Appointments

Reception is open from 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The receptionists can book either routine or on-the-day appointments.

Some services are best provided by a doctor or a nurse who specialises in a particular area of medicine - Sr Beaumont, for example, reviews the Practice's diabetic patients. The receptionist may guide you to someone who can best deal with your problem.

Appointments are always under pressure - if you cannot keep an appointment, please let us know so that it can be given to someone else.

An appointment is for one person and is booked for 10 minutes. If you have several problems, they may have to be dealt with on more than one occasion.

Some appointments are available outside normal surgery hours, early morning, evening or weekends - please ask the receptionists for details.

At the surgery

In consultation, all the records are entered into the computer which is the only record maintained by the Practice. The information is printed out completely and forwarded to your new GP if you move to a new Practice.

Electronic Booking

The Whitehorse Practice was the second Vision Practice in the country to use the new national Choose and Book system within Vision. Some clinics can be booked whilst you are actually in the surgery and the Practice was also a local pilot for a system which allows you to choose a hospital appointment which is convenient for you.

Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10am 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 Health Centre.

Test Results

Please call between 11am and 3.30pm 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.