Test Results

Please 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. Blood test results normally take approximately five days to arrive, for other tests you will be advised at the time of taking the tests.

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.

Preparations for blood tests

You can eat and drink as normal before some blood tests. However, for others you may be given specific instructions so that the test results aren’t affected, for example, not to eat and sometimes not to drink before your test (known as a fasting blood test).

Below are some examples of different blood tests and what you may need to do to prepare for them, including how long you may need to fast. However, you should also follow any instructions from your healthcare professional.

Fasting blood glucose test

Do not eat or drink anything except water for 8-10 hours before a fasting blood glucose test. These are used to diagnose diabetes, a condition caused by too much glucose (sugar) in the blood.

Iron blood test

Iron blood tests are usually taken in the morning before you eat anything. You should also avoid taking iron pills or tablets for 24 hours before your test. Your body absorbs iron very quickly from food or pills, so this can raise your iron levels and affect the test results.

Iron blood tests help diagnose conditions such as iron deficiency anaemia (lack of red blood cells caused by low iron levels).

Blood cholesterol tests (lipid profile)

Do not eat anything and only drink water for 10-12 hours before having blood cholesterol tests (lipid profile). 

There are several different cholesterol tests. When these are done together it’s called a lipid profile. A lipid profile tests the levels of:

• ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol

• 'bad’ (LDL) cholesterol

• total cholesterol

• triglycerides (other fatty substances)

Some laboratories can calculate your LDL cholesterol level from your total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL levels. However, you will still need to fast for these tests. If you do not need to fast, your healthcare professional will let you know.

If you’re just having a triglycerides test, do not drink alcohol for 24 hours before the test (you’ll also need to fast as explained above).

Specimens

Urine specimens for laboratory testing can be left at reception up to 11.30am each day for collection that day. The specimen must be clearly marked with the patient’s name and date the specimen was taken.

Specimens may be rejected by the Surgery / Hospital if these 2 simple rules are not adhered too.

The specimens will be collected by NHS courier and taken to the Hospital Pathology Department.

Specimen containers are available free of charge from our reception. Specimens must only be provided in the proper container and should be sealed in the envelope provided before being left with the receptionist. 

Occassionally accidents do happen with samples enroute or in the laboratory and you may be asked to supply a fresh sample if this happens.

X-Ray

An X-ray is a widely used diagnostic test to examine the inside of the body. X-rays are a very effective way of detecting problems with bones, such as fractures. They can also often identify problems with soft tissue, such as pneumonia or breast cancer.

If you have a X-ray, you will be asked to lie on a table or stand against a surface so that the part of your body being X-rayed is between the X-ray tube and the photographic plate.

An X-ray is usually carried out by a radiographer, a healthcare professional who specialises in using imaging technology, such as X-rays and ultrasound scanners.

You can find out more about x-ray tests, how they are performed, their function and the risks by visiting the NHS Choices website.

Chaperones

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).

Appointment Text Reminders

Each year, thousands of patients miss their appointments simply because they forget when it is. Text reminders have been proven to substantially reduce the number of missed appointments and is a FREE service which started in February 2009. It is hoped that this will help to reduce the number of missed appointments and therefore improve appointment availability for patients.

How do I get these 'Mobile Text Message Reminders'?

• Talk to any of our reception staff who will gladly enable you for this service whilst you wait.
• Complete the form below and we will take care of everything for you. (Please allow up to 3 working days)

If completing the form below please ensure you complete all the questions marked *

We recommend you double check the Mobile telephone number entered to avoid text messages potentially being sent to the wrong recipient.

Legal Notice:

By completing this form you agree to give us consent to contact you by 'text message' only on the number provided.

The details provided will be kept confidential and only available to NHS healthcare staff as part of your care record.

Text message reminders are usually FREE to receive, however if you are outside the UK at the time you may be charged depending on your service provider and the tariff you are on. Please note, we are not responsible for any charges you may incur for receiving text messages whilst you are outside the UK resulting from appointments which have not been cancelled.

This service is provided directly by the NHS not GFMC thus we cannot guarantee its availability 100%. 

If you wish to register for this messaging service please fill out the consent form.

Cancelling Appointments via Text

You can cancel your appointment following the instructions below:

1. Text the single word "CANCEL" in reply to your appointment reminder text.      Do not add any other text.