Appointments

Waddesdon Surgery operates a pre-bookable appointment system with both telephone and face to face appointments available up to 4 weeks in advance.

Same day appointments are for urgent medical problems and not for repeat prescriptions, sick notes or routine referrals.

​Before you contact the practice to request an urgent appointment please think about whether there are any other services that might be more appropriate. For example, remember that pharmacists are trained to give advice about minor health problems and answer any questions about your medicines and treatment. The NHS App, website and NHS 111 system are also available to guide you to appropriate sources of advice.

​We understand that many people are reluctant to tell a receptionist about the reason that they want to see a doctor however our receptionists are now very much part of the clinical team.  Gathering basic clinical information allows the GP to triage patients and also allow them to prepare and review patient history on a specific issue prior to any appointment. The use of a GP lead triaging system to allocate our urgent appointments allows us to ensure that there are appointments available in the afternoon for those who may be taken unwell later in the day.

Please understand that the receptionists and clinical staff are trying to meet the needs of all our patients, each of whom is very important.

How to book an appointment?

There are several ways to book an appointment.

If you require an urgent on the day appointment, please contact your surgery and speak with one of our receptionists who will triage your symptoms. You can ring anytime during our surgery opening hours and still receive a same day appointment if the Doctor deems it necessary.

If you require a routine appointment you can book this via a number of ways.

• You can book an appointment via the NHS App or Online Services
• You can also call the surgery and book with one of our receptionists, it is recommended you ring after 3pm as generally these are our quieter times, please use this method if you wish to book a routine face-to-face appointment.

If you are having trouble accessing the NHS app or Patient Access, please make sure you are registered for online services, this can be done HERE 

At present we do not have nursing appointments available to book online. If you require a nurse appointment, please ring the surgery and book it with a member of our reception team. We are unable to release nurse slots online due to the complexity and variety of appointments offered by the nursing team.

How our triage system works

Patients requesting an urgent on the day appointment will be put onto the GP Triage list. Patients requesting routine appointments, bloods etc will be treated as normal.

Each patient will be asked the same series of triage questions by the reception team, the Doctors will then triage each patient based on the information they provided.

The GP will make the decision on what type of appointment should be offered to the patient or if an alternative is better suited i.e. a prescription for antibiotics should be issued.

Reception will either text you the GPs decision or call where text messaging has not been consented to or where there is no registered mobile number.

The triage outcome communication will clearly outline the GPs decision.

Emergencies

If the patient is suffering from any of the following dial 999 immediately:

• Severe chest pains, sweating, clamminess, pain radiating down left arm.
• Unconscious/collapsed.
• Turning blue.
• Head Injury.
• Bleeding profusely.
• Weak and floppy with a rash (especially if child).

Cancel Appointments

If you need to cancel your appointment there are a number of ways to do this:

• Reply to your appointment reminder text message with the word ‘CANCEL’. Please note that not all appointments receive a reminder message.
• Cancel via our online services.
• Contact the surgery.
• Complete the “Cancel and appointment” form HERE

​Please give us as much notice as possible so that the appointment may be used for another patient.